Negativity: a Disturbing Constitutive Matter in Education

This paper comments on ‘Critique and Negativity: Towards the Pluralisation of Critique in Educational Practice, Theory and Research’ by Dietrich Benner and Andrea English. Negativity is a disquieting ghost for teachers, educational researchers, administrators and other professionals of this field, including those involved in the design of policy. First, I make some remarks in response to the essay by Benner and English in order to draw attention to the importance of dealing with negativity. Second, I introduce a further problematisation of negativity: I deal with the practical issues that emerge from the conceptual reactivation of negativity and the possible consequences that result from this in the context of teaching graduate seminars. I am especially concerned with the ways in which negativity is inscribed in the process of knowledge production (that is, research), and in the possible consequences of subscribing to one or the other concept of negativity (teleological negativity, parasitic negativity, and relational negativity as the sine qua non condition for any ontology). Lastly, I raise some points for discussion with regard to certain possible consequences of the use of one or another notion of negativity in teaching and research.     

Transforming collaborative writing tasks into opportunities for learning: educational assistance and the use of rubrics in Higher Education / Transformando las tareas de escritura colaborativa en oportunidades para aprender: ayuda educativa y uso de rúbricas en la Educación Superior

Abstract

This study, framed within a socio-cultural perspective of teaching that sees collaborative writing as a learning instrument, presents an innovative teaching experience related to the use of collaborative writing tasks to foster learning, combining face-to-face and online group work sessions. The study was conducted with the participation of 13 students — organised into three different groups — taking a subject of a Master’s degree in Psychology of Education, and the two teachers responsible for delivering the subject. The results of the experience have highlighted the need to provide different learning assistance which is not solely aimed at managing meaning, but also at managing the task itself and the participation in it. The results also show the importance of embedding such assistance in the design as well as the development of the instructional process. Among the different forms of assistance available, the data show the benefits of using rubrics as tools to support the shared understanding of tasks by teachers and students and as a tool to support learning. Finally, results show that the collaborative writing tasks carried out throughout the course have been useful both for learning the content and for developing the abilities required for managing the students’ own joint activity.     

Gender (im)balance in the pool of graduate talent: the portuguese case

Tertiary Education and Management - Doctoral education has grown substantially, resulting in a larger and diverse pool of graduates for research. Simultaneously, gender balance in research has...     

Cosas que usted no tuvo ocasión de preguntar sobre el aprendizaje y la enseñanza del lenguaje escrito a alumnos con NEE

En formato coloquial y de entrevista las autoras nos cuentan su proceso de reflexión didáctica para lograr una innovación general del modo y perspectiva para enseñar el lenguaje escrito, pasando desde un método tradicional basado en la enseñanza de un repertorio fonético y gráfico, a una enseñanza basada en la interacción y comprensión del propio proceso de escribir y leer, que resultó estar también perfectamente al alcance de los niños con necesidades educativas especiales.     

Estado actual de la investigación en psicología de la ceguera

Resumen

En este artículo se presenta un resumen de la literatura psicológica sobre la ceguera, haciendo especial énfasis en las investigaciones realizadas por los autores y los restantes miembros del equipo de trabajo. Comienza con una introducción sobre las características fenomenológicas de la ceguera y continúa exponiendo el método que se utiliza para la investigación. Se concede especial interés a la descripción de las peculiaridades del desarrollo cognitivo de los invidentes. El trabajo concluye con la explicación de la lógica del presente tema monográfico dentro de la línea de investigación sobre psicología de fa ceguera.     

Evolution of the personal teaching models of prospective secondary school science teachers as expressed through metaphors

This study analyses the evolution of the personal metaphors of 31 science graduates enrolled in a Master’s degree course in Secondary Education Teaching during the 2012–13 academic year. The instrument used was an open questionnaire that included asking the participants to make drawings representing the roles of the teacher. Four categories of metaphor were considered: behaviourist/transmissive, cognitivist/constructivist, situative/socio-historical, and self-referential. It was found that most of the prospective teachers were indeed able to conceptualize their roles in the form of metaphors. Comparison of the results before and after the teaching practicum revealed no changes in most of the participants’ metaphors and associated models. Instead, these appeared to be firmly set already at the beginning of the Master’s course, and remained uninfluenced by either the course or the practicum. Only a minority of the participants showed changes in their metaphors—5 with progressive changes, and 5 with regressive changes.