Powerful Knowledge Research Articles

Learning Gaussian Bayesian Network from Censored Data Subject to Limit of Detection by the Structural EM Algorithm

A Bayesian network offers powerful knowledge representations for independence, conditional independence and causal relationships among variables in a given domain. Despite its wide application, the detection limits of modern measurement technologies make the use of the Bayesian networks theoretically unfounded, even when the assumption of a multivariate Gaussian distribution is satisfied. In this paper, we introduce the censored Gaussian Bayesian network (GBN), an extension of GBNs designed to handle left- and right-censored data caused by instrumental detection limits. We further propose the censored Structural Expectation-Maximization (cSEM) algorithm, an iterative score-and-search framework that integrates Monte Carlo sampling in the E-step for efficient expectation computation and employs the iterative Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm in the M-step to refine the network structure and parameters. This approach addresses the non-decomposability challenge of censored-data likelihoods. Through simulation studies, we illustrate the superior performance of the cSEM algorithm compared to the existing competitors in terms of network recovery when censored data exist. Finally, the proposed cSEM algorithm is applied to single-cell data with censoring to uncover the relationships among variables. The implementation of the cSEM algorithm is available on GitHub.

On content transformation in the classroom: transdisciplinary perspectives on subject didactic research using didactic case studies

ABSTRACT The text explores a subject-didactic conception of teaching and learning as a process involving content transformations between cultural content knowledge and knowledge that is taught and learnt in the classroom. We examine the trajectory of powerful knowledge from two interdependent transformational perspectives: (I) the approximation of cultural knowledge to students’ experiences (didactic transformation), and (II) the development of students’ experiences towards culture (cognitive transformation). Their interconnection is referred to as the transformational turn. We present a methodology—the 3A Methodology (M3A)—for the qualitative analysis of teaching and learning through didactic case studies. We describe the Deep Structure of Teaching and Learning Model, which within M3A enables us to evaluate the integrity of teaching and learning as the quality of the connection between objectives, content, and the actual progression of the trajectory of powerful knowledge in teaching and learning. The authors summarize 15 years of research using M3A, revealing insights into the practice of teaching and learning, which has yielded insights into didactic formalisms that diminish the quality of teaching and learning and their opposite—didactic excellence. In the discussion, we compare our findings with Young and Muller’s characterization of three school development scenarios.

Games, Physical Activities, and Outdoor Excursions as Powerful Knowledge in Swedish School-Age Educare

ABSTRACT The aim of this collaborative project with Swedish school-age educare (SAEC) teachers was to understand and develop teaching, focusing on games, physical activities, and outdoor excursions. Children’s insufficient physical activity is a societal problem, and because most Swedish students age 6 to 9 are enrolled in SAEC, this can be a critical educational arena. The concept of powerful knowledge is used to emphasize knowledge that can help students handle contemporary and future challenges, operationalized here by using a typology of roles students are invited to enter by doing activities. The findings show that some roles are more frequent than others, often connected to voluntariness, free time, and teachers’ relational approach. The findings also show that in the transformation of teaching, the how question seem more of a dilemma to the SAEC teachers than the what and why questions. We argue that SAEC teaching offers great possibilities to combine different student roles in a way that is more likely to connect knowledge about games, physical activities, and outdoor excursions to their own or others’ lives and society. At the same time, teachers experience great challenges in how to teach in a way that meets the specific goals of SAEC education.

Multiscale Deep Learning for Detection and Recognition: A Comprehensive Survey.

Recently, the multiscale problem in computer vision has gradually attracted people's attention. This article focuses on multiscale representation for object detection and recognition, comprehensively introduces the development of multiscale deep learning, and constructs an easy-to-understand, but powerful knowledge structure. First, we give the definition of scale, explain the multiscale mechanism of human vision, and then lead to the multiscale problem discussed in computer vision. Second, advanced multiscale representation methods are introduced, including pyramid representation, scale-space representation, and multiscale geometric representation. Third, the theory of multiscale deep learning is presented, which mainly discusses the multiscale modeling in convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and Vision Transformers (ViTs). Fourth, we compare the performance of multiple multiscale methods on different tasks, illustrating the effectiveness of different multiscale structural designs. Finally, based on the in-depth understanding of the existing methods, we point out several open issues and future directions for multiscale deep learning.

