Natural Construction Research Articles

Developing procedural language awareness of the constructionist nature of knowledge and language among prospective L2 language teachers

While teacher feedback has got a long established tradition in pedagogic or educational discourse as a form of reflection, it has to be noticed by students to result in raised awareness. Apprehension of teacher feedback depends on its various characteristics such as salience, length, complexity or linguistic features (Swain, 2006a). Thereby its value may be too much engrained in the positivist paradigm of knowledge and language. Sociocultural approaches to learning, resting firmly on constructivist theories of knowledge and interactive theories of language, underscore the centrality of the learner. The agency of the learner places reflection in the form of talks (Moate, 2011) or languaging (Swan, 2006a). The aim of this paper is to present a microgenetic analysis of languaging on the concept of “noticing” (Schmidt, 1990) in teacher training during a methodology class. The working hypothesis is the claim that reflection, in the form of substantiated thinking, presents a potential for developing procedural dimension of teacher language awareness.

Индивидуальные различия в восприятии сходства изображений лиц и характеристики окуломоторной активности

The article presents the results of the cross-cultural study with participation of representatives of Russian and Tuva nationalities. Individual differences in subjective evaluation of magnitude of similarity of images forming a transitional series between Mongoloid and Caucasoid faces were revealed. The individual differences occurred mainly in relation to the target pairs in which one or both images were borderline in the transitional series, and which did not consist of images between which there was a large morphing step. These differences were associated with the features of oculomotor activity recorded with the help of an eye tracker during the perception of test images. The most significant differences in the duration and variance of visual fixations were found for two borderline images in the transitional series. Among Tuvan and Russian participants, the greatest individual differences in subjective similarity ratings were found for the same test pairs of facial images. In relation to these test pairs, general, opposite and specific for the Tuva and Russian samples trends were identified regarding indicators of oculomotor activity. The results indicate the constructivist nature of subjective assessment of similarity magnitude, and the connection of this process with characteristics of oculomotor activity.

Maker’s Workshop: a Framework to Support Learning through Making

Making and makerspaces are currently an exciting topic in education. The constructionist nature of learning through making, however, creates an inherent tension for teachers – one where the need to meet specific standards must be balanced with the open-ended, creative problem-solving that making supports. Unlike the traditional teacher-centered approach to English Language Arts instruction, the Writer’s Workshop is a process-oriented approach to writing nationally recognized as a student-centered environment that balances that tension. This paper draws on the research around the existing framework of Writer’s Workshop to create a new framework for supporting the learning that takes place in a makerspace environment. The framework, called Maker’s Workshop, offers a process for upholding constructionist approaches to learning while meeting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards. To demonstrate the framework in action, we present the case of STEM Read at Northern Illinois University (NIU). The paper provides scholars and practitioners a guide for teaching and learning while also suggesting opportunities for research.

The official policy of memory in modern Russia: Legal dimension

The article analyzes the legal and regulatory framework, as well as the decisions of executive authorities that determine the official policy of memory in the Russian Federation. It is established that the possibility to talk about the policy of memory has appeared since the Ancient Rus’ period of time, when the main forms of preserving information about historical events and personalities were canonization; carried out by the Russian Orthodox Church, and, public events such as a creation of orders, establishment of monuments, etc. On the basis of the analysis, it was concluded that self-identification of modern Russian people is mainly related to the Soviet period of the Russian history. The official policy of memory is defined to have constructivist nature rather than protective one. The example of the main “social traumas” of the Russian society of the twentieth century such as the October Revolution of 1917 and the Great Patriotic War reveals the official attitude to fundamental governmental and legal guidelines, inter alia, progressive development of the state and society, civil initiative, prevention of civil wars, fight against fascism and refusal to review the results of the Second World War. An analysis of the decisions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service between 2015 to 2017 on the use of historical images in advertising, which is found offensive, is conducted. The article concludes that the official policy of memory in the Russian Federation has international and domestic components. Examples are given from the legislation of France, Belgium, and Poland, related to the regulation of similar processes.

