Positive experiences as input for reflection by student teachers

In many teacher training courses, reflection upon practice plays a very important role in learning to teach. A number of strategies have been developed to help student teachers learn to reflect. Current reflection strategies often focus on problematic instead of on positive experiences. Ideas from positive psychology and solution‐based therapy have inspired us to question whether problematic experiences should always be taken as starting point for reflection. Instead, teachers might learn even more from reflecting on positive experiences. Thus, the aim of the current study is to compare the outcomes of reflecting on difficult, problematic experiences with those of reflecting on positive experiences. We focused on three outcome areas: (1) the content of teachers’ resolutions after reflecting because decisions need to be productive, (2) their motivation to act on their decision because teachers need to implement their resolutions, and (3) the emotions they have during the process of reflection because emotions are very influential to thinking and learning. In an exploratory study, 16 student biology teachers were asked to reflect on two problematic and two positive teaching experiences and to take notes during the reflection process. Subsequently, these student teachers indicated their motivation for implementing their resolutions and they reported their emotions evoked by the reflection processes. In order to gain insight into results with respect to the three outcome areas, the content of the teachers’ resolutions was categorized, motivation scores were averaged, and emotions were scored and calculated. Our investigation showed that student teachers who reflected on positive experiences made more innovative resolutions, were more highly motivated to implement these resolutions and had more positive feelings compared to when reflecting on problematic experiences. Implications of the findings include the use of reflection methods based on positive experiences for experience‐based learning and for developing adaptive expertise in teacher education. We also present some avenues for further research.     

图书情报学的学术思想与技术方法及其开新

本文对图书情报学已有学术思想与技术方法按外引和内生两类进行梳理,指出“三个世界”理论、“老三论”等是外引思想与方法的典型,而阮冈纳赞图书馆学五定律、布鲁克斯情报学理论、加菲尔德引文分析法则是内生思想与方法的标志。定基极小设定极大展开基本原理,逻辑推论以书—人—用为形式架构、数据—信息—知识为内容架构的图书情报学思想体系,进而提出数据治理、信息优化、知识解析三大研究方向中的十类研究问题,包括:①数字图书馆和数字信息管理;②数字化知识传承和数据驱动学术研究;③关联数据与数据智能;④大数据分析与AI数据分析;⑤网络化信息组织;⑥多维信息检索;⑦智能信息分析;⑧知识表达及处理;⑨知识分析及可视化;⑩学术评价。文章概略揭示对图书情报学研究有启示作用的学术思想与技术方法及其开新。图1。参考文献39。     

Reply to Sana et al.’s (2022) Commentary on Rest-from-Deliberate-Learning as a Mechanism for the Spacing Effect

Educational Psychology Review - Sana and colleagues (2022) have raised a number of challenges regarding the operationalisation of constructs and selection of articles to Chen et al.’s...     

Dancing in Fetters? Chinese Principals’ Perceptions of the Effects of Finnish Training Programs

Although there is an increased interest in overseas training for educational leaders in China, little is known about the value of such programs. This qualitative case study explores Chinese school principals’ perceptions of leadership practices and professional development after undertaking a Finnish training program. The article also explores difficulties related to different educational contexts when an attempt is made at applying the Finnish education experience to China. Famed for its excellent education, Finland is currently actively involved in exporting its education by providing such training programs to the whole world. Data was collected by semi-structured interviews with six Shanghai principals. The results showed a certain level of satisfaction but also needs for improvement. It thus appears that such an overseas training program can play a positive but limited role in expanding Chinese principals’ leadership practices and professional development.     

An Embedded and Embodied Cognition Review of Instructional Manipulatives

Recent literature on learning with instructional manipulatives seems to call for a moderate view on the effects of perceptual and interactive richness of instructional manipulatives on learning. This “moderate view” holds that manipulatives’ perceptual and interactive richness may compromise learning in two ways: (1) by imposing a very high cognitive load on the learner, and (2) by hindering drawing of symbolic inferences that are supposed to play a key role in transfer (i.e., application of knowledge to new situations in the absence of instructional manipulatives). This paper presents a contrasting view. Drawing on recent insights from Embedded Embodied perspectives on cognition, it is argued that (1) perceptual and interactive richness may provide opportunities for alleviating cognitive load (Embedded Cognition), and (2) transfer of learning is not reliant on decontextualized knowledge but may draw on previous sensorimotor experiences of the kind afforded by perceptual and interactive richness of manipulatives (Embodied Cognition). By negotiating the Embedded Embodied Cognition view with the moderate view, implications for research are derived.     

Does Your Company Have a Performance GPS?

This article examines the Performance GPS, a tool to use in identifying the paths for getting from here to there. This tool cannot be purchased; it must be built. Building it requires mapping and linking the four basic domains of performance found in organizations: people, processes, units, and the organization itself. A set of such diagrams provides a Performance GPS, a road map to results.     

Problematic students of NASP‐approved programs: An exploratory study of graduate student views

This study reports the findings of an electronic exploratory survey of National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Student Representatives. The purpose of the survey was to gather information about the perspective of graduate students concerning problematic peers and their experiences with them in school psychology training programs. Findings suggest that (a) students are unsure whether or not their training programs have an official procedure in place for dealing with problematic students; (b) the problems they observe most commonly involve poor interpersonal skills; (c) consistent with other mental health programs, school psychology graduate students most often talk with their peers or avoid contact with the problematic peer when they have concerns rather than go to faculty; (d) the majority (49.4%) of the respondents feel that faculty or training directors have the most responsibility for the identification of problematic peers but that students have an ethical duty to provide information to the teaching staff if they feel they have a reason to believe there is a problem of which the faculty is unaware. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Nudging in education: from theory towards guidelines for successful implementation

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Nudging is one of the strategies from behavioral economics that aims to influence behavior by changing the environment. We propose that it could also...