Educational Possibilities Research Articles

Reimagining the new pedagogical possibilities for universities post-Covid-19

Our minds are still racing back and forth, longing for a return to ‘normality’, trying to stitch our future to our past and refusing to acknowledge the rupture. But the rupture exists. And in the midst of this terrible despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be worse than a return to normality. Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.

Working With Diversity in the Spanish Heritage Language Classroom: A Critical Perspective

This article reflects on the notion of diversity and its implications for the Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) classroom. In doing so, I follow proposals on SHL education, multilingualism, multiculturalism and sociolinguistics that call for a critical, dynamic and historical perspective on diversity. I elaborate on the relevance of such approch for the SHL classroom, and the new pedagogical possibilities it brings to our work. The final goal is to provide teachers with conceptual tools to generate inclusive learning environments where we all —heritage and foreign language learners, along with teachers— engage in critical discussions about our place in today’s diversity, and how we are all contributing to the future of the Spanish language in our communities.

Liberating teachers from the dominant theories and the unquestioned mission: Towards ‘disruptive theories’ in technology enhanced learning research

In Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) research, technology is commonly perceived as an innovative tool to “enhance” the quality of pedagogical experiences. The assumptions that the introduction of new technology has brought about a more effective learning paradigm into current classrooms have rarely been challenged by TEL researchers. In this context, teachers are often considered as important actors who are responsible to achieve the urgent mission of TEL, which is to effectively integrate new technology in classrooms. However, this article argues that such blind faith in TEL can have ramifications in actual educational contexts. It is mainly because this blind faith can determine what is possible or impossible for teachers in enacting their pedagogical beliefs, and thus, in imagining alternative educational scenarios for their students. This paper, therefore aims to reveal how dominant theories in the TEL field, largely drawn from the common assumptions of an educational role of technology, produce a set of imperative claims about teachers and their subjectivity in the field of teacher education. By doing so, this research intends to envision new roles of theory in TEL research, arguing that ‘disruptive theory’ can help us to challenge the common, but uncritical assumptions prevailing in TEL and further open unique opportunities for more critical debates. The first part of the paper will conceptualise theory as discourse and describe a methodological approach utilised in this critical literature review project. The second part will critically review different theories in a set of scholarly journal articles (N=33) concerning TEL-related teacher education, highlighting the dominant, but limited ways in which the theories have guided knowledge construction in those articles. Three themes (i.e., building, medicalising, expanding) have been identified as common actions of theories in TEL research through the authors’ open coding process. The third part will point out the taken-for-granted assumptions in which TEL theories are commonly rooted. It continues to discuss alternative and imaginative ways in which theory can inspire TEL research based on three disruptive roles that a TEL theory may take. The disruptive theories are essential to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions with imaginative thoughts which seem to be dormant in TEL research. They may contribute to liberating teachers from the dominant theories and the unquestioned mission and further empowering them to be able to create their own pedagogical possibilities and ultimately, may contribute to freely educating their students.Keywords: discourse analysis; theory; technology; teacher education; TPACK; FoucaultPart of the Special Issue Debating the status of ‘theory’ in technology enhanced learning research

“Batavia”: An Analysis on the Pedagogical Possibilities and Limitations of Virtual Reality Art

Publicly displayed art has long been an important mechanism for public pedagogy, historical representation, and critical thought. Thus, as art-creation technologies evolve enabling public artistic representations to change forms, it is important to critically examine the pedagogical and social implications of these novel art technologies. In this paper, I will analyze the pedagogical possibilities and the potential socio-political implications of an increasingly popular form of modern art representation: Virtual Reality (VR) art. Specifically, I argue that while the immersive and engaging form of VR technologies may offer some interesting possibilities as an educational practice for history through art, if they are not used properly, VR-art technologies may serve to propagate colonial narratives and inhibit a critical lens on historical events. Going forward, then, the ways in which novel artistic technologies are put into practice must be more critically examined and critiqued before they are launched into the public sphere.

