THE AFFECTIVE ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF VYGOTSKY'S ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT

A bstract .  Many recent articles, research papers, and conference presentations about Lev Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD) emphasize the "extended" version of the ZPD that reflects human emotions and desires. In this essay, Michael G. Levykh expands on the extant literature on the ZPD through developing several new ideas. First, he maintains that there is no need to expand ZPD to include emotions, as its more "conservative" dimensions (cognitive, social, cultural, and historical) already encompass affective features. Second, Levykh emphasizes that an emotionally positive collaboration between teachers and students in a caring and nurturing environment must be created from the outset. Finally, he asserts that culturally developed emotions must mediate successful establishment and maintenance of the ZPD in order to be effective. According to Levykh, Vygotsky's notion that learning can lead development represents a crucial contribution to our understanding of teaching and learning by clearly showing that emotions are vital to human learning and development.     

WHAT SHOULD WE TEACH AS CONTROVERSIAL? A DEFENSE OF THE EPISTEMIC CRITERION

Abstract There is an emerging consensus that to teach something as controversial is to present it as a matter on which different views are or could be held and to expound those different views as impartially as possible. This raises an important normative question that has yet to receive the attention it deserves from educational theorists: how are we to decide which topics to teach in this way? The answer suggested by Robert Dearden is that we should apply the epistemic criterion: a matter should be taught as controversial when contrary views can be held on it without those views being contrary to reason. In this essay, Michael Hand aims to defend that answer. In the first part of the article he revisits Dearden’s rather thin and unsatisfactory justification for the epistemic criterion and attempts to mend its deficiencies. In the second part, Hand examines an alternative to the epistemic criterion in the area of moral education, an alternative he labels the political criterion, and explains why he thinks we should reject it.     

Brian Griffiths (1927–2008) – his pioneering contributions to mathematics and education

Brian Griffiths (1927–2008) was a British mathematician and educator who served as a member of the founding editorial board of Educational Studies in Mathematics. As a mathematician, Griffiths is remembered through his work on what continue to be known as ‘Griffiths-type’ topological spaces. As a mathematics educator, his most profound contribution was, with Geoffrey Howson, in offering a conceptualisation of the relationship between mathematics, society and curricula.     

The fault is in ourselves: looking at ‘failures in implementation’

While implementers are often blamed, reformers themselves are usually responsible for sub‐optimal implementation of educational reform projects. This article shows that the conditions for successful implementation, which are known and accessible, are frequently ignored. The case study concerns a university that is engaged in in‐service teacher education reform in Pakistan, focusing on introducing a ‘learner‐centred’ approach in schools. The research identified severe shortcomings related to implementation of the new approach, mostly relating to a failure by the teacher‐educators to understand and adapt to the actual contexts in which the teachers work. Finally, we suggest reasons why there are so many instances of failed reforms in developing countries.     

The Effects of Discipline on Deep Approaches to Student Learning and College Outcomes

“Deep learning” represents student engagement in approaches to learning that emphasize integration, synthesis, and reflection. Because learning is a shared responsibility between students and faculty, it is important to determine whether faculty members emphasize deep approaches to learning and to assess how much students employ these approaches. This study examines the effect of discipline on student use of and faculty members’ emphasis on deep approaches to learning as well as on the relationships between deep approaches to learning and selected educational outcomes. Using data from over 80,000 seniors and 10,000 faculty members we found that deep approaches to learning were more prevalent in Biglan’s soft, pure, and life fields compared to their counterparts. The differences were largest between soft and hard fields. We also found that seniors who engage more frequently in deep learning behaviors report greater educational gains, higher grades, and greater satisfaction with college, and that the strength of these relationships is relatively consistent across disciplinary categories.     

Measuring need for closure in classroom learners

Need for closure, as formulated by Kruglanski and colleagues [Kruglanski, A. W. (1990). Lay epistemic theory in social-cognitive psychology. Psychological Inquiry, 1(3), 181–197; Kruglanski, A. W., & Webster, D. M. (1996). Motivated closing of the mind: Seizing and freezing. Psychological Review, 103, 263–283; Webster, D. M., & Kruglanski, A. W. (1994). Individual differences in need for cognitive closure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(6), 1049–1062], refers to the motivated tendency to seek structure, simplify complex information, and avoid ambiguity. In this article, we argue that this motive may impact classroom learning in important ways and introduce a self-report measure of need for closure situated in the classroom learning environment. Psychometric properties of the new measure are assessed in multiple samples using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Correlations between the new measure and existing indicators of cognitive closure, as well as variables known to influence motivation and academic achievement, support our assertions regarding the association between need for closure and academic functioning while also providing evidence for the construct validity of the measure. Finally, internal consistency and test–retest reliability suggest that the new measure functions as a reliable measure of need for closure within the classroom.