The historical anecdote as a “caricature”: A case study

Much discussion has recently taken place about uses which can be made of historical material in science teaching. A great deal of advice, taking advantage of the particular and unique contributions which the history of science can make to science education, is available. The encounter between Thomas Huxley and Bishop Wilberforce in 1860 is frequently referred to when teaching about the theory of evolution and an investigation of the main characteristics of reports of this incident in both educational and historical literature has been carried out. The purposes of using this incident in the educational setting are identified and the appropriateness of these purposes is discussed in the light of a historical understanding of this encounter. Specializations: Physics education, concept development, history and philosophy of science and science teaching.     

The use of local features and global spatial context for object recognition in a visuomotor task in the Mongolian gerbil

Mongolian gerbils were trained to jump across gaps of randomly varying width in order to obtain a food reward. During training, gerbils learned to jump to each of two landing platforms differing in width. These landing platforms were associated with unique spatial contexts (Experiment 1), local features (Experiment 2), or both (Experiment 3). In test sessions, a landing platform was substituted that was intermediate in width between the two training platforms of novel width, in order to determine whether gerbils could use retinal image size to calibrate distance. Experiments 1 and 2 suggested that gerbils used spatial context but not local feature information to identify the target platforms. In Experiment 3, when the probe platform was presented with the same local feature information and in the same context as seen in training sessions, gerbils over- or underjumped in a manner predicted if they were using the retinal image size of the target to calibrate the distance across the gap. When the probe trials contained a mismatch between context and local feature information, no systematic over- or under-jumps were seen, and jumping accuracy was decreased. Taken together, these results suggest that, in this task, objects are identified primarily on the basis of the spatial context in which they are seen and not on the basis of their local features.     

Pre-service teachers in Germany’s pluralistic scholarship system and their motivations for becoming teachers

Germany has a unique scholarship program for highly talented students. The present study identifies differences between supported and non-supported pre-service teachers in this program and focuses on their motivations. A survey of N = 703 pre-service teachers (n = 279 supported) forms the basis of the analysis. Using a non-parametric data preprocessing approach (matching individuals), differences in motivations to become a teacher were modelled in these two balanced groups. The results show significant differences between supported and unsupported pre-service teachers in terms of their motivations for becoming teachers; however, there are no differences after propensity score matching and consideration of confounding variables. The findings indicate that a closer look at the subgroups of pre-service teachers is needed, and the results are therefore relevant to research on teacher education and the support of highly talented pre-service teachers. Future research should account for longitudinal approaches and the scholarship programs’ impact.     

Incidental spatial memory in the domestic dog (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Canis familiaris</Emphasis>)

We built upon previous work by Fujita et al. (2012, Animal Cognition, 15(6), 1055–1063) to create an experiment that investigated the presence of incidental memory for the spatial location of uneaten food in the domestic dog. Here, we dissociated potentially incidental spatial memory from the incidental memory for the characteristics of objects, in this case, food bowls. Eighteen household domestic dogs of various breeds and age were presented with four bowls. Each bowl contained either a novel object, treats the dog could consume, treats it could not consume, or it was left empty. Following a delay, the dogs returned to the laboratory and were presented with empty bowls in the same spatial orientation as the initial exposure and could move freely between bowls. This experiment required no previous training outside of basic obedience and so avoids the possibility that performance on the test was a conditioned response. We hypothesized that domestic dogs would be able to remember the location of uneaten food when presented with an unexpected memory test. We found that dogs in this study showed no evidence that they encoded spatial location in the absence of other cues that could be used to distinguish food bowls at specific locations. This suggests that dogs in previous experiments were more dependent on incidentally encoding the “what” and “in what” of this task than the “where,” in the absence of features making each location distinct.     

Keeping Up Appearances: Uniform Policy for School Diversity?

This paper analyses policies pertaining to school dress codes which have been formulated recently by all state education bureaucracies in Australia. It examines these policies and their implementation in the context of devolution, the marketisation of schools, and cognate social legislation. In doing so it seeks to understand the textual hiatus between government policy and schooling practices.     

