Vision Of Teaching Research Articles

Who can I be now? The complexity of students in policy enactment

ABSTRACT This paper aims to contribute to the field of policy enactment studies with a deepened understanding of the significance of the students when a pedagogical vision is enacted. The paper is based on a single case study using observations, surveys, interviews, and document studies. Informed by policy enactment theory, we analyse the students’ role in enacting the vision at the newly established Newschool, which emphasises entrepreneurship and challenge-based learning. The analysis shows that the student intake and population is of paramount importance for enacting the vision. The first generation of students was not particularly interested in the vision, which affected its enactment. Some were more interested in friendship projects, and others in getting good grades. Still, the students do enact the vision as policy narrators, entrepreneurs, receivers, survivors, and critics. However, the students oscillate between different policy roles depending on the context, which indicates that role positioning is complex. The longitudinal ethnographic approach and the different methods of the study were important for reaching multifaceted interpretations of various incidents at the school. An implication for school practitioners is that preconceived ideas about ideal students might hinder visionary work should the students not be those expected.

Promoting humanizing, meaningful, and just language instruction for multilingual learners and their peers: A pedagogical vision illustrated by examples from practice

In this article, we engage with the question of how to create just and humanizing instructional conditions for learning through and about language at school. Rather than an empirical study, this article invites readers to rethink the role of languages in education by introducing and illustrating what we call Pedagogies of Voices (POV). Informed by research and practice, POV instructional approaches acknowledge and leverage the reality of multilingual and multidialectal repertoires in linguistically diverse classrooms, counteracting the tendency towards prescriptivism, which constrains what counts as language learning and teaching in schools. Through vignettes from middle-school multilingual classrooms implementing the TRANSLATE literacy curriculum, we illustrate how POV-inspired instruction transforms the conventions of classroom interactions by scaffolding language learning through relational activities that affirm and expand students’ multilingual repertoires and metalinguistic strategies for learning through and about language. These POV-inspired practices shift the role of teachers, who become learners of their students’ ways with language and shift the instructional goal from a narrow focus on teaching the language of school literacy to a concerted effort to foster flexible, resourceful, critical, and creative student voices—what we call Critical Rhetorical Flexibility. These two shifts, we argue, contribute to creating the enabling conditions to foster inclusive, humanizing communities in which students and teachers experience the joyful challenge of learning through languages together. We conclude with thoughts and considerations for theory, future practice-embedded research, and evidence-based educational practice.

Principals’ conceptions of mathematics instruction: Co-constructing sophisticated instructional vision through professional development

ABSTRACT Objectives Although a principal’s instructional vision is recognized as important for schoolwide improvement efforts, little is known about how principals conceive of mathematics instruction or how professional learning opportunities shape their instructional vision. This article explores principals’ conceptions of mathematics instruction after participating in learning experiences designed to support the development of a vision of high-quality instruction. Methods Through a design-based research approach, we created classroom-based learning experiences for six elementary school principals to develop their vision of high-quality mathematics instruction in the context of a research-practice partnership. Transcripts from the learning experiences and follow-up interviews were analysed qualitatively. Results Findings illustrate nuances in participating principals’ conceptions of mathematics instruction and how their role shaped their vision. Principals attended to the importance of the teacher in actively shaping learning experiences, but were less consistent in describing other dimensions of high-quality instruction such as mathematics tasks. Findings suggest that principals’ conceptions aligned with features of high-quality instruction to the extent they were discussed or elevated during the professional learning experience. Conclusions Our analysis highlights the importance of considering principals’ unique perspectives in professional development around high-quality mathematics instruction and has implications for future practice-embedded principal learning opportunities.

