Transfer of a teaching-learning sequence from greek to italian school : do similarities in educational systems really help?

The specific purpose of this paper is to investigate the changes that occurred in the process of the transfer of a Teaching-Learning Sequence (TLS) from the designer’s to a host’s context. Besides we discuss if the similarities between educational systems may actually favour such a transfer. The specific case concerns the transfer of a TLS on thermal properties of materials from the Greek educational context into Italian one. The research has been framed in the “Adaptation and Re-Invention” (ARI) theoretical model. According to this model, some “core” elements of the original TLS, namely, scientific concepts addressed, pedagogical approach adopted, ICT-enhanced aspects and the activities’ sequence, have been first identified and then adapted for the new context. The resulting new core elements of the transferred TLS have been compared with those of the original TLS to investigate about the feasibility of the transfer. Results show that the similarities between the two educational contexts acted mainly as facilitators of the transfer process. Moreover, direct communication and interactions between the involved groups and an external expert helped significantly the process. Data from implementations in the two educational contexts show also similar positive effects on students’ learning outcomes

In Defense of the Epistemic Imperative

Sample (2015) argues that scientists ought not to believe that their theories are true because they cannot fulfill the epistemic obligation to take the diachronic perspective on their theories. I reply that Sample’s argument imposes an inordinately heavy epistemic obligation on scientists, and that it spells doom not only for scientific theories but also for observational beliefs and philosophical ideas that Samples endorses. I also delineate what I take to be a reasonable epistemic obligation for scientists. In sum, philosophers ought to impose on scientists only an epistemic standard that they are willing to impose on themselves

Justifying the Special Theory of Relativity with Unconceived Methods

Many realists argue that present scientific theories will not follow the fate of past scientific theories because the former are more successful than the latter. Critics object that realists need to show that present theories have reached the level of success that warrants their truth. I reply that the special theory of relativity has been repeatedly reinforced by unconceived scientific methods, so it will be reinforced by infinitely many unconceived scientific methods. This argument for the special theory of relativity overcomes the critics’ objection, and has advantages over the no-miracle argument and the selective induction for it

Does Scientific Progress Consist in Increasing Knowledge or Understanding?

Bird argues that scientific progress consists in increasing knowledge. Dellsén objects that increasing knowledge is neither necessary nor sufficient for scientific progress, and argues that scientific progress rather consists in increasing understanding. Dellsén also contends that unlike Bird’s view, his view can account for the scientific practices of using idealizations and of choosing simple theories over complex ones. I argue that Dellsén’s criticisms against Bird’s view fail, and that increasing understanding cannot account for scientific progress, if acceptance, as opposed to belief, is required for scientific understanding

The implementation of a Web-based Learning Environment concerning teachers' collaboration in the area of Fluids

In our work we developed and implemented a specially developed web-based distance learning course, addressed to in service primary teachers in Greece in the area of fluids. The course aims at enhancing participants' understanding of fluids and as well as their collaboration towards producing teaching learning materials for their pupils. Fluids is taught in primary schools, in several countries including Greece, in which pupils and teachers have alternative views and difficulties, in understanding basic ideas concerning pressure and buoyancy. We implemented a specific strategy, in order to promote asynchronous collaboration among participants and evaluated results by using Murphy`s quantitative content analysis model. During recent years, in the area of higher education, a great number of applications have used Web-based learning environments, in order to support distance learning courses and computer supported collaborative approaches, in learning and problem solving, in several areas. Computer-mediated communication can facilitate collaborative learning strategies and approaches, thus providing opportunities for virtual communities of learners to collaborate in ways that lead to shared understanding. Evaluating on-line collaborative learning interactions is a complex task due to the variety of elements and factors that take place and intervene, in the way a group of participants comes together to collaborate, in order to achieve a learning goal. In this context, we developed a web based teaching strategy aiming at enhancing participants' understanding of fluids and as well as their collaboration towards producing teaching learning materials for their pupils. In the present study, we report on the strategy and the collaborative activities of participating teachers. The sample of our study consisted of twenty four, (24), experienced primary teachers, who attended a two years in service program at the Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaloniki. In developing the course, first software for the Web based learning environment implementation was chosen and the open source software B.S.C.W. (Basic Support for Collaborative Work), has been chosen, because it is free for academic use,(http://bscw.gmd.de/ ). Second specially developed materials in the area of fluids were digitized and uploaded to the environment. Third based on data from two pilot studies, we designed a special mixed strategy in order to enhance teacher’s collaboration. In order to identify collaboration possibilities, among teachers, we carried out quantitative content analysis of their written dialogues, using the widely applied model of Murphy.It is characteristic that one hundred fifty seven messages (157), found in the phases "co-construct shared perspectives" and "building shared goals", constitute the two thirds of the total messages. This number seems to point out that participants, despite the high complexity of the scientific topic, successfully managed to co-construct shared perspectives and building shared goals, taking under consideration content knowledge. It is possible that enhancement of their understandings of pressure and buoyancy supplied before the collaborative phase of the strategy facilitated participants to reach the higher levels in Murphy’s' model. As a matter of fact achieving such levels in web based collaborative activities may not be taken for granted, (Murphy, 2004). In other words we consider that if content knowledge was insufficient, we might found postings only from the first two phases of Murphy`s model, (social interaction & articulating individual perspectives), perhaps as monologues.The production of twelve shared artefacts from all participants, considered as identification and completion of collaboration. That is also a key element therefore all participants reached that phase, without any withdraws. We consider that participants were helped to achieve such goal by being specifically guided on how to collaborate instead of being left to proceed without instruction in a learning situation for which they had little prior experience

