An Application of Web-Supported Mental Tools in Technology Education

This article presents the pedagogical model “Network Oriented Study with Simulations” (NOSS) using simulation software and the ICT-based tool “Web Orientation Agent” (WOA) (Page et al., 2006) and supporting findings. The NOSS model was developed and implemented in CSCL (computer supported collaborative learning) type learning situations around computers in technology education utilising novel technologies such as case web-supported simulations and to evaluate the effectiveness of those in teaching, studying and learning settings. The preliminary findings appear to support the effectiveness of this pedagogical model with some limitations which are subsequently discussed

Learning How to Learn: Powerful Mental Tools to Help You Master Tough Subject

Barbara Oakley didn’t begin learning remedial high school algebra until age 26. Now she’s a professor of engineering, a New York Times best-selling author, and instructor of the world’s largest massive open online course, with nearly two million registered students. How did this happen? She learned how to learn, and she now teaches others these practical insights. In this fun-filled keynote, you’ll hear true stories of remarkable transformation and discover intriguing insights from science about how you can change and grow, no matter your age or stage of life. Using metaphor and analogy, which primes neural circuits for difficult topics, Oakley explains how to learn effectively, drawing on her extensive experience as both an engineering professor and a linguist, as well as from key research insights from cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Learn about which techniques help and those that do not, how to use the brain’s different learning modes to their best effect, and about methods like recall, “chunking” and the Pomodoro technique’s approach to beating procrastination. You’ll walk away with practical learning tools based on solid research—and you’ll have fun along the way

Research questions and approaches for computational thinking curricula design

Teaching computational thinking (CT) is argued to be necessary but also admitted to be a very challenging task. The reasons for this, are: i) no general agreement on what computational thinking is; ii) no clear idea nor evidential support on how to teach CT in an effective way. Hence, there is a need to develop a common approach and a shared understanding of the scope of computational thinking and of effective means of teaching CT. Thus, the consequent ambition is to utilize the preliminary and further research outcomes on CT for the education of the prospective teachers of secondary, further and higher/adult education curricula

Partnering with Principals Through Formal and Informal Professional Development

Mathematics Specialists and administrators need to define what they should see students and teachers doing in classrooms that promote proficiency and understanding in mathematics. Formal, divisionwide professional development on this topic can quickly guide and inform a large group of administrators in one setting. However, potentially more powerful professional development can occur on a small scale one building at a time through mathematics department learning walks

Crowdsourcing the Worlds

Faculty reflection on VCU Great Bike Race Book course. Course Description: Students in this track will collaborate in telling the untold stories of Richmond 2015 in words, pictures and video

Knowledge and the Objection to Religious Belief from Cognitive Science

A large chorus of voices has grown around the claim that theistic belief is epistemically suspect since, as some cognitive scientists have hypothesized, such beliefs are a byproduct of cognitive mechanisms which evolved for rather different adaptive purposes. This paper begins with an overview of the pertinent cognitive science followed by a short discussion of some relevant epistemic concepts. Working from within a largely Williamsonian framework, we then present two different ways in which this research can be formulated into an argument against theistic belief. We argue that neither version work

Rights, Performatives, and Promises in Karl Olivecrona’s Legal Theory

Karl Olivecrona (1971) maintains that right is a hollow word, and so also for some other legal terms. Right, he says, has no conceptual background. He arrives at this position after an examination of metaphysical and naturalistic accounts, including American legal realism. Some of Olivecrona\u27s arguments will be evaluated here. His position is influenced by Hagerstrom\u27s theory of legal language, but he argues that Hagerstrom fails to account for how such terms as right, duty, etc. function in legal discourse and why they are useful. A parallel approach is also found in Olivecrona\u27s book The Problem of the Monetary Unit (1957). Olivecrona is left with the problem of how such hollow terms function. His explanation is largely psychological. Going beyond J. L. Austin\u27s notion of performatory language, he introduces the idea of performatory imperatives. I propose to submit Olivecrona\u27s approach to a critical examination. It is suggested that had he started from everyday, nonlegal promises and commitments he might well have ended up with a different theory of legal language

How Do Ideal Friend Preferences and Interaction Context Affect Friendship Formation? Evidence for a Domain- General Relationship Initiation Process

This research examined how people’s ideal friend preferences influence the friendship formation process. In an extension of prior research on romantic relationship initiation, we tested whether the match between participants’ ideals and a partner’s traits affected participants’ interest in forming a new friendship in three contexts: evaluating a potential friend’s profile, meeting in-person, and chatting online. Results revealed that participants were more interested in becoming friends with a partner whose traits matched (vs. mismatched) their ideal friend preferences when evaluating his or her profile. After a live interaction, however, the effect of the ideal-perceived trait match manipulation on participants’ friendship interest was substantially reduced in both in-person and online chatting contexts. People’s ideal friend preferences may influence their friendship interest more strongly in descriptive (i.e., indirect) than interactive (i.e., direct) contexts, a finding that mirrors prior results from the romantic domain and documents a role for domain-general relationship initiation processes

Conceiving God: Literal and Figurative Prompt for a More Tectonic Distinction

John Sanders’ Theology in the Flesh, the first comprehensive overview of the toolkit that contemporary cognitive linguistics offers for theological appropriation, despite its remarkable success, gives rather minimal attention to blending theory, one of the discipline’s most formidable tools. This paper draws on blending theory to offer an alternative to Sanders’ chapter on conceiving God. Central to the proposal is claim that God-talk, like many of the advances in science, technology, and art, entails a kind of tectonic understanding and conceptual mapping that is neither literal nor figurative

The Physics of Timelessness

The nature of time is yet to be fully grasped and finally agreed upon among physicists, philosophers, psychologists and scholars from various disciplines. Present paper takes clue from the known assumptions of time as - movement, change, becoming - and the nature of time will be thoroughly discussed. The real and unreal existences of time will be pointed out and presented. The complex number notation of nature of time will be put forward. Natural scientific systems and various cosmic processes will be identified as constructing physical form of time and the physical existence of time will be designed. The finite and infinite forms of physical time and classical, quantum and cosmic times will be delineated and their mathematical constructions and loci will be narrated. Thus the physics behind time-construction, time creation and time-measurement will be given. Based on these developments the physics of Timelessness will be developed and presented