Ecology and Christian education: how sustainability discourse and theological anthropology inform teaching methods

This paper will sketch theoretical synergies between sustainability discourse and a Christian ecotheological approach to religious education, and point to pedagogical possibilities for bridging the two disciplines. Theology and natural science operate with certain anthropological assumptions. Those underlying anthropologies inform the teaching methods of environmental and religious education. Anthropologies that conceive of human being outside of ecological relationships are a root problem of our current ecological crisis. Many economic, political and social discourses colonize people from the land, particularly children, exacerbating the root causes of sustainability. This paper affirms that linking sustainability discourse and religious education is a way to decolonize education and reintegrate our self-understanding within sustainable, transformative, ecological relationships. Pedagogical methods that keep this goal in mind promote pro-social and sustainable learning. Linking these practices to ecotheological concepts such as the Sabbath or within liturgical context of faith communities affirms the interdisciplinary wisdom of sustainability. The paper concludes with examples of place based ecotheological formation in Muslim, Jewish, Christian and interfaith contexts.

THE PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERSTANDING OF COMPASSION AS A METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATION FOR ITS FORMATION IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

The relevance of the article is determined by the need for a philosophical aspect in the study of the category "compassion" for the discovery and understanding of new pedagogical possibilities of educational activity in primary school. The purpose of the article is to convey to the pedagogical community the quintessence of the philosophical positions reflecting the ideas of compassion in world culture.The methodology of the present study was the civilizational and axiological approaches; the historical and genetic method (theoretical), the study of the experience of educational organizations and personal pedagogical experience in school (empirical) were used in the work.The authors concluded that compassion in the process of education should be perceived as a priority of moral health of the pupils. The compassion is "stored" in the "collective unconscious" of humanity, reflecting the thoughts and feelings common to all people, resulting from their common emotional past. For formation at pupils of compassion it is essential to cause them emotional response created by the teacher, the pedagogical situation, that there is some "moral habit" ("emotional skill"), a member of the "Super-Ego" personality, in other words, conscience. The authors show the ways and methodical means that provide awakening, raising from the depths of the subconscious some innate need to do goodness, the desire to help.

Culturally Sustaining Instruction for Arabic‐Speaking English Learners

AbstractArabic is the second most common home language of English learners in the United States. Educators seek to design culturally sustaining pedagogy to develop Arabic‐speaking English learners’ English skills while nourishing their heritage language and affirming their culture's values. The authors report on a series of interviews with three Arabic mothers on their perceptions of North American and Arabic award‐winning picture books and their experience of reading with their children. Based on the analysis of the interviews, the authors put forward five culturally sustaining pedagogical possibilities.

El Futuro Es Multilingüe: Moving from Monolingual Resistance to Engagement with Multilingual Texts

ABSTRACT Discussions regarding the use of multicultural and multilingual texts in classrooms often focus on representation and students’ right to their own language in culturally and linguistically diverse settings. Even when conversations about White privilege occur, linguistic privilege is seldom addressed. This theoretical paper focuses on the use of multicultural and multilingual literature in White, monolingual (English) spaces. The author asks: what is the responsibility of educators who teach in monolingual English, White spaces to disrupt the privileged position of English monolingualism as a taken for granted norm? The author proposes the use of multilingual code-switching in literature as a pedagogical tool for engaging White, monolingual students in deconstruction of their White, monolingual (English) linguistic privilege. This paper suggests that educators’ consideration of multilingual texts in White, monolingual spaces can promote further critical reflection on the pedagogical challenges and possibilities as we engage in the ongoing work of anti-racist pedagogy.

Teaching (with) Postcards: Approaches in the classroom, the field, and the community

This article showcases the pedagogical possibilities of working with postcards for teaching anthropology and related disciplinary fields by introducing a set of multifaceted tools and examples. It provides a framework for tangible reflexive teaching practices and a research methodology that supports, both intellectually and emotionally, a vibrant and mobile community of scholars. We commence with the emergence of the postcard, and its (widely undervalued) role as a research subject in the social sciences. Examples from the arts, literature, teaching and research offer inspiration for engaged and creative teaching formats. These cases support our claim that as seemingly ‘anachronistic’ object of communication, postcards are useful for teaching in the classroom, for teaching ethnography, and for community-based work and teaching. In fact, as a traveling communication device, the repurposed postcard lends itself to connect the oft-physically and conceptually divided spaces of the classroom and the ethnographic ‘field.’ Concurrently, the opening of postcards allows for a critique of the medium’s historical use in exoticization the ‘other.’ In other writing [anonymized], we explore in more detail the multimodal qualities of working ethnographically on, within, or through postcards. We here extend the pedagogical potentials to use postcards for innovative approaches in ethnographic research, public anthropology, and applied community work.

