Re-reading Jevons's Principles of Science - Induction Redux

In this paper I try to substantiate the thesis that Jevons may have been too harsh on the vices of induction and generously optimistic about the virtues of deduction, as discussed, primarily, in his magnum opus, The Principles of Science [6]. With this aim in mind the paper attempts to suggest (modern), recursion theoretic, theoretical technologies that could reduce and, under conditions that I claim would be acceptable to Jevons, even eliminate the inductive indeterminacies that he had emphasised.Jevons, Inductiion, Inductive Inference, Bayes's Rule

Automated Text Data Mining Analysis of Five Decades of Educational Leadership Research Literature: Probabilistic Topic Modeling of EAQ Articles from 1965 to 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the underlying topics and the topic evolution in the 50-year history of educational leadership research literature. Methods: We used automated text data mining with probabilistic latent topic models to examine the full text of the entire publication history of all 1,539 articles published in Educational Administration Quarterly from 1965 to 2014. Given the computationally intensive data analysis required by probabilistic topic models, relying on high performance computing, we used a 10-fold cross validation to estimate the model in which we categorized each article in each year into one of 19 latent topics and illustrated the rise and fall of topics over the EAQ’s 50-year history. Findings: Our model identified a total of 19 topics from the 1965-2014 EAQ corpus. Among them, five topics—inequity and social justice, female leadership, school leadership preparation and development, trust, and teaching and instructional leadership—gained research attention over the 50-year time period; whereas the research interest appears to have declined for the topic of epistemology of educational leadership since the 2000s. Other topics waxed and waned over the last five decades. Implications: This study maps the temporal terrain of topics in the educational leadership field over the past 50 years, and sheds new light on the development and current status of the central topics in educational leadership research literature. More importantly, the panoramic view of topical landscape provides a unique backdrop as scholars contemplate the future of educational leadership research

Responsibility for implicit bias

Research programs in empirical psychology from the past two decades have revealed implicit biases. Although implicit processes are pervasive, unavoidable, and often useful aspects of our cognitions, they may also lead us into error. The most problematic forms of implicit cognition are those which target social groups, encoding stereotypes or reflecting prejudicial evaluative hierarchies. Despite intentions to the contrary, implicit biases can influence our behaviours and judgements, contributing to patterns of discriminatory behaviour. These patterns of discrimination are obviously wrong and unjust. But in remedying such wrongs, one question to be addressed concerns responsibility for implicit bias. Unlike some paradigmatic forms of wrongdoing, such discrimination is often unintentional, unendorsed, and perpetrated without awareness; and the harms are particularly damaging because they are cumulative and collectively perpetrated. So, what are we to make of questions of responsibility? In this article, we outline some of the main lines of recent philosophical thought, which address questions of responsibility for implicit bias. We focus on (a) the kind of responsibility at issue; (b) revisionist versus nonrevisionist conceptions of responsibility as applied to implicit bias; and (c) individual, institutional, and collective responsibility for implicit bias

From multiple perspectives to shared understanding

The aim of this study was to explore how learners operating in a small group reach shared understanding as they work out joint research questions and build a theoretical framework and to identify the resources and tools they used in the process. The learners’ own interpretations of their group activities and learning were also taken into account. The data, consisting of group discussions and the documents produced by the group, were subjected to a qualitative content analysis. The group members employed a variety of resources and tools to exchange their individual perspectives and achieve shared understanding. Summaries of relevant literature laid a foundation for the group’s theoretical discussions. Reflective comparisons between their book knowledge and their personal experiences of online interaction and collaboration were frequent, suggesting that such juxtapositions may have enhanced their learning by intertwining the content to be mastered and the activities entailed by this particular content

What buddhism taught cognitive science about self, mind and brain

In the past twenty years, new optimism about the relevance of Buddhism to cognitive science has been expressed by a number of established researchers. In this article I ask what are the conceptual roots of this optimism, and which forms of development it inspired, with particular focus on selfhood, embodiment and meditation. The latter contains three distinct points of contact that are also reviewed: the introduction of first person methods, neuroscientific research of meditation, and using meditation in psychotherapy. I argue that the dialogue between Buddhism and cognitive science is part of a bigger concern that accompanies late modernity since the 19th century regarding the gap between first and third person accounts of reality. In particular it taps on a growing discontent with the Cartesian outlook on the self and its place in the world. However, while Buddhism and cognitive science both reject a similar notion of substantial selfhood, what they offer in return is different. It is often overlooked that in Buddhism fact is interwoven with value, while in science they are still further apart. This makes the claims about the compatibil­ity of the two systems somewhat naive, and explains why recently the «dialogue» takes the form of neuroscientific research of meditation: work that hardly changes or chal­lenges the foundations of science.En los últimos veinte años, un número de investigadores reconocidos han expresado un nuevo optimismo acerca de la relevancia del budismo en relación con la ciencia cognitiva. En este artículo, me pregunto cuáles son las raíces conceptuales de este optimismo, y en qué formas de desarrollo se inspira, con especial atención a la individualidad, la encarna­ción (embodiment) y la meditación. Este último contiene tres puntos distintos de contacto que sirven también de revisión: la introducción de los métodos de primera persona, la investigación neurocientífica de la meditación y la meditación en la psicoterapia. Sostengo que el diálogo entre el budismo y la ciencia cognitiva es parte de una preocupación mayor que acompaña a la modernidad tardía desde el siglo xix, con respecto a la diferencia entre las descripciones de la realidad en primera y tercera persona. En particular se fundamenta en un creciente descontento con la perspectiva cartesiana sobre el yo y su lugar en el mundo. Sin embargo, mientras que la ciencia cognitiva y el budismo coinciden en rechazar una noción de individualidad sustancial, lo que ofrecen a cambio es diferente. A menu­do se pasa por alto que, según el budismo, el hecho se entreteje con el valor, mientras que en la ciencia ambos se encuentran claramente diferenciados. Esto hace que las afirmaciones sobre la compatibilidad de los dos sistemas resulten un tanto ingenuas, y explica por qué actualmente el «diálogo» toma la forma de la investigación neurocientífica de la medita­ción: es el trabajo que menos cambios o desafíos plantea a las bases de la ciencia

