More than talk: Co‐Rumination among college students

Most of us, and our students, share our problems with our closest friends. But what happens when rehashing problems is all that we do with them? Juliette Landphair and Teri Preddy explain that this is co‐rumination, and though it can feel comforting, it exacts high emotional costs.     

E‐coaching systems: Convenient,anytime, anywhere,and nonhuman

Technologies continue to evolve to provide more compelling and interactive learning opportunities. Coaching has traditionally been face‐to‐face or by email. By combining the new technologies with coaching, learning developers now have the opportunity to develop an asynchronous, online, nonhuman coaching system, or e‐coaching system. An e‐coaching system can alleviate much of the coaching labor while making it more conducive to the coachee.     

A Competence-Based Science Learning Framework Illustrated Through the Study of Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction

This article proposes a competence-based learning framework for science teaching, applied to the study of ‘big ideas’, in this case to the study of natural hazards and disaster risk reduction (NH&DRR). The framework focuses on new visions of competence, placing emphasis on nurturing connectedness and behavioral actions toward resilience and sustainability. The framework draws together competences familiarly expressed as cognitive knowledge and skills, plus dispositions and adds connectedness and action-related behaviors, and applies this by means of a progression shift associated with NH&DRR from abilities to capabilities. The target is enhanced scientific literacy approached through an education through science focus, amplified through the study of a big idea, promotion of sustained resilience in the face of disaster and the taking of responsibilities for behavioral actions. The framework is applied to a learning progression for each interrelated education dimension, thus serving as a guide for both the development of abilities and as a platform for stimulating student capabilities within instruction and assessment.     

The Teleological Concept of the Physical Qualities of Man

Despite considerable research, the question of whether obese individuals are more metabolically efficient than their nonobese counterparts has not been conclusively answered. This paper examines the research on energy expenditure in obesity, particularly the resting metabolic rate (RMR). Because of the paucity of research using obese males as subjects, the paper focuses on obese females. Absolute RMR has been found to be higher in obese than in nonobese women, RMR per kg fat-free mass is often similar between the groups, and RMR per kg body weight is typically lower in the obese. Formerly obese women often have reduced energy requirements, suggesting a degree of energy efficiency. Factors that affect energy expenditure, and which might account for the lack of consistent findings in RMR studies of the obese, are discussed. These include (a) diet and exercise, (b) genetics, (c) age of obesity onset, and (d) the composition of body weight. Implications for research are presented.     

Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: A Vygotskian framework

Sociocultural approaches emphasize the interdependence of social and individual processes in the coconstruction of knowledge. This article uses three central tenets of a Vygotskian framework to examine the relation between learning and development: (a) social sources of individual development, (b) semiotic (signs and symbols, including language) mediation in human development, and (c) genetic (developmental) analysis. The role played by culture and language in human development is an essential aspect of the Vygotskian framework and provides an overarching theme for this article. The methodological foundation of this framework is examined, particularly as it contrasts with other perspectives on the process of internalization of social interaction in the construction of knowledge. The article concludes by surveying sociocultural research on and applications to classroom learning and teaching, particularly that which examines the role of collaboration.     

A Cartography of Philosophy’s Engagement with Society

Minerva - Should philosophy help address the problems of non-philosophers or should it be something isolated both from other disciplines and from the lay public? This question became more than...