REDUCING POVERTY BY THE MANAGEMENT OF SOCIAL INNOVATION

S ustainable tourism systems have several variables with significant implications, poverty being one of the more obscure of them, which in conjunction with hunger, inevitably leads in the end to social chaos. The general goal of this project is to study the state of the art in social innovation focusing on the elaboration of valid ideas for it, based on developments for reducing poverty in ecotourist communities. Its specific objectives are (1) to study the management of the ecotourism business as a successful tool in social innovation (2) to indicate the social technologies for forming eco villages and social innovation in ecotourist communities, and (3) to interpret the social technologies associated with domestic orchards and gardens as a new arena of socio- spatial performance. It is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, derived from the Theory of Rational Behavior consistent with information handling that encourages collective action, model s inherent in Azjen and Fishbein’s list of multiple attributes. This task called for qualitative research of a constructivist nature, as a simulated study of case method s used as preparation tool s . The studied population was located on the north coast of Bahia State (Brazil), in a population of mainly unassisted locals and visitors, whose main object is t o enjoy the scenery . The results of this study of the present state of affairs point to the paradox which characterizes this pleasurable environment for ecotourism, with its fertile soil, interesting culture and typically hospitable hosts. The design proposed below gains support from social technologies associated with permaculture, rural methods and other behaviours geared to organizing productive systems that are modelled on ecotourism-centered eco - villages. The conclusion of this task was that the residents’ practice in social innovation should effective ly reveals a gap between what exists and what should exist . The solution lies in training individual s and collective s to exploit the regional potential for changing their conditions, for instance by develop ing the t echnolog y to maximize their control of the environment, thus reducing poverty and improving the quality of life . This would merit a seal of conservation for production directed to self-consumption and profit from any surplus. This is a proposal t o reduce poverty through a socioeconomic transition to sustainability by ecotourism-centr ed communities using social technologies.

A scientific evening with P. Feyerabend, C.S. Peirce, J.S. Bruner and T.S. Kuhn

The author emphasises the constructivist nature of science and the specific role of abduction in creation of theories. He points out to eclectic nature of science and theory creation and compares scientists’ strategy to that of Foraminifera, as described by E. Heron-Allen. To build tests around their uni-cellular organisms they use any suitable grain of sand. The only mechanism for theory building is the abduction, eclectic by its nature. Basing on that, the author presents language not as a passive tool for reality description, but as an active instrument for science creation. He illustrates it with the specific interplay between notions “certainty” and “reliability”. Such an interplay unveils specific mechanisms underlying creation, development and improvement of theories (and science as a whole, as well). He points to the fact that certainty belongs to the sphere of abstraction, and reliability – to the sphere of practice. The relations between theory and practice are quite tight in physics. Unfortunately, in biology, and – all the more – in psychology and in motor control, the theory is by far more distal to reality than in physics. As a result, in motor control the share of theoretical reasoning in motor control is by far greater than observations and measurements. In motor control the intellectual courage is, then, by far more needed than the experimental diligence.

Turning Constructionist Intercultural Communicative Competence and Complex Systems Theory into Praxis

While approaches to intercultural communicative competence (ICC) view the phenomenon as a modular notion, recent studies emphasize its constructionist nature. Thus, in this exploratory article we analyze critically current perspectives on ICC and discuss the potential applicability of the theory of complex systems for research on ICC drawing from a constructionist perspective. In order to illustrate the perspective, we evoke research on developing ICC of European teacher trainees of English, non-native speakers of the language. The results of a qualitative analysis indicate that ICC meaning cannot be captured through models advocating either psychological or contextual reductionism. Instead, ICC requires an approach which reconciles the cognitive and the social through a complex systems perspective on the constructionist framework.

Crítica al programa de John Rawls: una defensa al constructivismo de la Teoría de la Justicia

The article focuses on the theoretical preciseness of John Rawls’ philosophical proposal. Despite his undeniable recognition in the fields of Philosophy, Sociology, Law and Politics, some of his critics have presented such a proposal in a minimalist manner. Thus, they consider that the agreements and principles involved in the formulation of his Theory of Justice and the fundaments of his thought concerning well-ordered societies are full of gaps and mistakes that lead to an idealistic proposal for a fair society. Those critics do not bear in mind the constructivist nature of Rawls’ proposal and forget that such gaps and imprecisions would lead Rawls to introduce some changes, which make his thought more coherent and systematic, and allow highlighting the role of Political Philosophy within liberal societies as well as the importance of stability within well-ordered societies. It is not the Theory of Justice that makes his thought important –which is oriented towards the disclosure of the possibilities that have societies to develop their whole potential in favor of Justice– but the constant development of his work, based on his own criticism and which involves a wide knowledge of his Politic Liberalism.