Being, exploring, and playing outdoors: Young children philosophize through Sámi pedagogical imagination and storytelling

This article discusses the pedagogical role of the imagination and forms of life in Sámi early childhood education. Following Nergård’s development of Wittgenstein’s notion “form of life” as an imaginative, pedagogical, and anthropological concept, the article will explore how Sámi children both use and transform forms of life in Sámi early childhood centers. The article explores scenes from a day spent outdoors with early childhood educators and children. The aim is to show how young Sámi children philosophize and articulate their world, and how listening to the children can be a decolonizing practice that challenges colonial assumptions in pedagogy, philosophy and society. The empirical data was collected through a pilot project and the subsequent project Sámi Children as Thought Herders. The data material contains photos, short films, sound records, and notes collected through ethnographic fieldwork conceived as Critical Utopian Action Research, which takes into account the social learning of all participants, here specifically the children, the educators and the researchers. Thus, these are spaces for a joint critique that resists colonially structured practices. The main findings are that, during outdoor activities, educators and children imaginatively perform, play and encounter outdoor spaces and aspects of Sámi forms of life. This is explored on the basis of scenes where young children imaginatively engaged with the forest environment. The educators’ storytelling and the storytelling tradition continued into the children’s own storytelling. The children created stories about a Stállo who lives in a rusty oil barrel they found in the forest, making traditional stories and forms of life come alive and transforming them. In reflecting upon these scenes, we argue for the pedagogical, performative, and philosophical importance of engaging with the ways that children’s imaginative play interacts with place.

Game-based Networked Learning

Designing and analyzing learning experiences in non-formal contexts can be challenging, even for those with educational training. The challenge is more significant if the priorities include educational ideological bases or an specific type of educational vision. The DALI project (Data Literacy for Citizens) has the primary goal of offering Data Literacy learning experiences specifically designed for adults in non-formal educational contexts. With this goal in mind, and considering the social and material realities of the target participants –their needs, diversity, interests and cultures– the project combines two of the most promising pedagogical approaches nowadays: networked learning and playful learning. This short paper outlines the pedagogical vision underpinning our efforts to integrate both approaches into a set of strategies and resources, in other words, the principles and ideas driving the design of what is called in the project: Game-based Networked Learning (GBNL) experiences. In particular, we draw on both the Activity Centred Analysis and Design (ACAD) framework and the Transdisciplinary Model for Developing Game-Based Interventions. After reviewing key aspects of the theoretical grounds that define our understanding of educational uses of technology and game-based learning, the paper addresses critical considerations underpinning the adaptation of the ACAD framework in the planning of playful learning experiences. Thus, the paper outlines the main principles guiding the design of DALI experiences, dividing them into the three design areas established by ACAD: set design, epistemic design and social design. The ambition of this approach is to serve as a pedagogical and educational statement to guide valuable actions to improve other adult learning approaches.

On the nature, uses and functions of imagination in education: A multidisciplinary approach

This article aims to delve into the theoretical perspective on imagination in education, focusing specifically on Imaginative Education theory. The approach involves a dual objective: critically analyzing the limitations and specific potentials of Imaginative Education to stimulate contemporary discourse on imagination in education and using it as a foundation to frame current research in philosophy and psychology within an educational context. Key elements of this theoretical operation include a critical examination of philosophical taxonomies on the concept of imagination and its reinterpretation in relation to Predictive Coding and Embodied Cognition theories. The fundamental goal of this conceptual clarification goes beyond the theoretical realm. The article aspires to contribute to the growing interest in imagination, fantasy, and creativity as essential elements of curriculum design and teacher education, serving both as educational objectives and resources to create meaningful learning environments and experiences. Hence, the focus on the IE theory aims to bridge the gap between theoretical reflections on imagination and learning and their practical implications in curriculum design and teacher education or professional development.

Evolution of Expressions Used in the Spanish Version of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Linguistic Significance and Pedagogical Vision in the Changes

Evolution of Expressions Used in the Spanish Version of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Linguistic Significance and Pedagogical Vision in the Changes

Visions of full-time school in the “Biblioteca di Lavoro” editorial series: anti-authoritarianism and student protagonism

The Italian school system at the end of the 1960s is involved in an unprecedented process of transformation from below. The urge to renew the traditional school led to the implementation of numerous local experiments with the aim to reduce the authoritarian component of the educational institution and modify the power relationship between teacher and learner, placing the student at the centre of the educational process. In line with these objectives, the first innovative full-time school experiences carried out in Turin by teachers belonging to the Movimento di cooperazione educativa advocate the full-time school as a democratic necessity and a prerequisite for the application of Freinet techniques; this vision is evidenced by the “Biblioteca di Lavoro” editorial series coordinated by Mario Lodi. The contribution intends to examine some emblematic dossiers of the series in order to reconstruct the pedagogical vision behind the demand for a full-time school in parallel with its historical and normative evolution.

