A Review of Problem-Based Learning on Cognition and Creativity Skills Among Art Student in China

This research article conducts a systematic literature review of problem-based learning (PBL) in art education and its impact on the cognitive and creativity skills of students in China and globally. The concept of creativity education, which refers to the framework, policies, environments, and pedagogical practices used to foster creative thinking, has gained significant attention in recent years. Studies have shown that PBL can lead to increased motivation and engagement among students, as well as improved critical thinking and problem-solving skills. However, there are challenges that need to be addressed to effectively implement PBL in art education, such as a lack of teacher training and a need for more research to understand how PBL can be effectively integrated into existing curricula. The article provides insight on the current state of PBL in art education and its potential impact on students' cognitive and creativity skills, offering guidance for future research in this field

Trialing project-based learning in a new EAP ESP course: A collaborative reflective practice of three college English teachers

Currently in many Chinese universities, the traditional College English course is facing the risk of being ‘marginalized’, replaced or even removed, and many hours previously allocated to the course are now being taken by EAP or ESP. At X University in northern China, a curriculum reform as such is taking place, as a result of which a new course has been created called ‘xue ke’ English. Despite the fact that ‘xue ke’ means subject literally, the course designer has made it clear that subject content is not the target, nor is the course the same as EAP or ESP. This curriculum initiative, while possibly having been justified with a rationale of some kind (e.g. to meet with changing social and/or academic needs of students and/or institutions), this is posing a great challenge for, as well as considerable pressure on, a number of College English teachers who have taught this single course for almost their entire teaching career. In such a context, three teachers formed a peer support group in Semester One this year, to work collaboratively co-tackling the challenge, and they chose Project-Based Learning (PBL) for the new course. This presentation will report on the implementation of this project, including the overall designing, operational procedure, and the teachers’ reflections. Based on discussion, pre-agreement was reached on the purpose and manner of collaboration as offering peer support for more effective teaching and learning and fulfilling and pleasant professional development. A WeChat group was set up as the chief platform for messaging, idea-sharing, and resource-exchanging. Physical meetings were supplementary, with sound agenda but flexible time, and venues. Mosoteach cloud class (lan mo yun ban ke) was established as a tool for virtual learning, employed both in and after class. Discussions were held at the beginning of the semester which determined only brief outlines for PBL implementation and allowed space for everyone to autonomously explore in their own way. Constant further discussions followed, which generated a great deal of opportunities for peer learning and lesson plan modifications. A reflective journal, in a greater or lesser detailed manner, was also kept by each teacher to record the journey of the collaboration. At the end of the semester, it was commonly recognized that, although challenges existed, the collaboration was overall a success and they were all willing to continue with it and endeavor to refine it to be a more professional and productive approach

Research on the Integrated Practical Teaching Model of Cross-border E-commerce Professional Knowledge and Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education

The development of cross-border e-commerce has stimulated a growing interest in related education. In response to this trend, a practical teaching approach that merges cross-border e-commerce expertise with innovation and entrepreneurship education has arisen and gained widespread traction. This innovative approach emphasizes the cultivation of students’ innovation skills and entrepreneurial ability through task-driven teaching that integrates professional knowledge and practical training. By participating in enterprise operations and completing assignments, students are able to master both theoretical knowledge and professional skills. This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of the task-driven teaching method in the integrated practical teaching of cross-border e-commerce and innovation and entrepreneurship. Practical suggestions for teaching reform in cross-border e-commerce are provided to meet the needs of application-oriented undergraduate colleges and to cultivate the application skills that enterprises require

Humanities in transition : liberation of knowledge in Central Asia and the potential role of the European Union