When a University Mathematics Department Adopted Core Mathematics Courses of an Unintentionally Constructionist Nature: Really?

In a sequence of core mathematics courses instituted in 2001 at Brock University, students learn to design, program and use interactive computer environments, in order to investigate a self-stated mathematical conjecture, a concept, a theorem or a real-world situation. In this article, we provide documentation for the complete implementation process (design and adoption, actual implementation and student outcomes) of these technology-rich courses, underlining that their development occurred independent of ideas from the constructionism and microworld literature. However, we argue for their implicitly constructionist nature and explore the issue of a form of constructionist implementation acceptable to stakeholders in university mathematics education. Results of this exploratory case study propose three dominant elements for an adoptable description: i) students learning (to do) mathematics by programming and conducting their own mathematical explorations; ii) an explicit aim of empowering students articulated in pragmatic ways; iii) an implicit acknowledgement of constructionist student learning (e.g., through the explicit role of the instructor in fostering and valuing student creativity in mathematical work).

A Verdade: visada obrigatória ao jornalismo

This article proposes an epistemological and ontological reflection on Journalism and it’s connections to the philosophic concepts of Truth and Reality – which, nowadays, are regarded with constraint as some kind of taboo in the communication field. For this purpose, the reflection is based on John Searle’s philosophical though on the realism - both metaphysical (on reality) and alethic (on truth) – in order to propose a Journalistic Realism. In this article, we intend to expose how the acknowledge of Journalism’s constructivist nature shouldn’t lead to the rejection of the idea of a brute reality or of the search for the truth. We estipulate that the journalistic construction is made of an aprioristic reality and that, as it seeks to report reality, it should seek truth also.

Future models of supervision: Supporting practice and promoting professional growth and well-being in educational psychology through Collaborative Peer Support (CPS)

Aim:To ensure professional growth and well-being educational psychologists need access to effective support. This article aims to deconstruct the concept of supervision and present research evidence for a model of peer supervision in educational psychology training that could be used in the field of practice.Rationale/Approach:The research was qualitative, phenomenological and social constructionist drawing on the context of educational psychology training. Surveys, interviews and focus groups were conducted with trainee educational psychologists in two phases of research. Qualitative data analysis was carried out through thematic analysis and an iterative process of participant feedback.Findings:Findings from the first phase of the research suggested an explicit structure or process and an implicit process facilitating collaboration based on the communication between partners within an overarching framework of professional support described as Collaborative Peer Support (CPS) in which peers came together in a dynamic, interactive, mutually supportive, working relationship that was neither peer supervision nor peer mentoring. Findings from the second phase of the research re-iterated the explicit and implicit processes within the framework of CPS re-affirming the social constructionist nature of the model.Conclusions:CPS was co-constructed through critical reflection on core skills in communication, including shared understanding and attuned interaction, with an intention to create a supportive relationship. Such skills developed in training can be extended by placement and practice in the field and so the model of CPS can co-exist alongside formal supervision to enhance professional growth and well-being in the role of supporting and improving outcomes for children and others.

Diving into Lake Devo: Modes of representation and means of interaction and reflection in online role-play

<p>This paper outlines an action research project involving the development of an educational online role-playing website, known as Lake Devo. Designed in keeping with constructivist principles, the website is used in select post-secondary courses at Ryerson University and allows learners to work synchronously, using visual, audio, and text elements to create avatars and interact in online role-play scenarios. The website also provides an integrated area for debrief following role-play activities. The features of the website were deliberately intended to provide a viable alternative to text-only online role-play activities, while not requiring the highly sophisticated elements of 3D virtual environments. During the period of the project on which this article reports, learners were invited to use the Lake Devo website for an assigned role-play activity. Online learner survey responses were collected following the pilot implementations of the website to determine the extent to which the non-text modes of representation (visual, audio) in Lake Devo, along with an integrated debrief area on the site, supported the learners in their online role-play activity. The preliminary findings suggest that Lake Devo provides an environment that effectively supports online role-play. The simple format of the Lake Devo avatars, the availability of visual and audio elements, and the ability to create a lasting artifact for review in a dedicated debrief area engage students and also reinforce the constructivist and collaborative nature of role-play activities. For practitioners beyond the Lake Devo project team and the Ryerson context, the Lake Devo website provides an example of an online role-play environment that offers alternatives to text-based and/or 3D virtual worlds.</p>

