Knowledge based systems for teaching and learning maths

The main task of an educational system is to generate instructional situations which induce students to learn knowledge and problem solving abilities as applied to a cognitive domain.
To this end, an instructional dialogue must be seen as a process aimed at making student and teacher learn from each other: the student has to learn the subject matter from the teacher, while the teacher has in turn to learn from the student how to regulate instructional interaction. The process relies on different kinds of expert knowledge: experience of the domain, about the actual student, and of teaching methods and objectives. This means that an instructional dialogue cannot be realised without an explicit representation of all the kinds of knowledge involved.
Research has established that Knowledge Based Educational Systems (KBESs) can be the keystone in building effective learning tools, but because of the difficulty in realising a system of this kind, most existing systems are prototypes and are intended only as workbenches for the computational analysis of educational processes.
This paper analyses the main problems which underlie the realisation of such systems, with reference to research into knowledge based systems intended for use with teaching/learning mathematics.     

Patterns of interaction in the processes of joint reflection by student teachers

Although some research results indicate that joint reflection can improve student-teachers’ reflection, it is not clear how the interaction between student-teachers during a joint reflection process helps this to happen. The aim of this paper is to explore how the organisation of joint activity in processes of joint reflection assists students’ reflection, by identifying patterns of joint reflection (considering all the participants rather than only tutor–student dyads) and by discussing the functional role of these patterns within the students’ processes of reflection and internalisation. Two cases of joint reflection processes between a group of student teachers (15 and 13) and their tutors were examined. In each case, five seminars lasting around one-and-a-half hours each were videotaped and analysed, and individual written reflections after each seminar were gathered and scored. Results showed that joint reflection developed in each case according to different interaction patterns, and that individual written students’ reflections improved from seminar 1 to seminar 5 in one of the cases, but not in the others. These results suggest a relationship between interaction patterns of joint reflection and progress in students’ individual reflection.     

The double-edged sword: Critical reflections on traditional and modern technology in outdoor education

The outdoor education experience continues to be influenced by a proliferation of modern technological innovations, most of which have been accepted and even embraced by educators with little inquiry. Seldom do instructors of outdoor programmes consider the impact that modern techniques and equipment can have upon students' learning. This paper argues that in an unexamined adoption of this technology, some of the potential positive impacts for participants can be compromised, including a direct and meaningful connection to the natural world. As such, modern technology has become a possible mediating influence for participants in outdoor education programmes. The paper examines some of the pedagogical issues of modern technology as a mediator of experience as well as several elements of educating in the outdoors with traditional technology. Woven into the discussion is the question of whether modern technology encourages more people to become involved in outdoor activities or merely works toward the separation of humans from the rest of nature.     

Supporting collaborative reflection in teacher education: a case study

The aim of this paper is to understand how certain educational supports promote preservice teachers’ learning to reflect in collaborative settings. To address this issue, we present a case study on collaborative reflection among 14 preservice teachers and one teacher educator over the course of five weekly consecutive sessions. The results suggest that collaborative reflection can be supported by organizing the process according to a twofold dynamic: from analysis to synthesis, and from open facilitation to directive facilitation. Six different types of assistance related to this dynamic, and provided by the teacher educator, are identified and qualitatively described: framing, oppositional voice, counterpoising alternatives, asking for the dilemma, problematizing, and modelling.     

Race and Color: Two Sides of One Story? Development of Biases in Categorical Perception

Categorical perception is a phenomenon that leads people to group stimuli into categories instead of perceiving their natural continua. This article reviews the literature of two biases connected with categorical perception: categorical color perception and the other‐race effect. Although these two phenomena concern distant targets (colors and faces) and imply different biases (one attentional, one mnemonic), they share at least three commonalities. First, they both involve the chunking of continuous dimensions into categories. Second, adult categories are shaped by cultural processes. Third, infants' discrimination performance seems universal and guided by perception. In this article, it is proposed to look for a common developmental mechanism that clarifies the shift from a perceptual to a sociocognitive knowledge of the environment. New perspectives are discussed.     

Remove ‘care’ and stir: modernizing early childhood teacher education in Norway

ABSTRACT

There is growing concern within the field of education regarding how the implementation of national frameworks based on the European Qualifications Framework displaces tacit and less traditionally formalized knowledge from policy. This issue is particularly salient concerning national frameworks that regulate early childhood teacher education, in which knowledge and competencies about caring are crucial, though under-articulated. The proportion of under three-year olds who participate in government subsidized early childhood education and care programs in Norway has risen from 37% in 2000 to over 82% in 2016. Amidst this historic rise, the word ‘care’ was removed from Norway’s most recent National Framework for Early Childhood Teacher Education. Whilst policy analyses generally focus on the content of policy texts, in this article, I examine the circumstances surrounding the curious disappearance of text, namely the key concept of care. Combining a Foucauldian concern with discourse with Malabou’s concept of plasticity, this article reports on a plastic discourse analysis of the removal of care from the newest framework for early childhood teacher education in Norway.     

Gender balance in teaching awards: evidence from 18 years of national data

Gender implications of nationally competitive teaching awards were examined to determine whether women receive sufficient accolades, given their dominant position in university teaching. Quantitative methods and secondary data provided objective analysis of teaching awards for Australian universities, for an 18-year data set with 2046 units of analysis. Results indicate that women were over-represented in lower-level citations and under-represented in higher-level awards. Women did not dominate, particularly the highly prestigious Prime Minister’s award, where men constituted 65%. Policy and management implications include that universities could review the gender balance in their teaching award processes and set goals as internal support is a springboard to national awards. Groups of the same gender could be encouraged to work together at the highest levels to overcome individualistic, competitive barriers. National teaching award applications could be gender blind, at least for the higher levels. There are no clear trends towards a better gender balance, possibly because there has been a very limited gender spotlight on the awards at any level of policy and management.     

Locked in and locked out: Covid-19 and teaching “remotely”

PROSPECTS - Covid-19 has rendered education “remote”, opening a chasm in space and time between teachers and students, between how teaching and learning was practiced before...     

Student teachers’ perceptions and evidence of peer learning through co-teaching: improving attitudes and willingness towards co-teaching

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Despite the increasing practice and evidence of its potential, co-teaching has not become a widespread practice in schools yet. Research shows the need...