PEDAGOGIA DESPORTIVA E O ENSINO DA DANÇA DO VARÃO NA ESCOLA: UMA PESQUISA-AÇÃO SOBRE OS IMPACTOS NAS AULAS DE EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA

The present study is qualitative, interventional and action research, which seeks to discuss the concepts and practice of Pole Dancesport at school. The main objective was to develop and propose a pedagogical possibility for the learning of this sport in the school based on the interactionist theory, considering that there are no "models" in force today. It also aims to know the impacts of learning caused on the students involved with the proposal of the practice of Pole Dance. We believe that the pedagogy of teaching Pole Dance in school must be based on different dimensions as the content of school physical education, especially conceptual, procedural and attitudinal. In this way, we understand that this content can also be developed in the context of Physical Education at school, bringing cultural, social and motor benefits to the students involved in the proposal. We emphasize that Pole Dance is something different to be developed pedagogically in schools, even recognized today as a manifestation (sport), even considered by many still as something atypical and unusual in Physical Education.

Holy Childhoods, Batman!: Configurations of Youth and Possibilities in Teacher Education as Seen through Robin Comics

ABSTRACTThis paper explores a historical analysis of the comic book character Robin to illuminate how different understandings of youth at different historical points intersect with notions of pedagogy to make certain forms of childhood intelligible to educators and researchers. We analyze different configurations of Robin’s identity, taking up questions of the pedagogical relationships present between Batman and each of the Robins. In doing so, we articulate different youth subjectivities and the education these identities demand. Using the different iterations of the Robin character, we analyze four youth subjectivities and possibilities for teachers to wrestle with prefigured subjectivities. The paper concludes with a consideration of an unthinkable Robin character as one with no Batman, suggesting possibilities for teachers to think through more radical forms of student autonomy.

ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ КРИТИЧЕСКОГО МЫШЛЕНИЯ СТУДЕНТОВ В ПРОЦЕССЕ ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЙ ПОДГОТОВКИ

The problems of developing critical thinking in the process of training students are considered in the article. The relevance of this study in the regulatory documents adopted in the Republic of Kazakhstan is analyzed. The educational technologies that’s used in the educational system of the Republic of Kazakhstan and seven modules of the Cambridge system are listed. The basic structural elements of critical thinking, which are the basic element in the formation of critical thinking in students are given. The main characteristics of the critical thinking of the teacher and the important features of critical thinking, as well as the role of reflection and evaluation in the formation of critical thinking are considered. The role of the student and teacher in using the technology for the development of critical thinking of students is determined. The pedagogical possibilities of applying the technology for the development of critical thinking are given on the example of the discipline "Information and communication technologies".

AN AWARENESS-RAISING APPROACH TO TEACHING SMALL TALK IN AN EFL CLASSROOM

This study investigates the effects of pragmatic awareness-raising activities in foreign language settings. Drawing on conversation analysis, we explore the pedagogical possibility of using small talk video clips as sources for an awareness-raising activity in an EFL classroom. An instruction procedure is introduced to teach small talk, particularly conversation starter and topic management. 45 Chinese college students’ role play performances were examined. The analyses show that using authentic instructional materials has a positive effect on teaching and learning pragmatic aspects of the target language. Through the pragmatic awareness-raising activities, learners may become aware of the underlying sociopragmatic norms and thus produce the relevant interactional sequence structures in English.

Toward a Decolonial Praxis in Critical Peace Education: Postcolonial Insights and Pedagogic Possibilities

This paper argues for a decolonial praxis in critical peace education. Drawing on an integrative review method, the paper synthesises approaches, practices, and theories from peace and peace education literature with special attention paid to the concepts of critical peace education, cosmopolitanism, postcolonial thought, and decolonial action. The paper particularly explores the philosophical contributions of postcolonial and decolonial thought and how each could help toward decolonising approaches for critical peace education. The concept of ‘structural violence’ is critiqued as obfuscating individual responsibility. Insights are drawn here from the closely related field of global citizenship education that argues for a focus less on empathy and more on causal responsibility. Before concluding, the paper discusses a ‘pedagogy for the privileged’ and ‘pedagogy of discomfort’ that both might better support a decolonial praxis for critical peace education in theory and practice.