Toward a Pedagogy of Critical and Social Imagination: The Arts in Adult Education

We present an argument for a higher priority for art in the educational system and “make a case” for the arts—to provide a rationale for its priority in adult education. This is the plan: to provide this rationale; to present practical guidelines for the processes of engaging in art that may be transformative and critical for individuals and for society; and to illustrate the powerful potential of art as a way of teaching for democratic citizenship. We move toward a Pedagogy of Social Imagination in Art and Adult Education by recounting a real-life empirical study of creating opportunities for transformative learning through engagements with art. John Dewey and Maxine Greene assist in outlining a rationale for exploring arts in adult education.

Centering First-Year Teachers’ Instructional Visions and Professional Voices in a Community of Practice

First-year teachers often experience tensions between their visions of high-quality and equitable mathematics instruction and the realities of school culture and politics. Subsequently, first-year teachers need a professional learning space where they can be supported in enacting their instructional visions while developing their professional voices. In this paper, we share the voices of four first-year teachers and how a community of practice supported them to navigate the individual challenges of their classroom practices. Findings from this study yielded two major themes: 1) the community of practice supported them to reflect, envision, and articulate alternative realities; and 2) instructional visions were filters that empowered them to strengthen their professional voices while developing as equitable mathematics teachers.

German teachers' pilgrimage to an Israeli Holocaust Memorial: Emotions, encounters, and contested visions

AbstractDrawing on anthropological conceptions of pilgrimage, our ethnography of professional development at an Israeli Holocaust Memorial follows German teachers on journeys to Israel. Seeking transformative and transferable experiences to combat anti‐Semitism in schools, teachers experienced the voyage as a secular pilgrimage rooted in Christian traditions of guilt, confession, and absolution. As teachers' emotional encounters in Israel simultaneously forged communitas and challenged official historical–pedagogical visions, their practices abroad elucidate prevalent Holocaust education discourses in contemporary Germany.

Towards a pedagogical conception of imagination in STEAM education

ABSTRACT STEAM is a coupling of the well-known STEM-disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics with the arts. This conception of education builds on the foundations of STEM-curricula but complements it with a focus on innovation, creativity, novelty etc. Those in favor of STEAM education emphasize the importance of this shifted focus in better preparing the future generations for the complex challenges to come. However, a portion of the discourse on STEAM tends to reduce this approach to education to a means towards market-oriented ends. In opposition to such a discourse and primarily informed by Koestler’s work on imagination and discovery in science, art and other domains of human creativity, we develop and defend a pedagogical conception of imagination. By connecting this conception of pedagogical imagination to insights from Tyson Lewis and Peter Hyland, we propose a protocol-based educational practice which can be incorporated in STEAM education.

Road works ahead: the journey of an innovative cross-campus hybrid learning space navigating higher education institutions’ organizational setbacks

