Minds Online: The Interface between Web Science, Cognitive Science, and the Philosophy of Mind

Alongside existing research into the social, political and economic impacts of the Web, there is a need to study the Web from a cognitive and epistemic perspective. This is particularly so as new and emerging technologies alter the nature of our interactive engagements with the Web, transforming the extent to which our thoughts and actions are shaped by the online environment. Situated and ecological approaches to cognition are relevant to understanding the cognitive significance of the Web because of the emphasis they place on forces and factors that reside at the level of agent–world interactions. In particular, by adopting a situated or ecological approach to cognition, we are able to assess the significance of the Web from the perspective of research into embodied, extended, embedded, social and collective cognition. The results of this analysis help to reshape the interdisciplinary configuration of Web Science, expanding its theoretical and empirical remit to include the disciplines of both cognitive science and the philosophy of mind

Teachers as agents: Understanding teacher agency for global citizenship education in South Korea

This research explores primary school teachers’ agency for global citizenship education (GCE) in South Korea. Due to heightening attention to global perspectives in education, GCE was introduced into the formal education of South Korea through a government-led approach. Despite this, GCE seems dependent on individual teachers’ interests independent of the government’s ambition to pursue global citizens as one of its core curricular goals. Following this, this study investigates individual teachers’ agency for GCE and discusses the implications of findings, especially on teacher education. Following the critical tradition which seeks human emancipation, this thesis employs post-positivist realism as a methodology which allows discussion on agency concerning structural matters through analysing causal mechanisms and social conditions from empirical data. Following this, data are examined along with (1) the categorisation of global perspectives through Gramsci’s common sense, (2) pedagogical approaches to GCE for social justice from Freirean critical pedagogy, and (3) Emirbayer and Mische’s concept of agency redeveloped in relation to Holland, Skinner, Lachicotte, and Cain’s concept of a figured world. Data were mainly collected from eight primary school teachers in Korea through interviews and focus group discussions, and an additional 15 teachers by interviews for supplementary data. Findings show that teacher agency depends on individual teachers’ awareness of GCE and its significance. However, participants without experience in GCE seem to achieve agency within a curriculum regardless of their interests. Also, further data analysis on participants engaging in GCE shows that their teacher agency for GCE tends to be mediated within a given structure, which exposes the peripheral position of GCE in a curriculum contrary to the governmental promotion. Such ambivalence implies the importance of the social legitimacy of GCE to facilitate teacher agency, for which this thesis concludes with suggestions for teacher education

South American Expert Roundtable : increasing adaptive governance capacity for coping with unintended side effects of digital transformation

This paper presents the main messages of a South American expert roundtable (ERT) on the unintended side effects (unseens) of digital transformation. The input of the ERT comprised 39 propositions from 20 experts representing 11 different perspectives. The two-day ERT discussed the main drivers and challenges as well as vulnerabilities or unseens and provided suggestions for: (i) the mechanisms underlying major unseens; (ii) understanding possible ways in which rebound effects of digital transformation may become the subject of overarching research in three main categories of impact: development factors, society, and individuals; and (iii) a set of potential action domains for transdisciplinary follow-up processes, including a case study in Brazil. A content analysis of the propositions and related mechanisms provided insights in the genesis of unseens by identifying 15 interrelated causal mechanisms related to critical issues/concerns. Additionally, a cluster analysis (CLA) was applied to structure the challenges and critical developments in South America. The discussion elaborated the genesis, dynamics, and impacts of (groups of) unseens such as the digital divide (that affects most countries that are not included in the development of digital business, management, production, etc. tools) or the challenge of restructuring small- and medium-sized enterprises (whose service is digitally substituted by digital devices). We identify specific issues and effects (for most South American countries) such as lack of governmental structure, challenging geographical structures (e.g., inclusion in high-performance transmission power), or the digital readiness of (wide parts) of society. One scientific contribution of the paper is related to the presented methodology that provides insights into the phenomena, the causal chains underlying “wanted/positive” and “unwanted/negative” effects, and the processes and mechanisms of societal changes caused by digitalization

