Identities, social representations and critical thinking

This comment on L. Simonneaux and J. Simonneaux paper focuses on the role of identities in dealing with socio-scientific issues. We argue that there are two types of identities (social representations) influencing the students’ positions: On the one hand their social representations of the bears’ and wolves’ identities as belonging to particular countries (Slovenia versus France for bears, France and Italy for wolves), in other words, as having national identities; on the other hand representations of their own identities as belonging to the field of agricultural practitioners, and so sharing this socio-professional identity with shepherds and breeders, as opposed to ecologists. We discuss how these representations of identities influenced students’ reasoning and argumentation, blocking in some cases the evaluation of evidence. Implications for developing critical thinking and for dealing with SSI in the classrooms are outlined.

Commentary: Towards an Integrated View of Learning from Text and Visual Displays

Visuo-spatial text adjuncts such as static or animated pictures, geographic maps, thematic maps, graphs, and knowledge maps that have been analyzed in the articles contained in this special issue provide complex pictorial information that complements the verbal information of texts. These spatial text adjuncts are considered as depictive representations that can support communication, thinking, and learning. An essential precondition of this supportive function is that the visuo-spatial displays interact appropriately with human visual perception and the individual's cognitive system, which is characterized by prior knowledge, cognitive abilities, and learning skills. Accordingly, effective learning with visuo-spatial text adjuncts can be fostered by instructional design and by adequate processing strategies, both dependent on sufficient understanding of how the human cognitive system interacts with these displays. Perspectives for further research in this area are provided.     

Strategies of resistance to anti-Islamic representations among Australian Muslim women: an intersectional approach

ABSTRACT

Contemporary anti-Islamic discourses in Australia construct Islam as an uncivilised belief system and its Muslim followers as homogenous unassimilable Others. Within these discourses, the diversity among Muslim women has been overshadowed, and they are constructed as a monolithic ‘veiled’ woman. Drawing on 20 conversational interviews with veiled and unveiled Australian Muslim women from various cultural backgrounds, this paper explores the diverse ways in which Muslim women resist and challenge anti-Islamic discourses on Islam, Muslims and Muslim women. Guided by intersectional theories on identity and resistance, our analysis show that the women drew on discursive and performative strategies to contest anti-Islamic representations that homogenise and vilify Muslims and construct Muslim women as veiled and oppressed. The findings also show that the ways in which women contested hegemonic anti-Islamic representations were diverse and informed by intersecting power and social locations, including race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. Implications for research on resistance and identity negotiations of minority groups are discussed.     

二语熟练程度与双语句法表征

在研究考察二语熟练程度与双语句法表征的关系中,借鉴国外句法启动的经典实验范式,设计针对不同水平英语学习者的跨语言句法启动实验,结果我们发现,汉英存在不平衡的启动效应：L1-L2的效应大于L2-L1,高水平英语学习者的效应大于低水平,且随着英语熟练程度的提高汉英双语句法表征融合度更高、共享的层面更显著。     

“中国美国新加坡”小学数学教材中的“分数定义”

选取中国、新加坡、美国的小学数学主流教材,比较教材中分数定义的相关内容。发现3个国家教材中出现的定义种类大体相同,都包含4种：份数定义、商的定义、数线定义、比的定义,但定义的表征形式及呈现顺序有很大不同,对中国的教材编写及教学设计有一定的借鉴意义。     

Does multimedia learning theory extend to middle-school students?

The purpose of this study is to translate principles of multimedia learning from college-age readers to middle grade students, when reading science texts with a supporting diagram. In this experimental study, sixth-grade students (n = 180) were randomly assigned to display conditions before reading. Each student read two explanatory sciences passages, a life-science and a physical science text. Passages were accompanied by either no illustrations (control), illustrations of the cycle with labels for each part (parts), illustrations of the cycle with labels for each major process (steps), or illustrations showing the labels for each part and each major process (parts and steps). Additionally, there were two text conditions in which half of the students read standard text (control) and half read texts with cues which indicated to students when to access the diagrams (cued). Through ANOVA analysis, in the life-science text students showed modest improvement (partial η² = .18) from the addition of diagrams, with the parts diagram and the steps diagram outperforming the control. In the physical science text, students did not receive benefit from the diagrams. Findings did not replicate results from college-age readers to younger readers, nor between the two texts with younger readers. These results raise concern for the application of multimedia design theory to classroom practice.     

Action knowledge and symbolic knowledge. The computer as mediator / Conocimiento basado en la acción y conocimiento simbólico. El equipo informático como mediador

I begin by stating a small set of troublesome but pervasive educational issues. While these have remained in the background during our work, they have served as the impetus for developing and reflecting on possible roles for computer technology in classrooms. In the remaining sections of the paper I propose that the computer can serve as an effective mediator between action and symbol. After setting the scene in the Laboratory for Making Things, I give an extended example of how computer-as-mediator contributes to learning when played out in this rather unusual classroom.     

About cooperative engineering: theory and emblematic examples

In this article we focus on ‘cooperative engineering’, in which teachers and researchers co-design didactic sequences. In the first part of the article, we present cooperative engineering by describing some of the main principles on which it is grounded. The second part is dedicated to a case study, which enables us to illustrate some elements of the collective work in a specific cooperative design in kindergarten. The designed learning game, the ‘Treasure Game’, aimed to assist kindergarten students to build a system of graphical representations, which was implemented in a series of phases in which students were asked to memorise a series of items with increasing levels of difficulty. The game demonstrated the students’ growing competence in recalling items using strategies such as making lists and working collaboratively to collectively recall items through a ‘treasure box’. In the third part of the article, we show how this case study embodies some of the main principles put forward in the first part.     

Analysing the socio-psychological construction of identity among pre-service teachers

A teacher’s representation of self is crucial in how they construct their identity. In this article, it is argued that pre-service teachers’ identities are intricately linked to their perceptions of the teaching profession. This paper explores the social construction of identity among pre-service teachers and the implications for professional identity. It focuses on pre-service teachers in Kenya. The findings presented here are primarily based on semi-structured interviews distributed among students enrolled in a Kenyan university. They highlight pre-service teachers’ difficulty in overcoming the negative perceptions of the profession and building positive identities of self as teacher. They also underscore the need for training programmes that take perceptions and representations of the teaching profession into account when formulating training curricula.     

以"三个代表"重要思想为指导努力创新高校党建工作

进入21世纪，高校党建工作面临着新形势新任务，遇到了新矛盾新问题。高校党务工作者要继承中国共产党永葆生机和活力的重要法宝-创新，在党建工作的观念、领域、方法、机制等方面进行创新，不断开创高校党建工作的新局面，为高校的健康、快速发展提供强有力的保证。