EXPANDING YOUNG PEOPLE'S CAPACITY TO LEARN

Abstract:  Though it is being widely argued that expanding young people's capacity to learn is a viable and desirable goal of education, it it not always clear what this means, how it is to be achieved, and how the effectiveness of interventions is to be assessed. It is argued that the capacity to learn should be interpreted as a portmanteau term that comprises a varied set of positive learning dispositions. These are illustrated, and the idea of 'expansion' is glossed in terms of broadening, strengthening and deepening these dispositions.     

Continuous frequency and phase spectrograms： a study of their 2D and 3D capabilities and application to musical signal analysis

A new lighting and enlargement on phase spectrogram （PS） and frequency spectrogram （FS） is presented in this paper. These representations result from the coupling of power spectrogram and short time Fourier transform （STFT）. The main contribution is the construction of the 3D phase spectrogram （3DPS） and the 3D frequency spectrogram （3DFS）. These new tools allow such specific test signals as small slope linear chirp, phase jump case of musical signal analysis is reported. The main objective is to and small frequency jump to be analyzed. An application detect small frequency and phase variations in order to characterize each type of sound attack without losing the amplitude information given by power spectrogram     

A mathematical formulation of keyword compression for thesauri

In this paper we demonstrate a new method for concentrating the set of key-words of a thesaurus. This method is based on a mathematical study that we have carried out into the distribution of characters in a defined natural language.We have built a function f of concentration which generates only a few synonyms. In applying this function to the set of key-words of a thesaurus, we reduce each key-word to four characters without synonymity. (For three characters we have a rate of synonymity of approx. 1/1000th.)A new structure of binary files allows the thesaurus to be contained in a table of less than 700 bytes.     

Complementarities in organizational design and the diffusion of information technologies: An empirical analysis

We use a specially designed survey on French firms located in Haute-Savoie to provide empirical evidence suggesting that Information and Communication Technologies adoption is not only influenced by the traditional factors of technology diffusion but also by complementarity effects between strategies, organization and information technologies. The data collected permitted several advances. Firstly, we could study authentic ICT while the recent literature has mainly focused on computer capital stocks or automation tools. Secondly, we constructed measures of the determinants put forward by the models of technology diffusion. Thirdly, we studied three kinds of practices: organizational and strategic practices, technological choices.     

The mystery of the Einstein-Poincaré connection

This essay discusses attempts that have been made to explain the striking similarities between two theories propounded in 1905 by Albert Einstein and Henri Poincaré without any mutual reference.     

The (im)materiality of literacy: the significance of subjectivity to new literacies research

This article deconstructs the online and offline experience to show its complexities and idiosyncratic nature. It proposes a theoretical framework designed to conceptualise aspects of meaning-making across on- and offline contexts. In arguing for the ‘(im)materiality’ of literacy, it makes four propositions which highlight the complex and diverse relationships between the immaterial and material associated with meaning-making. Complementing existing sociocultural perspectives on literacy, the article draws attention to the significance of relationships between space, mediation, materiality and embodiment to literacy practices. This in turn emphasises the importance of the subjective in understanding how different locations, experiences and so forth inflect literacy practice. The article concludes by drawing on the Deleuzian concept of the ‘baroque’ to suggest that this focus on articulations between the material and immaterial helps us to see literacy as multiply and flexibly situated.     

Do null phonemic masking effects reflect strategic control of phonology?

Verstaen, Humphreys, Olson and D'Ydewalle [(1995) Journal of Memory and Language, 34, 335–356] reported null phonemic masking effectswith homophone targets under conditionsdiscouraging reliance on phonology. Theyattributed these null effects to the absence ofreliance on phonology, concluding that relianceon phonology may be strategically controlled. Two studies using Verstaen et al.'s methodoccasionally replicate these null phonemicmasking effects, but challenge theirinterpretation. The emergence of null phonemicmasking effects was unrelated to the strategymanipulation. Conversely, evidence forphonology emerged in homophone errorsregardless of the strategy manipulation anddespite null phonemic masking effects. Ourfindings reflect an inherent instability in theperception of homophones. We demonstrate thatthis instability is directly due to reliance onphonology, rather than to its control.     

What Kind of Learning Does Self‐assessment Drive? Developing a ‘nose’ for quality: comments on Klenowski (1995)

Klenowski (1995) identifies three aspects of ‘self‐assessment’. The present commentary examines these from the point of view of the development of learning‐to‐learn or ‘learning acumen’, which, it is proposed, comprises resilience, resourcefulness, reflectivity and responsibility. The minimal sense of self‐evaluation, in which students merely learn to monitor their performance in terms of externally specified criteria, may raise attainment without improving learning acumen, and may even damage it. What constitutes ‘good work’ is, in many domains, not reducible to the application of predetermined criteria. Self‐evaluation is essentially an intuitive process. Learning to see self‐evaluation as ‘marking one's own work’ by applying a checklist of criteria prevents the development of this intuitive ability.     

Anything goes: Or,how the accommodation of Europe's universities to European integration integrates an inspiring number of contradictions

Abstract

This article analyses the implications for the integration of higher education in Europe as presented by the Bologna process. It examines the evidence presented in official documents which claim a wide‐spread consensus for this initiative. The article analyses the particular ideological commitment built into the Bologna process in the light of its four objectives Mobility, Employ ability, Competitiveness and Attractiveness. It questions whether that consensus, largely taken for granted at the higher levels of political discussion, is fully reflected in ‘le pays reel’ ‐ at the chalk face. It argues that the main test of the Bologna ‘principles’ will come when talk gives way to implementation, both at the level of first degrees and in the area of research training.