Liberal Ideals,Postmodern Practice: A Working Paradox for the Future of Secondary School Art Education in England?

Modern liberal rationales continue to inform a majority of teaching and learning in English art classrooms. In a postmodern Western society increasingly informed by neoliberal globalisation this approach begins to look either like an anachronism or an act of outmoded pedagogic resistance. What is certain is that the modern liberal tradition is increasingly irrelevant to a young generation of learners, but while alternative paradigms have subsequently been suggested none have come to replace the stubbornly established rationales of modernism and liberalism. This article suggests novel futures for the justification and relevance of art education that move beyond those currently prevalent. Preferable futures are suggested that synthesise postmodern practice with liberal ideals in a paradox requiring creative consideration. While the difficulties of drawing upon such contradictory rationales are noted, a case is made that if such a purpose might be accepted and imbedded in art educational futures, then there may result a more relevant and sustainable future for art education in England.     

Knowledge management technology-in-practice: a social constructionist analysis of the introduction and use of knowledge management systems

This paper argues that Knowledge Management Technology (KMT) is socially constructed in use based on the affordances and constraints of the technology artefact. Since many Knowledge Management (KM) systems are introduced with vague purposes (such as to improve knowledge sharing) it is therefore their affordances and constraints which strongly shape the socially constructed ‘KMT-in-practice’. The paper argues that knowledge is also socially constructed and that knowledge creation requires an element of surprise and challenge to routine. Using a case study of the British Council's KM programme between 1998 and 2003, the paper explores the social construction of a KMT as it is developed and used; describing how various features afforded by the technology influence its adoption and institutionalisation. The paper concludes by arguing that KMTs-in-practice, which are successful in supporting knowledge creation, must paradoxically remain in a state of neither stabilisation and acceptance, nor abandonment and disuse. Practical implications of how this might be achieved are provided.     

Modelling age and secular differences in fitness between basketball players

Concerns about the value of physical testing and apparently declining test performance in junior basketball players prompted this retrospective study of trends in anthropometric and fitness test scores related to recruitment age and recruitment year. The participants were 1011 females and 1087 males entering Basketball Australia's State and National programmes (1862 and 236 players, respectively). Players were tested on 2.6 +/- 2.0 (mean +/- s) occasions over 0.8 +/- 1.0 year. Test scores were adjusted to recruitment age (14-19 years) and recruitment year (1996-2003) using mixed modelling. Effects were estimated by log transformation and expressed as standardized (Cohen) differences in means. National players scored more favourably than State players on all tests, with the differences being generally small (standardized differences, 0.2-0.6) or moderate (0.6-1.2). On all tests, males scored more favourably than females, with large standardized differences (>1.2). Athletes entering at age 16 performed at least moderately better than athletes entering at age 14 on most tests (standardized differences, 0.7-2.1), but test scores often plateaued or began to deteriorate at around 17 years. Some fitness scores deteriorated over the 8-year period, most notably a moderate increase in sprint time and moderate (National male) to large (National female) declines in shuttle run performance. Variation in test scores between National players was generally less than that between State players (ratio of standard deviations, 0.83-1.18). More favourable means and lower variability in athletes of a higher standard highlight the potential utility of these tests in junior basketball programmes, although secular declines should be a major concern of Australian basketball coaches.     

The effect of task structure on diffusion dynamics: Implications for diffusion curve and network-based analyses

Theoretical analyses within the broad field of social learning research give mixed conclusions on whether the shape of a diffusion curve can be used to infer that a learned trait increases through social or asocial learning. Here we explore how factors such as task structure (e.g., multiple-step tasks), task abandonment, subgoal learning, and neophobia affect the shape of the diffusion curve for both asocially learned and socially learned behavior. We demonstrate that, whereas social learning increases the likelihood of S-shaped curves, sigmoidal patterns can be generated by entirely asocial processes, and cannot be reliably interpreted as indicators of social learning. Our findings reinforce the view that diffusion curve analysis is not a reliable way of detecting social transmission. We also draw attention to the fact that task structure can similarly confound interpretation of network-based diffusion analyses, and suggest resolutions to this problem. Supplemental materials for this article may be downloaded from http://lb.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.     

束手无策?回归初心

"初学者的思维饱含可能,久习者的思维饱受羁绊。"——禅修大师铃木俊隆多年前,我还是一个瑜伽学生时,就在想象教授瑜伽会是件多么美妙的事。作为一个初学者,我总能接受新思想:我开始对瑜伽练习产生了狂热的兴趣,我就     

Evidence and Warrants for Belief in a College Astronomy Course

Science educators have argued that it is insufficient to be able to recite thetheories of science and not know how knowledge claims in science are justified, what counts as evidence, or how theory and evidence interact. We wonder, however, how much students' understandings of the nature of science vary with content. This paper draws on data collected in a university astronomy course. Data include three interviews and written work from twenty students, as well as written work from the 340 students in the class. This study provides us with evidence on how students' talk and writing about the nature of science differs depending on the particular scientific topic which is under discussion. The relationship between theory and evidence, warrants for belief, and nature of observation are described in various ways in the different disciplines discussed in the course.     

What happened to the Open University : Briefly

This paper provides an external, international assessment of The Open University, United Kingdom. It questions whether The Open University of the early 1970s is dead and perhaps — in the context of the current emphasis on open learning — invites staff of other open universities throughout the world to anticipate their future five or ten years hence.