Forward looking needs systematised megatrends in suitable granularity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to inquire about the applicability of the concept of granularity to the necessity of future research or – as often called in the European Union – forward looking (FL). After theoretical deliberation, it uses a planned world-wide information system as a case study for applying the notion of granularity regarding economic sectors, time steps, geographic regions and correlations for energy, water, land use and several other drivers of global change. Design/methodology/approach – A planet-wide information system might optimally include areas such as human development indicators, water demand and supply and deforestation issues. A short literature analysis on “granularity” shows this concept to have a highly culturally determined and constructivist nature. Findings – The spatial, temporal and sectoral granularity of data presentation strongly impacts conclusions and considerations while looking forward. Hence, granularity issues are of key importance for the question of which megatrends are ultimately discerned as most relevant. Practical implications – These findings may impact the regular report on global megatrends authored by the European Environment Agency, as well as world-wide energy and emission scenarios and technological foresight, such as the “Global Change Data Base” as a next step of research. Social implications – In future research, the step from purely quantitative perceptions towards structural perceptions, pattern recognition and understanding of system transitions might be facilitated. The FL statements of larger companies might be diversified, enlarged in scope and use deeper structural understanding. Originality/value – Earlier databases tend to have been focused on one or several single disciplines; the present approach, however, attempts transdisciplinarity and a multiparadigmatic approach.

Sucesso, mídia de negócios e a cultura do management no Brasil

A lógica das modernas práticas de gestão ultrapassou a esfera econômica e disseminou-se como modelo de conduta para outras esferas da vida social, em um processo denominado management ou cultura do management, intensamente difundido após a Segunda Guerra Mundial. Ao se expandir para países em desenvolvimento, argumentamos que esse processo trouxe, entre outros valores, modelos de sucesso que se propagaram a partir da mídia de negócios. A mídia, entendida como comunicação de massa, possibilita a mercantilização e a circulação de formas simbólicas. Nesse contexto, este artigo apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa de caráter construcionista que analisa os repertórios utilizados pela principal revista de negócios do Brasil, a Exame, para falar do sucesso, desde sua criação, em 1971, até 1998, ano em que surgiu a Você S/A, publicação emblemática para o fenômeno aqui discutido. Ao todo, foram consultadas 634 edições de Exame, a partir das quais selecionamos 58 matérias e 595 editorais que foram, então, submetidos à análise de repertórios. Ao evidenciar o modelo de executivo e homem de negócios bem-sucedido, os resultados mostram, ao longo de três décadas, o processo de difusão de um sentido de sucesso em sintonia com a lógica da economia de mercado e com os valores da excelência e do empreendedorismo como características necessárias ao indivíduo, no mundo corporativo. Em conjunto com outras pesquisas brasileiras, este artigo evidencia o processo de difusão dos valores do management no país.

Rereading narrative constructivism

Since the 1960s, and especially after the appearance of Metahistory in 1973, the relationship between narrative and reality has been one of the most important questions in historical theory. Despite this, historians have generally taken the kind of narrative constructivism associated with Hayden White to hold no significance for them. Their justifications often miss the core point, however: What is in question is not how history could derive meaning from the facts of the past (which is an unsolvable problematic), but the responsibility historians have for the consequences of their work because of its unavoidably subjective or constructivist nature. Since Whitean constructivism emphasizes the independence of the meanings of historical stories from past reality, it necessarily also foregrounds the legitimation of interpretations. Hence the question becomes: Why ‘do’ history at all? By examining what narrative constructivism has had to say about the assumptions and rules that define history as a genre – as well as through an evaluation of what might so far have been missed but still needs to be considered – my goal here is to refocus the discussion so that this much more radical and far-reaching dimension might be better understood.

Phases of Shopping Addiction Evidenced by Experiences of Compulsive Buyers

This study investigated the process of shopping addiction as maladaptive responses regarding buying behavior. A qualitative approach was designed by inductive, interpretative, and constructionist nature of qualitative research. The research participants were recruited from internet websites providing consumer news, recruiting information of consumer panels or monitors, and castings of actors or models. In-depth interviews were done to solicit experiences of shopping. Content analysis was used to derive concepts regarding experiences of compulsive buying. Five concepts were derived, which were described and illustrated as sequential phases of shopping addiction: Phase 1. Retail therapy, “Filling up emptiness with shopping”; Phase 2. Denial, “Ignoring overconsumption”; Phase 3. Debt-ridden, “Ran out of money, while nothing left”; Phase 4. Impulsive buying, “Driving ones-self to hasty buying”; and Phase 5. Compulsive buying, “It is crazy but I cannot stop”. The results of this study clarifies the basic understanding of people who engage in compulsive buying and provide educational resources for professionals engaged in helping people with compulsive buying disorder.