Creating Connections to Land through Art: Allowing Curiosity to Take the Lead in Urban Spaces

When a child requested a visit to a colourful metal tree that she had seen on the way to the children’s centre, we had no idea it would spark a journey of connection to the land through the art found in a bustling, urban, downtown setting. This article describes our journey as educators as we used questions to guide and push forward our practice with children. The questions provoked both children and educators to notice connections to the environment and how we might learn more about ourselves and the histories and stories of our surroundings. The purpose of this article is to consider how a series of metal tree art installations called our attention to the land we are on and the pedagogical possibilities that arose when we listened to questions proposed by both educators and the children in our care.

Возможен ли искусственный преподаватель?

The article is devoted to the urgent problem – the prospect of partial or complete substitution of teachers for artificial intelligence. With the progress of technologies related to the artificial intelligent systems development the reality of such substitution is estimated as increasing one. At the same time, even the potential substitution of human teachers for artificial intelligence and robotics raises zillion of questions which should be considered from different points of view: cognitive, social, technological, etc. The philosophical perspective provides a reflective integration of these points of view. The most prominent contemporary projects of using artificial intelligence in education have been revealed in the article. The types of intelligent systems used in education are systematized. It is shown that all of them have a different degree of anthropology. Primarily cognitive aspects of the problem of artificial intelligence in education have been considered in the article. The connection of ideas about the possibility of teachers’ substitution for the artificial systems with various approaches to understanding the key principles of education and training is investigated. At the same time, there is a socially critical approach showing that the substitution of teachers for the artificial intellectual systems is a component of cognitive capitalism. The author of the article proposes to reformulate the problem and consider the use of artificial intelligence in education not as a substitutional but as a supplementing technology. This means that artificial systems assume certain functions working in symbiosis with a human teacher and partly playing the role of a tutor. Using the actor-network theory and the ontology of assemblages, referring to the cyberand xenofeminist interpretation of the concept of "cyborg" the author shows that the teacher together with the artificial intelligence can form a human-machine system. In this case artificial intelligence shows emancipation potential but not alienating one.

Breathing Life into Sexuality Education: Becoming Sexual Subjects

This paper thinks with Todd’s (2017) ideas around ‘breathing life into education’ in relation to the curriculum area of sexuality education. It explores how this metaphor might be employed as a method for re-animating thought about the nature and purpose of sexuality education. The paper argues that sexuality education suffers from the stifling effects of instrumentalism and a neoliberal normativity that seeks to micro-manage the lives of students. Within sexuality education, this finds expression in a repetitive emphasis on reducing unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmissible infections. Confined by these foci, sexuality education’s pedagogical possibilities and transformative potential are limited. Breathing life into sexuality education offers opportunities for shaping this curriculum area as sensuous event. It also provides a life-enhancing pedagogical orientation that shifts focus from determining student’s imagined sexual futures, to attending to uncertainty in the present. Thinking with Todd’s ideas within the realm of sexuality education is an attempt to exercise their utility within a specific curriculum context. The paper also endeavours to press the metaphor of breath further, to characterise it as an act that is both mundane and profound. The implications of this conceptualisation for thinking about change in sexuality education are explored.

PECULIARITIES OF USING THE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGICAL PARADIGM OF INTELLECT DEVELOPMENT IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS OF HEI (HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS)

