From Representation to Emergence: Complexity's challenge to the epistemology of schooling

In modern, Western societies the purpose of schooling is to ensure that school‐goers acquire knowledge of pre‐existing practices, events, entities and so on. The knowledge that is learned is then tested to see if the learner has acquired a correct or adequate understanding of it. For this reason, it can be argued that schooling is organised around a representational epistemology: one which holds that knowledge is an accurate representation of something that is separate from knowledge itself. Since the object of knowledge is assumed to exist separately from the knowledge itself, this epistemology can also be considered ‘spatial.’ In this paper we show how ideas from complexity have challenged the ‘spatial epistemology’ of representation and we explore possibilities for an alternative ‘temporal’ understanding of knowledge in its relationship to reality. In addition to complexity, our alternative takes its inspiration from Deweyan ‘transactional realism’ and deconstruction. We suggest that ‘knowledge’ and ‘reality’ should not be understood as separate systems which somehow have to be brought into alignment with each other, but that they are part of the same emerging complex system which is never fully ‘present’ in any (discrete) moment in time. This not only introduces the notion of time into our understanding of the relationship between knowledge and reality, but also points to the importance of acknowledging the role of the ‘unrepresentable’ or ‘incalculable’. With this understanding knowledge reaches us not as something we receive but as a response, which brings forth new worlds because it necessarily adds something (which was not present anywhere before it appeared) to what came before. This understanding of knowledge suggests that the acquisition of curricular content should not be considered an end in itself. Rather, curricular content should be used to bring forth that which is incalculable from the perspective of the present. The epistemology of emergence therefore calls for a switch in focus for curricular thinking, away from questions about presentation and representation and towards questions about engagement and response.     

The challenge of multiple perspectives: multiple solution tasks for students incorporating diverse tools and representation systems

This study focuses on the role of multiple solution tasks (MST) incorporating multiple learning tools and representation systems (MTRS) in encouraging each student to develop multiple perspectives on the learning concepts under study and creativity of thought. Specifically, two types of MST were used, namely tasks that allowed and demanded multiple solutions and tasks that allowed but did not demand multiple solutions from each student. Each of these tasks was tested in the field using 14-year-old students, through a comparative experiment on the learning of the mathematical notion of area within the C.AR.ME computer microworld that provides MTRS for the learning of area. Data analysis reveals that all students who were asked to encounter tasks allowing and demanding multiple solutions within C.AR.ME were motivated to invent a plethora of solution strategies to these tasks, by integrating both their intuitive and school-based knowledge with the knowledge embodied within C.AR.ME, and to construct diverse perspectives on the concepts in question which are non-common to paper-and-pencil and school practices. On the other hand, students expressed limited views on these concepts when faced with tasks that allowed but did not demand multiple solutions.     

Find 'Em or Grow Your Own

Given the small number of library/information service professionals from minority groups the profession can not afford to fail to make recruiting from cultural/ethnic/linguistic minorities a priority. This will require innovative recruiting tactics on the part of current professionals to guide para-professionals, non-professionals and volunteers to entering this profession. It will require some degree of flexibility on the part of schools of library/information science to meet the needs of these students. Employers too will have to make it possible for current staff who desire it to complete their professional education. Administrators have a role in creating staffing patterns to foster further education.     

The Invisible Woman?

While the coverage of women's sport in UK media rises to comparable levels to men's sports during large sporting events like the Olympics, academics agree that “routine” women's sports coverage is under-represented. According to the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation, “81% of people think that the female athletes at London 2012 make better role models for young girls than other celebrities.” This article examines the representation of women in sport and compares routine coverage of women's sports in the UK national press across a week in February 2012, six months before the London Olympics, with coverage in a week in February 2013, six months after the Olympics, to see if there has been an Olympic “legacy” that increased coverage. It also examines coverage at the same time of year a decade earlier, to see how far, if at all, women's sports coverage in newspapers has progressed. The results suggest that there has been minimal change in everyday coverage of women's sports after the Olympics, and that female athletes continue to be hugely under-represented in the UK press.     

THE REPRESENTATION OF THIRD-COUNTRY NATIONALS IN EUROPEAN NEWS DISCOURSE

Based on semi-structured interviews with journalists in six European countries, this article examines the extent to which the findings of recent literature about the representation of migrants in European media content are reflected in the perceptions of journalists themselves about the way in which migrants are represented in the media discourses produced by their outlets. It finds that the four key findings of the literature were by and large confirmed, namely inaccurate group labelling and designation, negative or victimised representation, under-representation of migrants in quotations, and the scarce reference to a wider European context. Finally, the article discusses media professionals' self-reported awareness about general professional ethics versus diversity-specific ethics, and about the way in which their outlets cover news involving “new” immigrants, i.e. nationals of non-European Union countries residing in the European Union, and examines the differences between media practices and perceptions in “old” and “new” immigration countries.

For a full explanation of the methodology of the research project, please see the introduction in this themed section: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2012.740213.     

案例教学法在汽修高级工培训中的实践与思考

在汽修高级工培训中，可选用某一汽修故障为案例，通过设疑，启发学员分析、讨论。最终提高学员的判断能力和操作能力。这种案例教学法在实施过程中需要其他教学方法作为补充，且要求教师具备较丰富的实际工作经验，并能很好地组织教学过程。     

函数族S的支撑点的一种刻划--纪念前苏联几何函数论名家戈鲁津诞辰100周年

单叶解析函数族S的具最大模增长方向的子族S(α)具有许多独特性质,本文首先探讨了S(α)的边界奇点的特征,找到其与族S的支撑点集suppS的关系,从而揭示出进一步讨论suppS精密性质的一条途径。     

"文革"文学中的死亡叙事

在以阶级斗争为纲并充斥着泛斗争意识的"文革"文学中,死亡叙事体现为:追忆苦难之死既激发着人们的斗争意识,也表达了对救世的感恩;对人物死亡焦虑的叙写,不仅体现了当时整个意识形态领域和社会生活中偶像崇拜的时代风尚,也导致了那段历史时期整体民族精神的滑坡;对死亡姿态的审美展示,则力图表现人物死亡的内在价值与外在形式的"完美结合"。这些共同构成了泛斗争语境中死亡政治的文学表达。