Concluding this article, the importance of the rational discourse in modern classes and local forums in contemporary Central Asia should be mentioned again. The liberation of knowledge should be a permanent part of educational initiatives in this region, which is on its long journey from one party autocratic system to the democratic pluralistic one. During this transition some few things should be central. 1. All innovations on education, including the revising role of humanities should be based on the indigenous traditions and the long history of the region including Islamic, Jadid’s tradition, but also soviet experiences in the last century (historically inherited German system). Furthermore, the modern international experiences on humanities should be not only superficially implemented from outside, but thoroughly integrated. The development of independent and creative thinking of the learners (students) should be always central for reform initiatives. 2. The revised concept of knowledge and cognitive system has to be based on new epistemology with broader perspective, including all the types of knowledge. These different types of knowledge include not just so called “rationalistic” one, which in fact often serves the interests of ruling classes, but also the experiences of all slices of societies, as well as the cross-civilization approaches, which open the way of dialog and communication with others. 3. It should be suggested to remove the dominating dichotomy type of thinking, escape Manichean dualistic concepts in order develop new bodies and research areas of humanities, based on pluralism (but not on secularism only). Communication and collaboration with the educational and research institutions of developed countries like EU and US would be essential for achievement of the desired goals and implementation of projects. During a conference on higher education in developing countries with focus on Muslim regions organised by the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilization AKU ISMC in February - March 2005 in London one participant pointed out the importance of mentioning the indigenous Islamic educational heritage like memorization in Central Asian education. Regarding this remark, the questions arises, whether the memorization is the only real indigenous Islamic heritage in education. In this case what is the role of memorization in Muslim philosophy, arts, sciences, other creative professions? Was memorization essential for such Muslim scholars and encyclopaedists from the10th to the15th centuries like Avicenna, Abu Raikhan Biruni, Nasiriddin Tusi and Mirzo Ulughbek, artists like Kamaliddin Behzod or esoteric teachers such as Sufis like Jalaliddin Rumi etc.? Memorizing was not the only learning method in Muslim culture. According to his autobiography, Avicenna read Aristotle´s ‘Metaphysics’ time, but not only for the sake of memorization, but mostly to find its adequate meaning. Every time time, when he understood the meaning of this book with help of Abu Nasr Farabi´s comments, he celebrated this event by sending charity to the people in mosque. The memorization would be essential, if one accepts Islam only as religion, but not as culture and civilization. Of course, memorization has an important role in education, but only at the beginning, in elementary and secondary schools, but not at the universities. It is a useful tool for teaching and performing of religious rituals, for poetry and other humanities, as well as for medicine (for example, the formulation of the treatments in poetic form as in Urjuza fi-t-tib,Ibn Sina). Memorization in Muslim culture was the way to refer to the other sources, as scholars used to cite by memory, not by direct copying of the sources. It is well-known fact, that humanities have played an important role in Muslim civilisations (Goodman, 2003) and they had a strong impact on other cultures, especially, western European. Many scholars agree with the statement, that Muslim humanistic traditions was transformed by Europeans and served as one of the sources of humanism and renaissance. Recent scientific works on humanities have redefined the disciplinary organization of teaching and research and have introduced wider variety and new areas, such as gender or minoritie issues, studies of cultural diversities etc. However, many American scholars nowadays are worrying about the decline of humanistic research (Kernan, 1997) and about the shift of curriculum from university to “multiversity” and to “demoversity”. It is necessary to analyse, rethink and spread the positive experiences of Jadids and AKHP, as well as to motivate and encourage humanities teachers for innovations. Central Asian scientists in humanities have wide field for new research area. There are so many unknown (unthought) slices of culture (formal, informal), which never have become the object of research because of the political correctness, ideology, religious, ethnics or gender superstitions. Central Asian universities need to develop new research programs in humanities, similar to the well-known works by Martha C. Nussbaum (2000, 2004), Peter N. Stearns (1993) and others in USA. However, these kinds of works depend on investments, which cannot be provided by the current central state budget due to corruption, turbulent financial crisis and economic stagnation. Regarding this issue, one should think about new projects for collaboration and integration with EU. The courses in humanities with new approaches in arts, literature, sociology, philosophy, religions, political sciences, research in gender, cultural, religious and minorities issues, as well as analysis of such human behaviour like disgust, shame or hatred are important for liberation of thinking process in order to develop new generation of leaders in the region. Only the modern values, based on indigenous roots can help to build new and good society. However, this should not be implemented artificially. Currently several educational programs organised by EU for Central Asian countries, like Tempus, Erasmus Mundus etc. are working in the region. Last years the majority of Central Asian countries joined Bologna-process of education. The dialog between higher education institutions is important and the communicative ethics (the notion of J. Habermas) play a central role in this exchange. More effective support in form of scholarships, research programs, training projects for teachers and the students will have a very positive influence on Central Asia with regard to the broader mutual understanding and democracy promotion

Research on Teaching Reform of Kindergarten Language Education Activities

With the implementation of the two-child policy in China, early childhood education has attracted great attention from the society and families. However, the current preschool language education can no longer meet the needs of development, and it is necessary to reform the preschool language education and training mode. It is particularly important to strengthen the combination of work and study through curriculum reform and find a path suitable for kindergarten language education

Emergent Innovation and Sustainable Knowledge Co-creation. A Socio-Epistemological Approach to “Innovation from within”