Epistemological activators and students' epistemologies in learning modern STEM topics

This dissertation is a collection of studies developed during my Ph.D. program within the Physics Education Research group of the University of Bologna. The entire work is driven by the role of epistemology in science as a means to orient learning and identity construction. Specifically, the study aims (i) to characterize epistemologically the design of teaching modules for High School on two main modern STEM topics: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Quantum Physics (QP), and (ii) to investigate the so-called ‘students’ epistemologies’ in the context of learning QP. In the first part, the use that I do of epistemology involves the individuation of transversal themes, activities, and ideas – that I define ‘epistemological activators’ - that can structure students’ knowledge on a meta-level and foster them to reflect on the nature of disciplines and knowledge in general; this results in the proposal of teaching paths and insights for High School both in the contexts of QP and AI. In the second part, I conduct a qualitative study on students’ epistemologies in learning QP. Previous analysis showed evidence of three specific requirements that students show in learning QP, which I referred to as epistemic needs: the needs of visualization, comparability and ‘reification’. Along with these results, I decided to conduct a study on the nature of the factors that trigger students’ stances towards and acceptance of QP, building on the research literature on personal epistemologies. To this extent, I collected extensive written and recorded data of High School students participating in an introductory course on QP. The analysis mainly highlighted (i) evidence of expectations about the role of ‘visual modeling’ and ‘math’ as two personally reliable means to bridge classical and quantum domains., and (ii) evidence of entanglement between specific students’ epistemologies and their meta-affective stances towards challenges in learning QP

The Human Flesh Search Engine in China: a case-oriented approach to understanding online collective action

There has been a growing interest in online politics in China. The research mostly focuses on the role of the Internet in two areas, one is its creation of a public sphere and the challenges it poses to the existing communication and political system, and the other one is online censorship undertaken by Chinese authorities to reduce the scope of political discussion online and keep the domestic cyberspace from being merged with foreign cyberspace. However, some political uses of the Internet in China have tended to be overlooked. This thesis seeks to redress this lacuna in research by examining the political focus of a recent Internet phenomenon the Human Flesh Search Engine (HFSE). This term might be more at home in pages of a horror novel but was originally applied by the Chinese media to refer to the practice of online searching for people or human hunting. While existing examinations have focused on breaches of individual privacy by these so called online vigilantes this study mainly focuses on the ability of HFSE to reveal norms transgressions by public officials and lead to their removal. As the politically-focused HFSE is part of the tendency of Chinese popular protest, it is necessary to explore how the HFSE differs from and is similar to those offline protests in China. A case-oriented approach is applied to the research on HFSE. More specifically, the first part of this research puts the understanding of HFSE in Chinese historical context, with the aim of exploring the common dynamics between HFSE and those historical examples of Chinese bottom-up collective action. Then in the second part, a comparison between HFSE and recent Chinese offline popular protests is conducted in order to establish the pattern of politically-focused HFSE. In the third part, based on the empirical cases, the research on HFSE continues with an exploration of HFSE s underlying causal mechanisms to answer a key question of this research: why did HFSE occur? The study implies that there are continuities with respect to the Chinese bottom-up collective action as HFSE and Chinese rural resistances as well as urban labour strikes in the twentieth century of China tend to show similar dynamics, which are determined by the power structure they are exposed to. Moreover, the internal process of politically-focused HFSE differs largely from that of recent Chinese offline popular protests, which indicates that HFSE does not have an offline equivalent, although some of its stages can be witnessed offline. Furthermore, HFSE s occurrence is brought about by a combination of online and offline factors, which are relevant to not only the Internet and Chinese cyberspace, but also the political system that has contributed to the growth of official corruption and low government credibility in China

The entrepreneurial self and youth at-risk : exploring the horizons of identity in the 21st century

