Invisible cusp and unintended outcomes : a response to two influential documents as heralds of computers in Tasmanian government schools

I have long felt that we, as educators, seem to be walking backwards into the future, facing where we have been. I was hopeful that the introduction of computers into Tasmanian schools in 1997 would signal a ‘cusp’, a point where teachers would, figuratively and willfully, turn 180 degrees, and move forwards, in an imaginative and exciting way, to help their students prepare well for an unpredictable future.Computers as Tools for Teaching and Learning was implemented by the Tasmanian Government and was accompanied by two documents: a ‘policy-cum-teachers’ guide’, A Planning Resource for Schools and Teachers; and a literature review of research that underpinned the government initiative, Does Information Technology Improve Student Learning Outcomes? I consider these two documents within this thesis embarking on a historical narrative journey. I demonstrate that these documents represented ‘thin’ conceptions for justifying and using computers in Information Age classrooms, particularly primary classrooms. On my journey I hope to develop a ‘thicker’ understanding of the potential unintended consequences of the Tasmanian Government’s initiative to give all students access to computers. Whilst exploring the only policy-related document released since 1997 and finding in this the same kind of thinness, I now seek a rich place from which I can maintain my moral agency as an educator - optimistically, lovingly and with hope for a good future for our children.To help understand my reaction to the documents, I turn to the words of philosopher writers, who provide some perspectives for inquiring into the socio-cultural layers of complexity with which I am concerned. I draw upon two particular conceptual frames. One is William Spady’s metaphor: winds of change blowing across the tip of an ‘educational iceberg’ that drifts in a sea of ingrained habits, past practices and institutional inertia, and accumulates cultural and historical paradigms successively through the ages - Feudal, Agrarian, Industrial and Bureaucratic. In this Information Age, winds of change blow across the tip of the ‘educational iceberg’, that is, across one-tenth of it. The nine-tenths of inherited characteristics, below the surface of the sea, impede our progress, and we remain sheltered from and largely uninfluenced by emerging conditions and realities. I ask why we continue to drag nine-tenths of the iceberg along with us, why computers restrict our focus on the past, and why computers in schools might not succeed in turning us, at the cusp of change, towards a humanly hospitable future.My second frame satisfies my resolve to understand my agency in the winds of change. I draw upon Neil Postman’s three cultures of technology: Theocracy, Technocracy, and Technopoly, the culture in which we live today. In Technopoly, all forms of cultural life are subjected to the sovereignty of technique and technology, which becomes a hegemonic state of mind and culture, and gains status as the chief source of authority, definer of life-goals and provider of satisfaction. At last, the resolution of my response to the growing phenomenon of computers in classrooms finds itself in Postman’s wisdom, as one of tolerance, optimism, revolution and love

Research on Teaching and Learning In Biology, Chemistry and Physics In ESERA 2013 Conference

This paper provides an overview of the topics in educational research that were published in the ESERA 2013 conference proceedings. The aim of the research was to identify what aspects of the teacher-student-content interaction were investigated frequently and what have been studied rarely. We used the categorization system developed by Kinnunen, Lampiselkä, Malmi and Meisalo (2016) and altogether 184 articles were analyzed. The analysis focused on secondary and tertiary level biology, chemistry, physics, and science education. The results showed that most of the studies focus on either the teacher’s pedagogical actions or on the student - content relationship. All other aspects were studied considerably less. For example, the teachers’ thoughts about the students’ perceptions and attitudes towards the goals and the content, and the teachers’ conceptions of the students’ actions towards achieving the goals were studied only rarely. Discussion about the scope and the coverage of the research in science education in Europe is needed.Peer reviewe

From Storytelling to Intercreativity in the Era of Distributed Authorship

Forms of fiction and literature underwent a process of disembodiment and cross-fertilization during the revolution from the Gutenberg Galaxy (printed paper, mass distribution) to the McLuhan Galaxy (new media, hypertext, cooperative writing). The dimension of literacy has moved from a semiotically- measured geometry to a dislocation and a deconstruction of contents and channels that give expression to new products. The impact of social media on narratology has redefined the meaning of readership and authorship. The author not only loses his/her traditional role, but becomes an icon of himself/ herself, a collective-minded producer that is self-perceived through the extro- flexed eye of the amniotic network in which he/she defines his/her narrative experience. Transmedia culture defines a new cross-networked and amniotic literacy, considering that we are not facing a simple adaptation of different narrative forms from one media to another: different media and languages participate and contribute to the construction of a transmedia environment