On the imaginative constructivist nature of design: a theoretical approach

Most empirical accounts of design suggest that designing is an activity where objects and representations are progressively constructed. Despite this fact, whether design is a constructive process or not is not a question directly addressed in the current design research. By contrast, in other fields such as Mathematics or Psychology, the notion of constructivism is seen as a foundational issue. The present paper defends the point of view that forms of constructivism in design need to be identified and integrated as a foundational element in design research as well. In fact, a look at the literature reveals at least two types of constructive processes that are well embedded in design research: first, an interactive constructivism, where a designer engages a conversation with media, that allows changing the course of the activity as a result of this interaction; second, a social constructivism, where designers need to handle communication and negotiation aspects, that allows integrating individuals’ expertise into the global design process. A key feature lacking these well-established paradigms is the explicit consideration of creativity as a central issue of design. To explore how creative and constructivist aspects of design can be taken into account conjointly, the present paper pursues a theoretical approach. We consider the roots of constructivism in mathematics, namely the Intuitionist Mathematics, in order to shed light on the original insights that led to the development of a notion of constructivism. Intuitionists describe mathematics as the process of mentalmathematical constructions realized by a creative subject over time. One of the most original features of intuitionist constructivism is the introduction of incomplete objects into the heart of mathematics by means of lawless sequences and free choices. This allows the possibility to formulate undecided propositions and the consideration of creative acts within a formal constructive process. We provide an in-depth analysis of intuitionism from a design standpoint showing that the original notion is more than a pure constructivism where new objects are a mere bottom-up combination of already known objects. Rather, intuitionism describes an imaginative constructivist process that allows combining bottom-up and top-down processes and the expansion of both propositions and objects with free choices of a creative subject. We suggest that this new form of constructivism we identify is also relevant in interpreting conventional design processes and discuss its status with respect to other forms of constructivism in design.

A Multiple Feedback Methodology for the Study of Creativity Evaluations

The cultural psychology perspective emphasizes the role of communication and social interaction in the construction of representations and evaluations concerning creativity. In terms of creativity assessment, this approach leads to the use of a multiple feedback methodology selecting several groups of evaluators with dissimilar backgrounds in order to understand how creativity practices and evaluations are rooted in particular contexts. Due to its constructionist nature, the multiple feedback method aims to capture the multiplicity of viewpoints characteristic for real life settings and can be especially useful for investigating the social and cultural dynamics of creativity.

CONSTRUCTIVIST AND ECOLOGICAL MODELING OF GROUP RATIONALITY

AbstractThese brief remarks highlight three aspects of Christian List and Philip Pettit's Group Agency: The Possibility, Design, and Status of Corporate Agents that illustrate its constructivist nature: (i) its stress on the discursive dilemma as a primary challenge to group rationality and reasoning; (ii) its general though qualified support for premise-based decision-making as the preferred way to cope with the problems of judgment aggregation; and (iii) its account of rational agency and moral responsibility. The essay contrasts List and Pettit's constructivist analysis of group rationality with an ecological approach, inspired by social theorists such as F A. Hayek, Vernon L. Smith and Gerd Gigerenzer.

7. Negotiating Shared Understandings of Our Work Through a Collaborative Curriculum: Exploring the Experience of Creativity in Cross Discipline Visual Arts Projects

In 1994, the National Arts Education Association created a research agenda to address major research issues in the field of visual arts education for the purpose of examining, negotiating, and modifying commonly held beliefs in the field of art education. Research by arts educators has done much to inform visual arts education theory and practice, but largely through studies by individuals with few collaborative efforts. In 1991, Neil Owen Houser proposed a collaborative processing model for arts education, which reflects the experiential or constructivist nature of instruction. In this paper, we present our reflections on our shared work where we explored the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration, the role of play in the process of problem solving, and how experiential learning strategies and techniques could be applied to the teaching of various subjects through visually-mediated arts projects.