Collaborative talk in mathematics – contrasting examples from third graders

There is a substantial body of knowledge on the importance of language for learning in general, and for learning mathematics in particular. Hence, language skills and collaborative learning are emphasised in the Norwegian curriculum. Even so, we have few studies on what supports and what impedes mathematical progress in authentic learning situations. In this article, we investigate contrasting dialogues between two pairs of eight-year-old pupils solving mathematical tasks. The analysis in our video-based study shows that both communication skills and use of tools have a profound impact on third graders’ potential to solve tasks as a joint enterprise.     

Using mobile devices to enhance inquiry-based learning processes

Technological advances offer the possibility of using mobile devices to enrich learning environments with multimedia content. Although physical experiments play a key role in science learning, little is known about integrating multimedia learning in physical experimental processes, especially in realistic classroom settings. In our approach, students use tablets to investigate motion with an application providing multiple representations of the measurement data. We present the results of a cluster-randomized controlled study with high school students (average age = 15.6, N = 286) conducted between 2017 and 2018 in 11 secondary schools in Germany. Conceptual understanding of physics, cognitive load, and assessment of teacher behavior were surveyed. Multilevel regression analysis revealed that this approach leads to a significant reduction of extraneous cognitive load and to greater conceptual knowledge. A confirmatory path analysis revealed that these effects can be traced back to the treatment and are not significantly influenced by teacher behavior.     

坚持党的性质增强党的基础

坚持党的性质,就要以"三个代表"思想为指针,牢牢把握工人阶级是我们党不可动摇的阶级基础,从而增强党的基础,扩大党的群众基础,进一步加强党的建设.     

Intersection of argumentation and the use of multiple representations in the context of socioscientific issues

Using multiple representations and argumentation are two fundamental processes in science. With the advancements of information communication technologies, these two processes are blended more so than ever before. However, little is known about how these two processes interact with each other in student learning. Hence, we conducted a design-based study in order to distill the relationship between these two processes. Specifically, we designed a learning unit on nuclear energy and implemented it with a group of preservice middle school teachers. The participants used a web-based knowledge organization platform that incorporated three representational modes: textual, concept map, and pictorial. The participants organized their knowledge on nuclear energy by searching, sorting, clustering information through the use of these representational modes and argued about the nuclear energy issue. We found that the use of multiple representations and argumentation interacted with each other in a complex way. Based on our findings, we argue that the complexity can be unfolded in two aspects: (a) the use of multiple representations mediates argumentation in different forms and for different purposes; (b) the type of argumentation that leads to refinement of the use of multiple representations is often non-mediated and drawn from personal experience.     

Portraying intelligence: children’s drawings of intelligent men and women in Finnish and Russian Karelia

This study sets out to examine Finnish and Russian children’s representations of intellectual competence as contextualised in the hierarchies of abilities, age and gender. Finnish and Russian pupils, aged 11–12?years, were asked to draw pictures of an intelligent person and an ordinary person. It was found that gender appearance of intelligent men and women was less heterosexual than that of ordinary men and women. In Russian pictures, the intelligent characters, especially women, were widely separated from the ordinary ones in terms of cognitive-mental features. In Finnish depictions, the differentiation between the intelligent and ordinary characters, especially women, was not so categorical and was primarily based on status. It appears that Russian children are apt to relate their representations of intellectual ability to the institutionalised systems of cognitive competence, education and science, whereas Finnish children associate intelligence to social success as well. Further, cultural and gender-related hierarchies of age seemed to reflect in the children’s images.     

Learning fair representations by separating the relevance of potential information

Representation learning has recently been used to remove sensitive information from data and improve the fairness of machine learning algorithms in social applications. However, previous works that used neural networks are opaque and poorly interpretable, as it is difficult to intuitively determine the independence between representations and sensitive information. The internal correlation among data features has not been fully discussed, and it may be the key to improving the interpretability of neural networks. A novel fair representation algorithm referred to as FRC is proposed from this conjecture. It indicates how representations independent of multiple sensitive attributes can be learned by applying specific correlation constraints on representation dimensions. Specifically, dimensions of the representation and sensitive attributes are treated as statistical variables. The representation variables are divided into two parts related to and unrelated to the sensitive variables by adjusting their absolute correlation coefficient with sensitive variables. The potential impact of sensitive information on representations is concentrated in the related part. The unrelated part of the representation can be used in downstream tasks to yield fair results. FRC takes the correlation between dimensions as the key to solving the problem of fair representation. Empirical results show that our representations enhance the ability of neural networks to show fairness and achieve better fairness-accuracy tradeoffs than state-of-the-art works.     