Hypertext Semiotics in the Commercialized Internet

Die Hypertext Theorie verwendet die selbe Terminologie, welche seit Jahrzehnten in der semiotischen Forschung untersucht wird, wie z.B. Zeichen, Text, Kommunikation, Code, Metapher, Paradigma, Syntax, usw. Aufbauend auf jenen Ergebnissen, welche in der Anwendung semiotischer Prinzipien und Methoden auf die Informatik erfolgreich waren, wie etwa Computer Semiotics, Computational Semiotics und Semiotic Interface Engineering, legt diese Dissertation einen systematischen Ansatz für all jene Forscher dar, die bereit sind, Hypertext aus einer semiotischen Perspektive zu betrachten. Durch die Verknüpfung existierender Hypertext-Modelle mit den Resultaten aus der Semiotik auf allen Sinnesebenen der textuellen, auditiven, visuellen, taktilen und geruchlichen Wahrnehmung skizziert der Autor Prolegomena einer Hypertext-Semiotik-Theorie, anstatt ein völlig neues Hypertext-Modell zu präsentieren. Eine Einführung in die Geschichte der Hypertexte, von ihrer Vorgeschichte bis zum heutigen Entwicklungsstand und den gegenwärtigen Entwicklungen im kommerzialisierten World Wide Web bilden den Rahmen für diesen Ansatz, welcher als Fundierung des Brückenschlages zwischen Mediensemiotik und Computer-Semiotik angesehen werden darf. Während Computer-Semiotiker wissen, dass der Computer eine semiotische Maschine ist und Experten der künstlichen Intelligenz-Forschung die Rolle der Semiotik in der Entwicklung der nächsten Hypertext-Generation betonen, bedient sich diese Arbeit einer breiteren methodologischen Basis. Dementsprechend reichen die Teilgebiete von Hypertextanwendungen, -paradigmen, und -strukturen, über Navigation, Web Design und Web Augmentation zu einem interdisziplinären Spektrum detaillierter Analysen, z.B. des Zeigeinstrumentes der Web Browser, des Klammeraffen-Zeichens und der sogenannten Emoticons. Die Bezeichnung ''Icon'' wird als unpassender Name für jene Bildchen, welche von der graphischen Benutzeroberfläche her bekannt sind und in Hypertexten eingesetzt werden, zurückgewiesen und diese Bildchen durch eine neue Generation mächtiger Graphic Link Markers ersetzt. Diese Ergebnisse werden im Kontext der Kommerzialisierung des Internet betrachtet. Neben der Identifizierung der Hauptprobleme des eCommerce aus der Perspektive der Hypertext Semiotik, widmet sich der Autor den Informationsgütern und den derzeitigen Hindernissen für die New Economy, wie etwa der restriktiven Gesetzeslage in Sachen Copyright und Intellectual Property. Diese anachronistischen Beschränkungen basieren auf der problematischen Annahme, dass auch der Informationswert durch die Knappheit bestimmt wird. Eine semiotische Analyse der iMarketing Techniken, wie z.B. Banner Werbung, Keywords und Link Injektion, sowie Exkurse über den Browser Krieg und den Toywar runden die Dissertation ab

Enacting Inquiry Learning in Mathematics through History

International audienceWe explain how history of mathematics can function as a means for enacting inquiry learning activities in mathematics as a scientific subject. It will be discussed how students develop informed conception about i) the epistemology of mathematics, ii) of how mathematicians produce mathematical knowledge, and iii) what kind of questions that drive mathematical research. We give examples from the mathematics education at Roskilde University and we show how (teacher) students from this program are themselves capable of using history to establish inquiry learning environments in mathematics in high school. The realization is argued for in the context of an explicit-reflective framework in the sense of Abd-El-Khalick (2013) and his work in science education

Teacher roles during amusement park visits – insights from observations, interviews and questionnaires

Amusement parks offer rich possibilities for physics learning, through observations and experiments that illustrate important physical principles and often involve the whole body. Amusement parks are also among the most popular school excursions, but very often the learning possibilities are underused. In this work we have studied different teacher roles and discuss how universities, parks or event managers can encourage and support teachers and schools in their efforts to make amusement park visits true learning experiences for their students

History of Mathematics in Mathematics Education: Recent devlopments

International audience<p>This is a concise survey on the recent developments (since 2000) concerning research on the relations between History and Pedagogy of Mathematics (the <i>HPM domain</i>). Section 1 explains the rationale of the study and formulates the key issues. Section 2 gives a brief historical account of the development of the <i>HPM domain</i> with focus on the main activities in its context and their outcomes. Section 3 provides a sufficiently comprehensive bibliographical survey of the work done in this area since 2000. Finally, section 4 summarizes the main points of this study.</p

Original Sources in the Mathematical Classroom

International audienceThis discussion group seeks to bring together individuals who are interested in the use of original sources in the mathematics classroom, from the perspective of a classroom teacher or a mathematics education researcher, for a discussion of issues and concerns related to their educational potential and effects. Each of the two sessions will focus on a different theme related to the use of original sources in the mathematics classroom. The two sessions will structured around a common framework but sufficiently independent of each other to allow interested individuals to participate in the second session, even if they did not participate in the first session. Both novice and more experienced users of original sources are strongly encouraged to participate in both sessions