In the context of the implementation of higher education, the problem of forming the cognitive sphere of students acquires special relevance, because it is impossible to imagine the training of a qualified specialist without the appropriate level of cognitive development. The main aspects of cognitive processes formation strategy of higher education institutions students, based on the basic provisions of the design and technological paradigm of intellect development was analyzed in the article. It was also revealed the main theoretical provisions of the specified methodological direction, namely, the content of the concepts “design” and “technology”. It was figured out that the design of intellectual processes involves the creation of an object influence project, the creation of the management activities project and the development of learning influences model. It was established that the structure of the student's model consists of the following components: general age, level of success, temperament type, character traits, abilities, level of communication, features of the emotional sphere, level of memory, imagination, thinking, perception, and general indicators of intellectual development. A combined training model of students' cognitive processes was proposed, which provides a combination of direct and network interaction. At the same time, the training is interpreted as a specific group learning using the effects of facilitation and giving more personal freedom to students, which forms the cognitive structures according to a given model. Psychological mechanisms of distance learning are analyzed. The following main organizational aspects of training are defined: creation of comfortable working conditions, observance of rules of group work, maintenance of effective reflection, formation of atmosphere of free communication and psychological safety, effective psychological and pedagogical support, self-development orientation. The next conclusions on pedagogical possibilities of network structures were offered: educational group work carried out via the Internet is possible and can be effective under certain conditions; a necessary condition for such work is the creation of a virtual educational environment that provides active, proactive and subjective implementation of various distance learning forms; the effectiveness of group work via the Internet increases due to the use of interactive multimedia technologies.

DEVELOPMENT PECULIARITIES OF DOMESTIC THEORY AND PRACTICE OF USING THEATER ART IN EDUCATIONAL WORK WITH CHILDREN IN THE FIRST THIRD OF THE XX CENTURY

The article presents the results of the analysis of historical materials on the use of theatrical art as a means of education, training and socialization of children by teachers and theatrical practitioners of Ukraine in the early twentieth century. The in-depth analysis of archival sources, manuscripts, and old printed works allowed to distinguish teachers whose achievements allow us to understand the peculiarities of the formation of the theoretical foundations and practice of introducing theatrical art into the educational system of Ukraine. During this historical period, the following issues were raised: the age limits of children's involvement in theatrical creativity, the specifics of the audience; mechanisms of children's dramatic creativity and development of appropriate approaches to the organization of theatrical work with children; requirements for repertoire selection; stages of acquainting children with theatrical art, methods of organizing and conducting rehearsal work, etc. Scholars and educators of the time noted that children and adolescents who played only for their peers and parents could be involved in theatrical work; acquaintance with theatrical art should begin with simple theatrical forms, dramatized games, acting out charades, proverbs, "living pictures" and gradually move on to staging dramatic works; the basis of children's theatrical play are emotional experiences, and therefore the task of the leader is to emotionally captivate the child, put him/her in the right emotional state. Based on the analysis of culturological aspects of the functioning of theatrical art in society, theoretical approaches to understanding the pedagogical possibilities of theater and the practice of using theatrical art in school, it was determined that pedagogical materials of the early twentieth century emphasized the importance of theater for the development of human aesthetics, moral and ethical qualities of the personality, activation of his/her creative forces, psychological and psychophysical characteristics of a child: imagination, memory; self-awareness, emotions, feelings, empathy, communication skills and abilities. Possibilities of theatrical art in fostering children’s mastering a native language, in the training of attentive and competent spectators were defined.

APPLICATION OF PSYCHOLOGICALLY AIMED GAMES IN PRESCHOOL EDUCATION INSTITUTION, THEORETICAL BASIS

The article considers theoretical approaches to the use of psychological games in preschool education. The existing scientific approaches to the classification of games are studied. The need to take into account the classification of psychological games in the organization of play activities, because the classification includes consideration and understanding of common features, which will develop and implement common approaches to the organization of play activities in preschool education. The interrelation of didactic games and games of psychological orientation is proved. The concept of "psychological games", which originate from psychotechnical exercises and are widely used during psychological training, has been clarified. A complex model of psychological games has been developed, which takes into account various areas of mental development of the personality of a preschool child: cognitive, social, emotional and volitional. One of the types of such games are canine exercises that provide a balance of emotional and physical components. The reasons that complicate the process of communication between parents, teachers and children are listed. It is emphasized that the experience of psychological games allows the child to find solutions faster and easier in difficult life situations. The range of psychological and pedagogical possibilities of games of psychological orientation is outlined. The expediency of using such games in the educational process and their ability to influence the emotional connections between children and parents, children and teachers, between children and peers are determined. The types of influence of psychological games on the development of certain mental processes of personality are structured. Emphasis is placed on the need to develop methods of pedagogical guidance of psychological games and their separation from psychotechnical exercises. The effectiveness of the introduction of various psychological games in the educational process depends on the professionalism of teachers and will ensure the solution of specific problems of a practical nature, which will improve the educational process and communication of all its participants.