Cognitive units, concept images, and cognitive collages : an examination of the processes of knowledge construction

The fragmentation of strategies that distinguishes the more successful elementary grade students from those least successful has been documented previously. This study investigated whether this phenomenon of divergence and fragmentation of strategies would occur among undergraduate students enrolled in a remedial algebra course. Twenty-six undergraduate students enrolled in a remedial algebra course used a reform curriculum, with the concept of function as an organizing lens and graphing calculators during the 1997 fall semester. These students could be characterized as "victims of the proceptual divide," constrained by inflexible strategies and by prior procedural learning and/or teaching. In addition to investigating whether divergence and fragmentation of strategies would occur among a population assumed to be relatively homogeneous, the other major focus of this study was to investigate whether students who are more successful construct, organize, and restructure knowledge in ways that are qualitatively different from the processes utilized by those who are least successful. It was assumed that, though these cognitive structures are not directly knowable, it would be possible to document the ways in which students construct knowledge and reorganize their existing cognitive structures. Data reported in this study were interpreted within a multi-dimensional framework based on cognitive, sociocultural, and biological theories of conceptual development, using selected insights representative of the overall results of the broad data collection. In an effort to minimize the extent of researcher inferences concerning cognitive processes and to support the validity of the findings, several types of triangulation were used, including data, method, and theoretical triangulation. Profiles of the students characterized as most successful and least successful were developed.Analyses of the triangulated data revealed a divergence in performance and qualitatively different strategies used by students who were most successful compared with students who were least successful. The most successful students demonstrated significant improvement and growth in their ability to think flexibly to interpret ambiguous notation, switch their train of thought from a direct process to the reverse process, and to translate among various representations. They also curtailed their reasoning in a relatively short Period of time. Students who were least successful showed little, if any, improvement during the semester. They demonstrated less flexible strategies, few changes in attitudes, and almost no difference in their choice of tools. Despite many opportunities for additional practice, the least successful were unable to reconstruct previously learned inappropriate schemas. Students' concept maps and schematic diagrams of those maps revealed that most successful students organized the bits and pieces of new knowledge into a basic cognitive structure that remained relatively stable over time. New knowledge was assimilated into or added onto this basic structure, which gradually increased in complexity and richness. Students who are least successful constructed cognitive structures which were subsequently replaced by new, differently organized structures which lacked complexity and essential linkages to other related concepts and procedures. The bits and pieces of knowledge previously assembled were generally discarded and replaced with new bits and pieces in a new, differently organized structure

Effects of Explicit-Reflective Instruction on Preservice and Novice Teachers’ Epistemic and Conceptual Change Mediated by Reasoning

Teachers’ beliefs shape their daily instruction and the materials presented to students. The personal views of educators are especially relevant when socioscientific issues are involved. Preservice and novice teachers’ mastery of the nature of science (NOS) and personal beliefs in and out of the classroom influence their worldviews and classroom practices. Although research has been conducted regarding conceptual change and epistemic change, it is not understood how conceptual change and epistemic change affect instructional practice. The purpose of the mixed methods explanatory sequential study was to determine how students in a science methods classroom think and reason with explicit and reflective instruction when experiencing conceptual change and shifting epistemic beliefs. The sequential study began with quantitative data analysis (Phase One) followed by the qualitative data analysis (Phase Two). Phase one quantitative data regarding the changes in thinking and reasoning ability and conceptual and epistemic change informed the selection of participants for second phase, wherein qualitative data was collected and analyzed. The study’s quantitative findings were that although there was a weak monotonic relationship, no statistically significant relationships existed among variables. The qualitative findings confirmed and explained Phase One’s results. Three themes emerged from the data relating to the importance of NOS understanding to teaching high school science, the centrality of critical thinking and reasoning to understanding and teaching science, and preservice and novice teachers’ tendency to underestimate the importance of conceptual change within instructional practice. The study’s results are relevant to teacher preparation programs. Keywords: conceptual change, reasoning, epistemic beliefs, nature of science, explicit-reflective instruction, preservice teacher