The most recent UN publication on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which covers issues related to socioeconomic, environmental, and technological development on a global scale towards 2030, has expanded its focus to include tertiary education and the role of Universities in contributing to societal development. SDG 4, particularly, calls for equal access to tertiary education from a lifelong perspective, and consequentially an increasing need for flexible education. It has therefore become pivotal for Higher Education Institutions to promote the implementation of both flexible study programs and related innovative learning environments to sustain learners’ lifelong education and the development of critical skills in an increasingly digitalized world. Innovation, however, has a cost. In Higher Education, innovation must necessarily reconcile academic advantages with economic conveniences. In this paper, we look in retrospect and share our experiences from a major research project linked to creating and implementing an innovative hybrid learning space within the frame of a cross-campus and cross-institution master’s degree based at two Norwegian universities. In the evaluation phase of the project, tension became apparent between the underlying pedagogical visions that sparked the enthusiasm for the project and the challenging reality of having to create, organize, and manage a complex cross-campus and cross-institution study program and build the learning space related to it. It seems that traditional university structures as a closed ecosystem made it difficult to anchor the development of the program in/within/between the organizations. The administration did not seem equipped to manage the uncertainty such an innovative project presented in the form of many new unforeseen, challenging, and unpredictable variables. In two related publications we have specifically discussed the results from the project by focusing on the experiences educators and students collectively reported about working and studying in the ad hoc learning environment developed for the master’s program. We wish now to look back and explore the topic from an organizational perspective where the administration of the cross-campus and cross-institution project acts as a filter between the educators’ pedagogical vision and the students’ experiences. In this exploratory case study, we have opted for a phenomenological investigation and a qualitative approach to research design that is informed by constructivist grounded theory methods. We went back to the educators’ and students’ feedback and tried to understand not just what worked and what did not, but why. What contributed the most to the increasing tension between the initial pedagogical vision of the educators and the practical development of the project in reality? We believe that sharing the experiences harvested from our project along the road can be of help to other researchers and stakeholders in confronting and finding solutions to the challenges that complex innovative projects might constitute for higher education institutions.

Brain Liberation - An Anthropological Reflection on the Threat of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract This study examines the threat of AI to the emancipation of the human brain, with a particular focus on its impact on human logical thinking and creativity. It reveals the centrality of AI in knowledge engineering by analyzing expert systems constructed by the Symbolist school, which emphasize the role of knowledge bases and reasoning machines by simulating human logical thinking. The study also examines how AI affects modern human subjectivity, utilizing the “Valley of Terror” curve theory to explain the changes in human attitudes toward AI Further, the study introduces human brain-based AI models, such as the application of back-propagation algorithms in neural networks, as well as a cognitive-based model of knowledge operations in the human brain. The results show that the development of AI poses a threat to human brain power, especially in information processing and decision making. AI can replace human brain functions, leading to human logic and creativity degradation. For example, the application of ChatGPT in education can significantly improve students’ test rankings and reduce the reliance on individual thinking skills. In summary, AI may lead to the degradation of human logical thinking and creative ability while improving efficiency and convenience, affecting the overall development of human beings. Therefore, the focus should be on balancing the relationship between the utilization of AI and the development of human brain capacity, significantly to enhance the cultivation of human creativity and imagination in education and innovation.

Олекса Тихий (1927–1984) та його педагогічна візія

Олекса Тихий (1927–1984) та його педагогічна візія

The study, work choices, and personal attributes of Steiner Waldorf alumni and graduates: An international comparison of Australia-New Zealand, Germany, and North America

This study explored the attitudes of Steiner Waldorf alumni and graduates from Australia-New Zealand, regarding their study, work choices and personal attributes. Steiner Waldorf data were compared with Australian study and employment records, and the findings of Steiner Waldorf graduate outcomes research studies in Germany and North America. The international comparison highlighted differences in the implementation of the Steiner Waldorf pedagogy and students’ perceptions of their school experiences. Despite regional variations, there was a commonality in graduates choosing care-oriented and human-centred higher education and careers. Graduates indicated that their schooling significantly shaped their abilities, values, and beliefs, influencing their personal, professional, and social lives. They valued the creative, imaginative aspects of their education and the community spirit fostered by school events, nature activities, and ethical values. Graduates expressed concern about maintaining the core pedagogical vision of freedom amidst digital and pandemic challenges, emphasizing the need to discard outdated practices while retaining the best elements.