Teachers’ social representation of students with Asperger diagnosis

While progress has been made for including students with disability into mainstream schools, trends point to problems for students with Asperger syndrome (AS) diagnosis who have a propensity to dropping out of school. Teachers’ perceptions and understanding of AS will affect expectations and the attainment of educational targets. Thus, to avoid barriers to students’ learning and participation, there is a need to shed light on teachers’ perceptions and beliefs that bear on teachers educational provision for students with AS. The aim of the study was therefore to elucidate mainstream teachers’ representations of students with AS by using the theoretical framework of Social Representation Theory and particularly looking at the effects of the sex of the teacher, grade level being taught and when the teachers received training themselves. Teachers in mainstream schools in Sweden were invited to complete a web-based questionnaire (N?=?170). Data were collected through an association task where the participants were asked to produce up to five words or phrases for the stimulus phrase ‘student with Asperger diagnosis’. The data were analysed through categorisation. We found that two-thirds of the macro-categories of mentions relate to ‘disabling aspects’, ‘individual needs’ and ‘individual characteristics’, while a third of the elements were tied to the environment and educational provision. Our results suggest that a medical approach dominates especially earlier trained teachers; however, there is a tendency to view the school environment as increasingly important. Representations about the disabling aspects decreased with the increase in the grades being taught, whereas the educational aspects increase with the increase in grades. Male teachers are more prone to relate to environmental aspects and educational provision while female teachers more often relate to needs and disability. We conclude that teachers tend to view AS from a medical approach but that the school environment is seen as increasingly important.     

Multi‐linear strategies for (re)presenting the complexity of young people in research

Within the current climate of unpredictability and constant change, young people at school are faced with a multitude of choices and contradictory influences. In this article, I argue that (re)presentations of young people in youth research need to reflect the complexity and multiplicity of their lives and changing priorities, and I attempt to (re)present a small group of young people in this particular milieu. I illustrate some of the competing influences in their lives, and I outline some specific strategies that are useful for (re)presenting these contextual worlds. The strategies I advocate disrupt the homogenous representations of ‘youth’ as a developmental phase and instead reflect the diverse spheres of influence which shape their subjectivities and practices.     

How sex education research methodologies frame GLBTIQ students

The ‘bullied’ gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and otherwise Queer (GLBTIQ) student is a fairly recent figure in the sexuality education research literature. GLBTIQ students have previously been problematised by sex education research in a range of different ways and have been the subjects of varying methodological interventions. This paper explores how the different ways in which GLBTIQ students have been constructed by research, have been to some extent interdependent on the research questions behind the inquiries and the methodologies and methods employed to explore them. To achieve this, the paper draws on a Foucaultian view of research as discursive and the GLBTIQ subject as an entry point for considering different research discourses. It reviews constructions of GLBTIQ students in past, recent and emerging research projects through post-structuralist reflection on the key research reports, studies and peer-reviewed journal articles that have shaped the field of contemporary research. Rather than asserting a dichotomy between sex education research that contributes to constructions of the ‘deviant homosexual student’ and studies that contribute to ‘bullying victim’ tropes, the paper considers both the usefulness and limitations of the many different types of inquiries being pursued and the diverse constructions of GLBTIQ students they offer. Future research approaches for particular contexts and audiences are identified.     

论当代西部生态小说的表征及形成原因

在中国生态文学创作和研究日臻成熟的今天,当代西部生态文学的创作也呈现出了繁荣的趋势,并逐渐形成了独特的面貌,开创了西部文学崭新的局面。探讨当代西部生态小说的一些基本表征及其形成的原因,并以此来进一步深化我们对当代西部生态小说特质的认识和研究。