Students’ Ideas about How and Why Chemical Reactions Happen: Mapping the conceptual landscape

Research in science education has revealed that many students struggle to understand chemical reactions. Improving teaching and learning about chemical processes demands that we develop a clearer understanding of student reasoning in this area and of how this reasoning evolves with training in the domain. Thus, we have carried out a qualitative study to explore students reasoning about chemical causality and mechanism. Study participants included individuals at different educational levels, from college to graduate school. We identified diverse conceptual modes expressed by students when engaged in the analysis of different types of reactions. Main findings indicate that student reasoning about chemical reactions is influenced by the nature of the process. More advanced students tended to express conceptual modes that were more normative and had more explanatory power, but major conceptual difficulties persisted in their reasoning. The results of our study are relevant to educators interested in conceptual development, learning progressions, and assessment.     

An examination of the construct of legitimate peripheral participation as a theoretical framework in literacy research

This review critically examines the use in literacy research of Lave and Wenger's (1991) construct of legitimate peripheral participation (LPP), a view of learning as participation by which newcomers adopt a group's ways, moving from periphery to the center of a practice. From a search through 10 literacy-relevant journals from 1991 to the present, we purposively selected 20 pieces that relied centrally on LPP and analyzed these for ways in which practice and apprenticeship were instantiated. Regarding practice, we inquired about legitimacy and engagement; regarding apprenticeship, we asked about the deployment of experts' attention and the cost of newcomers' mistakes. Using the benefit of the 20+ years since the original publication, our critique offers six principles to evaluate researchers' use of LPP and community of practice as constructs to describe learners' experience, and summarizes how some of our 20 studies made felicitous use of the constructs and others less so.     

Big and open linked data analytics ecosystem: Theoretical background and essential elements

Big and open linked data are often mentioned together because storing, processing, and publishing large amounts of these data play an increasingly important role in today's society. However, although this topic is described from the political, economic, and social points of view, a technical dimension, which is represented by big data analytics, is insufficient. The aim of this review article was to provide a theoretical background of big and open linked data analytics ecosystem and its essential elements. First, the key terms were introduced including related dimensions. Then, the key lifecycle phases were defined and involved stakeholders were identified. Finally, a conceptual framework was proposed. In contrast to previous research, the new ecosystem is formed by interactions of stakeholders in the following dimensions and their sub-dimensions: transparency, engagement, legal, technical, social, and economic. These relationships are characterized by the most important requisites and public policy choices affecting the data analytics ecosystem together with the key phases and activities of the data analytics lifecycle. The findings should contribute to relevant initiatives, strategies, and policies and their effective implementation.     

Modeling the developmental trajectories of rational number concept(s)

The present study focuses on the development of two sub-concepts necessary for a complete mathematical understanding of rational numbers, a) representations of the magnitudes of rational numbers and b) the density of rational numbers. While difficulties with rational number concepts have been seen in students' of all ages, including educated adults, little is known about the developmental trajectories of the separate sub-concepts. We measured 10- to 12-year-old students' conceptual knowledge of rational numbers at three time points over a one-year period and estimated models of their conceptual knowledge using latent variable mixture models. Knowledge of magnitude representations is necessary, but not sufficient, for knowledge of density concepts. A Latent Transition Analysis indicated that few students displayed sustained understanding of rational numbers, particularly concepts of density. Results confirm difficulties with rational number conceptual change and suggest that latent variable mixture models can be useful in documenting these processes.     

The representation of fraction magnitudes and the whole number bias reconsidered

Two experiments investigated the whole number bias in the representation of fraction magnitudes with adults. A fraction magnitude comparison task was used where half of the comparisons were consistent with whole number ordering and the other half were not. Distance effects were found in Experiment 1 indicating that participants were comparing the magnitude of the whole fraction rather than just the parts. However, accuracy and response time also depended on the comparisons' consistency with whole number ordering. Experiment 2 manipulated the distance between the fraction pairs and showed that the whole number effect was strongest when the distance between the fraction pairs was very small. The results suggest that even skilled adults do not always have direct access to a fraction's magnitude on the number line. When the magnitudes are especially close together, adults may rely on alternative implicit or explicit strategies, such as examining the whole number parts, to evaluate the comparison.     

美剧《老友记》中幽默言语解读机制的认知研究

该文试图结合认知语言学中的概念整合理论以及V-N理论,分析美剧《老友记》中幽默言语的解读机制,探讨剧中的幽默言语是如何被观众解读以产生幽默效果。在建立起理论模型后,该文将结合剧中的语料按照概念整合的四种类型依次进行分析,以揭示言语幽默解读过程中的认知机制。     

概念整合理论下的中国英语的词汇翻译研究

国内对中国英语以及对中国英语中的词汇的翻译研究发展了近30年的时间,不同的人对中国英语中词汇的翻译问题所持有的态度也不同,传统的翻译方法自身存在的问题并不能够凸显中国英语作为一种具有中国特色的英语变体的特点,概念整合理论以其强大的认知阐释力证明了中国英语的词汇翻译是一种中国人独有的认知活动,从而进一步证明了中国英语是一种普遍存在的具有中国特色的英语变体。     

概念整合理论下的英语新词研究

随着互联网的发展,英语新词层出不穷,它的创造及流行不仅丰富了语言本身,还为人们生活带来了乐趣。该文从概念整合理论出发,从认知层面解释英语新词的意义建构。我们认为：新词的新概念与语言中已有的概念相关联,而这种关联正是概念整合的过程。     

Concreteness fading in learning secondary school physics concepts

Concreteness fading has been proposed as a general instructional approach to support learning of abstract mathematics and science concepts. Accordingly, organizing external knowledge representations in a three-step concrete-to-idealized sequence should be more beneficial than the reverse, concreteness introduction, sequence. So far, evidence for the benefits of concreteness fading come mainly from studies investigating learning of basic mathematics concepts. Studies on learning natural science concepts are scarce and have not implemented the full three-step-sequence. In an experimental classroom study (N = 70), we compared concreteness fading and concreteness introduction in high school science education about electromagnetic induction using a detailed assessment. Furthermore, we explored whether these sequences differentially affect the use of the different representations during instruction. Both sequences were equally effective and there were no differences in using the representations. We discuss why our results question the proposed advantages of concreteness fading and highlight conceptual differences and learning goals across domains.     

Developing children's conceptual understanding of area measurement: A curriculum and teaching experiment

The present study examined the effectiveness of three instructional treatments which had different combinations of mathematical elements regarding 2-dimensional (2-D) geometry and area measurement for developing 4th-grade children's understanding of the formulas for area measurement and their ability to solve area measurement problems. Participants were 120 fourth graders. The results showed that the enriched curriculum, involving the geometry motions and area measurement connections effectively facilitated children's mathematical judgments and explanations demanding high-level conceptual understanding. The instructional curricula accentuating only 2-D geometry or numerical calculations for area measurement did not exhibit such effectiveness. Interview data revealed that the geometric operations of superimposition, decomposition, re-composition as well as the concept of congruence were deemed essential by children for the conceptualization of the formulas for area measurement.