Complex outcomes of recontextualised history: comparing lower secondary national curricula in Sweden, England and Finland

ABSTRACT This paper compares the history curricula in Sweden, England and Finland from the perspective of curricular aims and content. Three approaches to the recontextualisation of knowledge in the curricula were employed. First, a comparative analysis of the aims of the three curricula was carried out using a simple binary contrast between history for its own sake and history for other purposes. Second, the curricula were re-examined by drawing on the articulation of history-education-specific aims, using a range of concepts organized into eight categories. Third, a three-term articulation of educational goals, namely qualification, socialisation, and subjectification, was applied to the curricula. Following the analyses of curricular aims, a comparative analysis of curriculum content is presented. The results show that while there were similarities regarding the curricular aims, there were also clear differences between the documents. The Swedish curriculum adopts a multifaceted approach with an emphasis on historical consciousness. The English document conveys a coherent national narrative, while simultaneously engaging in historical inquiry. The Finnish aims focus on interpreting history and apprenticing towards active citizenship. The findings also suggest that history may not have an entirely weak grammar. Finally, the results are discussed in terms of powerful knowledge and its ‘power to’ aspect.

Powers of knowledge in secondary religious education curricula of Sweden, England and Finland

ABSTRACT What might the powers of knowledge in religious education (RE) be; what knowledge and abilities does RE provide to pupils in lower secondary education? These questions are asked through this study of curriculum contexts in England, Sweden and Finland. The three iterations of the subject are similar enough to compare—yet different enough for the character of each to emerge when they are juxtaposed and ‘mirrored’ in each other. This comparative approach allows us to explore what kinds of powers RE, represented in written curricula, aims to foster in each context. This is simultaneously an exploration of the nature and raison d’etre of RE as a school subject. The purpose of RE is examined via analysing lower secondary curriculum documents with the theoretical lens of powerful knowledge. Overall, the curricula focus mostly on providing information about religions and worldviews. However, this knowledge is used for developing powers that were identified as having different emphasis in each context. The Finnish curriculum emphasizes students’ personal and ethical development, the English curriculum has the strongest weight on academic knowledge and the Swedish curriculum concentrates on developing students’ intercultural competence and understanding of societies.

Powerful Knowledge in Norwegian Teacher Education: A Framework for Curriculum Analysis

This article investigates whether the Norwegian initial teacher education (ITE) curriculum embodies the principles of powerful knowledge (PK), a concept based on the importance of specialised, abstract, and theoretical knowledge in education. To address this question, we analysed Norwegian teacher education regulation (NCR) through a framework based on the three key distinctions of PK: knowledge of the powerful vs. powerful knowledge; specialised vs. non-specialised knowledge; and powerful specialised vs. less powerful specialised knowledge. The analysis revealed that NCR prioritises specialised knowledge, encourages connecting theory with practice, and promotes critical reflection among prospective teachers. However, it lacks transparency in selecting specific knowledge areas, and provides limited opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. The study concludes that while the Norwegian ITE curriculum demonstrates a strong commitment to PK, further improvements are needed to fully realise its transformative potential.

‘Canon in colour’: Contextual Knowledge of Race and Empire as Powerful Knowledge

ABSTRACT This paper uses the concept of powerful knowledge to consider the teaching of canonical literature in the secondary English classroom. Drawing on Muller and Young’s definition of powerful knowledge which draws on potentia rather than potestas, a distinction which focuses on the enabling potential, rather than the idea of power over others, I argue for the relevance and significance of teaching canonical literature with the context of race and empire. The theoretical analysis is supported by small amounts of empirical data from a survey of teachers about their teaching of diversity in the English classroom in the UK, and specifically open-ended questions about their teaching of 19th century texts, and the plays Othello and The Tempest. I argue that ‘canon in colour’ is an example of powerful knowledge and link this account to Hodgson and Harris’s concept of horizontal literacy.

The barriers and enablers of curriculum thinking and teacher agency in geography education: a multinational study

There is an increasing urgency, driven by global geopolitical, ecological and climate crises, for geography teachers to use their subject expertise as agents of change to empower children and young people with the knowledge and skills needed to think geographically and better understand our complex and rapidly changing world. This paper brings our international insights about national curriculum contexts and approaches to secondary geography education into dialogue with the concepts of recontextualisation and Future 3 curriculum to consider how we can foster teachers as curriculum makers with agency to decide what to teach and how. We examine the seven national education systems in which the authors work (Czechia, China, United Kingdom (England), Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa and South Korea) to identify the key barriers and enablers geography teachers face when wanting to enact a Future 3 curriculum of engagement that centres powerful knowledge to enhance student capabilities. Guided by Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogic device, we present a novel framework for analysing different curriculum contexts which we suggest could be insightful for educators wanting to foster teacher agency and provide students with epistemic access to powerful disciplinary knowledge in school geography.

From entrepreneurship to business & management education. A fundamental curriculum shift or tinkering at the edges?