Innovation has become one of the most important issues in modern knowledge society. As opposed to radical innovation this paper introduces the concept of Emergent Innovation: this approach tries to balance and integrate the demand both for radically new knowledge and at the same time for an organic development from within the organization. From a more general perspective one can boil down this problem to the question of how to cope with the new and with profound change (in knowledge). This question will be dealt with in the first part of the paper. As an implication the alternative approach of Emergent Innovation will be presented in the second part: this approach looks at innovation as a socio-epistemological process of “learning from the future” in order to create (radically) new knowledge in a sustainable and “organic” manner. Implications for knowledge society will be discussed.Knowledge society; (radical vs. incremental) innovation; emergent innovation; knowledge creation; change

Research on Higher Vocational Classroom revolution under the background of improving quality and cultivating excellence

with the change of social environment and the change of information technology, promoting classroom revolution has become an important path for the reform and development of higher vocational education. Since the “action plan for improving the quality of Vocational Education (2020-2023)” was put forward, in order to adapt to the characteristics of students’ diversity, higher vocational colleges should implement reform actions from the perspectives of teaching content, classroom organization, curriculum evaluation, faculty, curriculum resources, curriculum ideology and politics, so as to create an effi cient, personalized and intelligent classroom environment for students. This paper analyzes the research status and objectives of classroom revolution, summarizes the problems existing in Higher Vocational Classroom Teaching at the present stage, thinks about the basic motivation of classroom revolution, and then puts forward the implementation strategies of higher vocational classroom revolution under the background of quality improvement

Humanities in transition: Liberation of knowledge in Central Asia and the potential role of the European Union

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Conceptualising design knowledge and its recontextualisation in the studiowork component of a design foundation curriculum

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.Universities of Technology have traditionally prepared students for the world of work and their close ties with industry directly impact on vocational curriculum, which has to impart subject knowledge and specialized knowledge valued by industry, whilst simultaneously encouraging the acquisition of vocational identity. This study of a Design Foundation Course’s curriculum is located at a University of Technology which is currently undergoing a process of re-curriculation, which has initiated a process of examining subject knowledge and its structuring in various course’s curricula. In the light of these developments, an examination of the nature of design knowledge and the role of the foundation curriculum in the transfer of core disciplinary knowledge to underprepared students appeared both timely and necessary

SOCIAL PRACTICE DESIGN (SPD), PATHOS, IMPROVISATION, MOOD, AND BRICOLAGE: THE MEDITERRANEAN WAY TO MAKE PLACE FOR IT?

Our proposal for Social Practice Design (SPD), i.e., the design of social practices – in itself a social design activity -, seeks to ensure that the potential benefits of envisioned novel technologies can be realized, by increasing the bias towards the social in Information Systems Development (ISD). SPD is a form of intervention research or action research based on counselling. It can be considered an extension of Participatory Design (PD) approaches to the implementation phase of information systems. It regards the concept and participative introduction of new things to do, or of new ways to do things, by humans, in order to make place for technology (Ehn 2006), and in order to resolve a variety of other pending social problems in organisations. In this paper we present SPD as a fully phenomenology-based approach, we reason about its stand in the IS discipline, and we briefly describe and point to an application for a European research project. What characterize our position in defining SPD are Claudio Ciborra’s Pathos, Improvisation, Caretaking, Bricolage, and other key concepts he puts forth in order to shift the ISD focus from ‘method’, and direct it ‘on human existence and everyday life’ (Ciborra 2002). We are motivated in this choice by the quest for more impact of ISD research on ISD practice, and our belief that phenomenology and counselling are the right recipe ingredients for this. The approach of Social Practice Design is based on the idea that problem solutions are in the hands of the organisation’s personnel, and that person centred counselling approaches are capable of empowering them and support them to success. It is well known that social practices cannot be ‘engineered’ but that they are evolving as part of people’s activities of integrating a new technology into their ways of doing. Using the word ‘design’ we wish to stress intentionality, proactiveness, creativity and planning as necessary ingredients of organisational innovation processes; i.e., we underline the usefulness of the cognition of the necessity of a conscious design approach to the development of innovative social practices. Thus, our choice of an oxymoron in the SPD title. In structure, SPD is similar to any methodology for the social, i.e., it includes multiple perspectives into the usual triad of scientific paradigms: observation, analysis, and synthesis. Its core actions reside in the two basic phases of the ‘design’ approach for innovating social practices: • an ethnographic analysis phase to identify outstanding problems in the area of social practice • a creative design phase for developing social practice innovations We judge the quality of the SPD approach by three requirements (Baskerville and Myers 2004): a contribution to practice (the action), a contribution to research (the theory), the criteria by which to judge the research, and we show explicitly how the research in the case meets these criteria