Teleology and Realism in Leibniz's Philosophy of Science

This paper argues for an interpretation of Leibniz’s claim that physics requires both mechanical and teleological principles as a view regarding the interpretation of physical theories. Granting that Leibniz’s fundamental ontology remains non-physical, or mentalistic, it argues that teleological principles nevertheless ground a realist commitment about mechanical descriptions of phenomena. The empirical results of the new sciences, according to Leibniz, have genuine truth conditions: there is a fact of the matter about the regularities observed in experience. Taking this stance, however, requires bringing non-empirical reasons to bear upon mechanical causal claims. This paper first evaluates extant interpretations of Leibniz’s thesis that there are two realms in physics as describing parallel, self-sufficient sets of laws. It then examines Leibniz’s use of teleological principles to interpret scientific results in the context of his interventions in debates in seventeenth-century kinematic theory, and in the teaching of Copernicanism. Leibniz’s use of the principle of continuity and the principle of simplicity, for instance, reveal an underlying commitment to the truth-aptness, or approximate truth-aptness, of the new natural sciences. The paper concludes with a brief remark on the relation between metaphysics, theology, and physics in Leibniz

Problems with Using Evolutionary Theory in Philosophy

Does science move toward truths? Are present scientific theories (approximately) true? Should we invoke truths to explain the success of science? Do our cognitive faculties track truths? Some philosophers say yes, while others say no, to these questions. Interestingly, both groups use the same scientific theory, viz., evolutionary theory, to defend their positions. I argue that it begs the question for the former group to do so because their positive answers imply that evolutionary theory is warranted, whereas it is self-defeating for the latter group to do so because their negative answers imply that evolutionary theory is unwarranted

How national curricula affect the design and transfer of a teaching-learning sequence between two educational systems: Case studies from Greece and Italy.

This empirical study investigates the main features of curricula and contexts that favor or hinder the process of transfer of a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) from the designers’ original situation to a host one. The specific research questions addressed were (RQ1) what were the changes made during the process of transfer in the new context? (RQ2) What were the similarities or differences between the national curricula and contexts that influenced the process of transfer? To answer our research questions, we chose two TLSs, one about optical properties of materials, the other about thermal conductivity, originally designed by two groups of researchers and experienced teachers in Italy and Greece, respectively. The transfer process was analyzed using the “adaptation and reinvention” model, originally developed for the management knowledge research field, while the construct of “institutional distance” was used to describe the influence of country-specific aspects on the transfer process. Data collected included background documents that describe the principles underlying the TLSs design, the decisions and changes made to the original TLSs by the hosting group, and reports on the TLS implementation in classroom practice in the original and in the host context. Content analysis was used to analyze data. Results show that the similarities between the two national curricula and interactions between the involved groups acted mainly as facilitators of the transfer process

Probing university students’ understanding of electromotive force in electricity

The goal of this study is to identify students’ difficulties with learning the concepts of electromotive force (emf) and potential difference in the context of transitory currents and resistive direct-current circuits. To investigate these difficulties, we developed a questionnaire based on an analysis of the theoretical and epistemological framework of physics, which was then administered to first-year engineering and physics students at universities in Spain, Colombia, and Belgium. The results of the study show that student difficulties seem to be strongly linked to the absence of an analysis of the energy balance within the circuit and that most university students do not clearly understand the usefulness of and the difference between the concepts of potential difference and emf