ABSTRACT This paper explores tensions between traditional and progressive conceptions of curriculum through Young and Muller’s ‘three scenarios for the future’ model. ‘Future 1’ is characterized by conservative transmissive pedagogy models focusing on traditional subjects; ‘Future 2’ is ‘forward-looking’ and concerned with generic competences often described in the form of learning outcomes, ‘Future 3’ is a knowledge-led curriculum focused on promoting epistemic access to powerful knowledge for all students. ‘Powerful’ knowledge is knowledge that provides students with the capability to analyse, explain, predict, evaluate and think about the world in ways that are beyond their personal experience. From September 2023, 15-year-old pupils in Poland began studying the new compulsory business and management subject as part of the revised national curriculum. This replaced the established subject of entrepreneurship which was in existence for 20 years (since the school year 2002/2003). This paper examines a range of questions that arise: How might business and management education, taught by essentially the same group of teachers, differ from entrepreneurship education? How might entrepreneurship education—or business and management education—equip students with powerful knowledge? Might the change prove to be a regression to ‘Future 1’ or an evolution to ‘Future 3’?

A structural and functional differentiation of knowledge for the history curriculum

ABSTRACT Which historical knowledge is worthwhile teaching? Over the last decades, this question has been answered differently by history scholars. In many Western countries, arguments to avoid Eurocentric and nationalistic curricula challenge the current selections of historical knowledge in the curriculum. Epistemology in history education also changed following the appreciation of historical thinking and reasoning. Yet most scholars agree that a certain basis of orientation knowledge is needed to achieve the key targets of the history curriculum. Consequently, it is difficult for curriculum developers to select knowledge for history teaching. The aim of this article is to scaffold curriculum developers’ content selection by proposing guiding questions. It aggregates and elaborates theories of knowledge in the field of history education. Young and Muller’s concept of powerful knowledge is applied to the subject of history teaching. Arguments for a structural differentiation of vertical and horizontal discourses are presented. Also, the functional aspect of history teaching is elaborated by relating three purposes of education to knowledge selection.

Recontextualising powerful knowledge within an ‘organic unity’ of vertical and horizontal knowledge

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to address challenges identified by Michael Young and those arising from his writings on ‘powerful knowledge’ to gain a deeper insight into the relationship between everyday horizontal knowledge and disciplinary vertical knowledge as well as how we can approach it in a way that benefits pedagogy. The attempt includes the move back to the social realist theory of knowledge propounded by Durkheim and Bernstein. It elucidates how their perspectives encapsulate a model of recontextualisation that relates the specialised scientific knowledge of school and students’ prior knowledge into an ‘organic unity’. The paper proceeds first by examining Bernstein’s claim that both vertical and horizontal knowledge are socially real, and develops this in the light of the work of Lévy-Bruhl, who shares Bernstein’s inheritance of Durkheim. A particular highlight lies in the convergence between Lévy-Bruhl and Durkheim, advocating ‘imitation’ of concepts as a pivotal tool for fostering access to powerful knowledge.

On the attempted arrest of a generative concept

ABSTRACT In their ‘deconstruction’ of powerful knowledge (PK), Winter et al. (2024) argue that geography teaching is silenced or sanitised by its advocates. They suggest, through a decolonial lens, that those who see potential in PK somehow normalise racism in geographical education. This article serves as a response to such an overhasty diagnosis of both geography the discipline and the enabling powers of geographical knowledge in school.

Social realism, knowledge and curriculum: furthering the conversation

ABSTRACT Building on the ‘Didaktik Meets Curriculum’ dialogue, this symposium (special issue) seeks to further the ongoing discussion on knowledge and curriculum—recently revitalized by the concept of powerful knowledge—by engaging with social realism in conjunction with Didaktik and curriculum theory. The symposium features two key articles concerning social realism: Johan Muller revisits the early work of Basil Bernstein, while Michael Young examines the foundational ideas of Émile Durkheim. It also presents six response articles authored by scholars from England, the United States, and Finland, each engaging with Muller’s article, Young’s article, or both. Central to this discussion are the following questions: How should social realism be understood on its own terms? Why has it exerted very little influence in the United States, Germany, and other German-speaking countries? In what ways do curriculum theory and Didaktik differ from social realism? And what might constitute a beneficial and productive relationship between social realism, Didaktik, and curriculum theory?

Knowledge and curriculum: towards an educational and Didaktik/curriculum way of thinking and theorizing

ABSTRACT The call for ‘bringing knowledge back in’, epitomized by the concept of powerful knowledge coined notably by Michael Young and Johan Muller, has significantly influenced the ‘knowledge turn’ in global educational landscapes. However, the way of thinking and theorizing about knowledge and the curriculum that underpins the project of ‘bringing knowledge back in’ has not received adequate attention in the literature. Using Muller’s article ‘The palimpsests of knowledge’ (this issue) as a starting point and referencing several key works by Young and Muller, this article examines the social realist approach to thinking and theorizing about knowledge and the curriculum, including its promises and limitations. Invoking Pädagogik and Didaktik, the article proposes an alternative approach that addresses these limitations and provides a foundation for articulating a model of a future-oriented, knowledge-rich curriculum—a model particularly pertinent to the ‘knowledge turn’ in the National Curriculum in England. The article concludes by calling for greater engagement with continental traditions of educational theory and theorizing.