This paper argues that a particular form of selfhood has come to dominate the horizons of identity in the Western democracies at this time - I refer to this form of personhood as the entrepreneurial self. The paper argues that the figure (population) of &lsquo;Youth at-risk&rsquo;, in its negativity, illuminates the positivity that is the entrepreneurial Self. That is, the discourses that construct Youth at-risk reveal the truths about whom we should, as adults, become. The paper engages with Foucault&rsquo;s theories of government, of (Neo)Liberalism as a problematisation of the practise of Liberal welfare government, and of the ways in which certain psychological discourses articulate with (Neo)Liberal views of enterprise to produce a view of the Self as the entrepreneurial Self.<br /

Endogenous systems leadership for education in crises: A framework for inclusive and equitable quality education in low- and middle-income countries

The working paper develops a framework for ‘endogenous systems leadership’ as a means of supporting the distribution of leadership across the local, middle and central tiers of complex education systems in low- and middle-income countries affected by crisis; in ways that respect the values, knowledge, practices and agency of actors in these contexts, which are characterised by the involvement of multiple international partners with a remit to support, and an obligation to respect and not override, local authority and decision-making. The framework identifies entry points for strengthening endogenous systems leadership of inclusive and equitable quality education for all

Building STEM Teacher Capacity at a South American International School

Although originating in the United States, STEM education has gained acceptance worldwide as an inquiry-based, interdisciplinary approach engaging students in active learning. Despite the ubiquity of STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, schools face challenges in providing professional development for teachers. This dissertation addresses a lack of adequate professional development to support STEM implementation at an international school in South America. Based on a constructivist assumption that teachers’ beliefs, cultures, and experiences mediate their learning, a mentoring program was selected as the most viable solution strategy. Mentoring provides a pathway for mentees to enact new strategies with their mentor’s support promoting reflection and professional growth. The change requires a transformational leadership approach, complemented by distributed leadership practices, to foster relational trust, inspire a change vision, and focus on the collective learning of program coordinators, mentors, and mentees needed to propel the change forward. A change path framework will be employed that awakens, mobilizes, and accelerates change forces toward the eventual institutionalization of the mentor program. This framework, combined with a robust monitoring, evaluation, and communication plan, will incorporate teacher voices and foster commitment at each phase of change. Structuring an effective professional development model that includes teachers’ prior knowledge, beliefs, language, and culture will promote a shift away from postcolonial patterns in the school context and build teacher capacity and confidence to teach STEM

The Translocal Event and the Polyrhythmic Diagram

This thesis identifies and analyses the key creative protocols in translocal performance practice, and ends with suggestions for new forms of transversal live and mediated performance practice, informed by theory. It argues that ontologies of emergence in dynamic systems nourish contemporary practice in the digital arts. Feedback in self-organised, recursive systems and organisms elicit change, and change transforms. The arguments trace concepts from chaos and complexity theory to virtual multiplicity, relationality, intuition and individuation (in the work of Bergson, Deleuze, Guattari, Simondon, Massumi, and other process theorists). It then examines the intersection of methodologies in philosophy, science and art and the radical contingencies implicit in the technicity of real-time, collaborative composition. Simultaneous forces or tendencies such as perception/memory, content/ expression and instinct/intellect produce composites (experience, meaning, and intuition- respectively) that affect the sensation of interplay. The translocal event is itself a diagram - an interstice between the forces of the local and the global, between the tendencies of the individual and the collective. The translocal is a point of reference for exploring the distribution of affect, parameters of control and emergent aesthetics. Translocal interplay, enabled by digital technologies and network protocols, is ontogenetic and autopoietic; diagrammatic and synaesthetic; intuitive and transductive. KeyWorx is a software application developed for realtime, distributed, multimodal media processing. As a technological tool created by artists, KeyWorx supports this intuitive type of creative experience: a real-time, translocal “jamming” that transduces the lived experience of a “biogram,” a synaesthetic hinge-dimension. The emerging aesthetics are processual – intuitive, diagrammatic and transversal