Dread and the automation of education: From algorithmic anxiety to a new sensibility

Accelerating digitization, algorithmic computation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, along with the increasing automation of work, communication, and everyday life, are central to critical studies of technology and political economy, as well as to public discourse concerning technology’s role in creating futures. Ongoing transformations in technological capacity have also been scrutinized for their impact on experience, emotion, and culture. Building on David Theo Goldberg’s assertion that “tracking capitalism” creates pervasive dread, this article explores how the digital automation of education, specifically, generates forms of algorithmic anxiety that impact teaching and learning, constraining pedagogical visions of alternative futures. Algorithmic anxiety in education contributes to dread’s proliferation. If dread is the “driving social sensibility” today, and algorithmic anxiety a pedagogical vector of its spread, then a less dreadful education should center an imaginative struggle for new sensibilities.

AN ALTERNATIVE ARCHITECTURE GRADUATE COURSE CONDUCTED THROUGH DISTANCE EDUCATION AND ITS IMPACTS ON STUDENT LEARNING PROCESS

A multidisciplinary atelier course conducted through distance education in Kocaeli University Faculty of Architecture Graduate Program in 2020/21 Fall Semester is analyzed in this article concerning the impacts of the alternative and versatile methods followed during the course process on student learning achievement. The aim is to reveal the new pedagogical visions and contributions that the methods of this course can provide to student learning and instructor intervention in architecture graduate education. During the course, the stages of determining the workshop groups, discussing the activities with the groups, and developing suggestions, conducting discussions in the distance education environment on the students' study subjects and activity plans, and delivering the final report based on the activity week process and the products obtained were carried out. The required data, including the evidence of actual learning achievement in this course, is derived from a catechetical survey with 12 students who took the course, while the final statements and inferences of the study are based on the achievements and critics of these students about the course. The results obtained from this survey are reciprocally evaluated with the learning achievement targets that are placed in the course syllabus at the beginning of the semester with concrete numerical values to observe the level of achievement of these learning targets. The learning achievements that students gained most apart from the determined learning achievement targets of the course are the development of presentation abilities of students, the provision of exchange of ideas with students from different departments and with the lecturers apart from their thesis advisors, and the possibility of following the processes of different work items. The findings of this study express that the program and the methods of this course can be instructive for implementing new approaches in post-pandemic distance and face-to-face education of architecture in graduate programs.

Ventilation's role in adaptable school buildings: Comparing traditional and adaptable strategies through life cycle assessment

Adaptable buildings are a promising enabler in the transition towards a more circular economy, with the ambition of using materials as efficiently as possible. To exploit adaptable buildings to their full potential, HVAC designers should critically rethink how to design technical services and ventilation systems in particular. This case study illustrates how five ventilation strategies perform from an environmental point of view in a school building where the configuration of the floorplan changes every five years, each of the changes reflecting a pedagogical vision. Consequential LCA is used to assess the environmental impact. A decentralized balanced mechanical ventilation system, which requires almost no adaptations when the configuration changes, has the lowest environmental impact while mechanical exhaust ventilation has the highest. However, when the configuration of the floorplan layout alters more rapidly, the relative environmental impact of the latter decreases substantially. The main conclusion is that, in a flexible context, the material-related environmental impact gains importance over the energy-related impact. With respect to this conclusion, a key finding is that minimizing the material use of ductwork (rather than oversizing ductwork dimensions to decrease the energy consumption of the fan) is more sustainable from an environmental point of view. Finally, distributing the ductwork over two shafts offers more flexibility and results in a lower environmental impact as this allows for the use of smaller dimensions of ductwork.

Surfacing Principals’ Beliefs About Instruction for Students With Disabilities: A Qualitative Analysis

As instructional leaders, principals establish a vision of effective instruction in their schools and support that vision through evaluation and development efforts. Thus, their beliefs about instruction in special education may have direct consequences for special educators and their students. Though research suggests principals lack experience and knowledge regarding special education, few studies explore these beliefs in action. Informed by Kennedy's theory of working knowledge, we used two distinct interview methods to tap into principals’ expressed beliefs and beliefs in use when evaluating special education teachers. Findings crack open the “black box” of principals’ working knowledge to highlight how underlying beliefs regarding the purpose of special education and students, teaching, and learning drove principals’ visions of instructional quality more than specific practices did. We end by highlighting implications regarding how to best support school leaders in fostering effective teaching for students with disabilities and next steps for research.