Theory,politics, and experiment in educational research methodology

In laboratory experiments and all other research situations the testing of any one hypothesis entails the simultaneous testing of a whole network of auxiliary hypotheses. These will include hypotheses about the stability of statistical structure, the viability of methods, and the social relations between researcher and subject. In the absence of a rigorously theorized naturalistic framework, traditional experimental designs entail professional domination of knowledge and epistemically privileged researchers; as a consequence, their use is open to serious epistemological and political questioning.An alternative account of experiment and scientificity is proposed which recognizes the need to incorporate an understanding of subjects' epistemologies into research programmes, a need which requires greater power for subjects in the development of research, and thus undermines professional domination and epistemic privilege. The account also implies that laboratory experimental inquiry will lapse in rigour unless it is designed and conducted within an explicitly and precisely theorized naturalistic context. Whereas other accounts make scientificity contingent upon professional control and epistemic privilege, the present account suggests that scientificity in social and educational research is contingent upon a deprofessionalized set of social and epistemic relations.

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Zusammenfassung Die Überprüfung einer beliebigen Hypothese in Laborexperimenten und in allen anderen Forschungssituationen, zieht die Gleichzeitigkeit eines ganzen Netzwerkes von Hilfshypothesen nach sich. Diese werden Hypothesen über die Stabilität der statistischen Struktur, die Durchführbarkeit der Methoden, und über das soziale Geflecht zwischen Forscher und Versuchsperson einschließen. Da kein streng-theoretisch naturwissenschaftlicher Rahmen vorhanden ist, zeitigen traditionelle experimentelle Versuchsanordnungen professionelles Herrschaftswissen und erkenntnistheoretisch-privilegierte Forscher; konsequenterweise steht ihre Anwendung für ernsthaft-erkenntnistheoretische und politische Fragen offen.Eine alternative Darstellung des Experimentierens und der Wissenschaftlichkeit wird vorgeschlagen, indem die Notwendigkeit erkannt wird, ein Verständnis des erkenntnistheoretischen Vermögens der Versuchsperson in Forschungsprogrammen mit einzubeziehen und in der Notwendigkeit ihm erweiterte Machtbefugnisse in der Forschungsentwicklung einzuräumen, um auf diese Weise Herrschaftswissen und erkenntnistheoretisches Privileg zu unterminieren. Die Darstellung beinhaltet auch, daß die Laborexperimenten resultierenden Ermittlungen an Strenge verlieren werden, bis sie innerhalb eines deutlichen und präzis-theoretisierten naturwissenschaftlichen Kontextes aufgegriffen und ausgeführt werden. Während in anderen Darstellungen Wissenschaftlichkeit vom Zufall der professionellen Kontrolle und dem erkenntnistheoretischen Privileg abhängig gemacht werden, schlägt der vorliegende Bericht vor, Wissenschaftlichkeit in der Gesellschafts- und Bildungsforschung sei von einer deprofessionalisierten Reihe gesellschaftlicher und erkenntnistheoretischer Zusammenhänge abhängig.

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Résumé Lors des expériences faites en laboratoire et de toutes autres situations de recherche, l'examen de toute hypothèse entraîne l'analyse simultanée d'un réseau entier de variables auxiliaires. Celles-ci comprennent les hypothèses relatives à la stabilité de la structure statistique, la viabilité des méthodes et les relations sociales entre le chercheur et le sujet. En l'absence d'un cadre naturaliste rigoureusement théorisé, les concepts expérimentaux traditionnels amènent une domination du savoir des experts et des chercheurs épistémologiquement priviligiés: en conséquence, leur usage prête à une interrogation épistémologique et politique sérieuse.On propose un second examen de l'expérience et de la scientificité qui reconnaît la nécessité d'incorporer la compréhension des épistémologies des sujets dans les programmes de recherche, nécessité qui requiert une plus grande puissance des sujets dans le développement de la recherche, et sape ainsi la domination des connaissances des experts et le privilège épistémologique. Cet exposé implique également que la recherche expérimentale en laboratoire tombera dans la rigueur si elle n'est pas conçue et réalisée au sein d'un contexte naturaliste théorisé explicitement et précisément. Tandis que d'autres études font dépendre la scientificité du contrôle expert et du privilège épistémologique, l'article présent énonce que la scientificité de la recherche en matière d'éducation et sociale dépend d'une série de relations sociales et épistémologiques dénuées de tout professionnalisme.

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This paper is a revised version of a paper presented to the Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, Australian National University, Canberra, November 1983.     

Quantum lithography: A?non-computing application of quantum information

Quantum information theory holds the promise of revolutionizing technologies other than computing and communications. In this article we show how quantum entanglement can be harnessed to beat the Rayleigh diffraction limit of conventional optical lithography, and to permit nano-devices to be fabricated at a scale arbitrarily shorter than the wavelength used. Given the relative ease of performing optical lithography compared with other schemes, and the relative costs associated in migrating the lithography industry to each new fabrication technology, exploiting quantum entanglement to extend the useful life of optical lithography could be economically attractive.