Adaptive Compressed-based Privacy-preserving Large Language Model for Sensitive Healthcare.

The emergence of large language models (LLMs) has been a key enabler of technological innovation in healthcare. People can conveniently obtain a more accurate medical consultation service by utilizing LLMs' powerful knowledge inference capability. However, existing LLMs require users to upload explicit requests during remote healthcare consultations, which involves the risk of exposing personal privacy. Furthermore, the reliability of the response content generated by LLMs is not guaranteed. To tackle the above challenges, this paper proposes a novel privacy-preserving LLM for user-activated health, called Adaptive Compressed-based Privacy-preserving LLM (ACP2LLM). Specifically, an adaptive token compression method based on information entropy is carefully designed to ensure that ACP2LLM can preserve user-sensitive information when invoking the medical consultation of LLMs deployed on the cloud platform. Moreover, a multi-doctor one-chief physician mechanism is proposed to rationally split and collaboratively infer the patients' requests to achieve the privacy-utility trade-off. Notably, the proposed ACP2LLM also provides highly competitive performance in various token compression rates. Extensive experiments on multiple Medical Question and Answers datasets demonstrate that the proposed ACP2LLM has strong privacy protection capabilities and high answer precision, outperforming current state-of-the-art LLM methods.

On powerful knowledge as a policy concept and sociological theory

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to analyze Michael Young’s and Johan Muller’s revisit of the origins of the concept of powerful knowledge. The background and theoretical framing of the analysis consist in an ongoing debate regarding similarities and differences between Anglophone and German-Nordic approaches to frame teaching and pedagogical practice conceptually. The methodological approach applied is hermeneutical text analysis of significant contributions by Young and Muller. The result of the analysis focus four critical issues. Firstly, emphasizing the importance of an epistemological analysis of curricular knowledge, the social realist reasoning appears valid primarily within Anglophone education research. Secondly, powerful knowledge represents instructional reductionism, separating epistemological analysis from pedagogical reflection, unlike Didaktik, which treats them relationally, considering the educative dimensions of contents. Thirdly, in comparison with Durkheim’s and Bernstein’s theories, powerful knowledge seems more like a policy concept. Fourthly, as I appreciate Bernstein’s theoretical approach to conceptualizing sociology of knowledge, I argue also that pedagogy or education requires a similar level of conceptual clarification. The conclusion of the article is that given that Education as an autonomous academic discipline, like sociology or psychology, Education requires an independent ontological and epistemological curricular base. Thus, education is not be reduced to a field of practical application, as is the case with Young and Muller.

Improving the geography curriculum: analysis of learning outcomes and the possibility of application of powerful knowledge principle

In this paper, we have conducted an analysis of learning outcomes in the geography curriculum for high schools (gymnasiums) in the Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Our aim was to identify the deficiencies in individual knowledge dimensions and levels of cognitive processes within defined outcomes. Subsequently, we applied the principle of powerful geographical knowledge to explore the potential for improving geography curriculum for high schools in contrast to the existing traditional curriculum. We used the revised Bloom’s taxonomy as an analysis tool. We employed a qualitative approach and theory-driven content analysis, utilizing researcher triangulation in the analysis process. The results revealed that the existing geography curriculum predominantly emphasizes factual knowledge and lower levels of cognitive processes. We then connected Maude’s powerful geographical knowledge types with the cognitive and knowledge dimensions of the revised Bloom’s taxonomy. We used the revised Bloom’s taxonomy to make judgements about powerful knowledge. Based on these connections, as well as the other prerequisites for applying the principle of powerful knowledge, we considered the possibility of developing a Future 3 curriculum for high schools in the Republic of Srpska and improving the traditional geography curriculum.

Visual Analytics Meets Process Mining: Challenges and Opportunities.

Visual analytics (VA) integrates the outstanding capabilities of humans in terms of visual information exploration with the enormous processing power of computers to form a powerful knowledge discovery environment. In other words, VA is the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive interfaces, capturing the information discovery process while keeping humans in the loop. Process mining (PM) is a data-driven and process centric approach that aims to extract information and knowledge from event logs to discover, monitor, and improve processes in various application domains. The combination of interactive visual data analysis and exploration with PM algorithms can make complex information structures more comprehensible and facilitate new insights. Yet, this combination remains largely unexplored. In this article, we illustrate the concepts of VA and PM, how their combination can support the extraction of more insights from complex event data, and elaborate on the challenges and opportunities for analyzing process data with VA methods and enhancing VA methods using PM techniques.

A (contra)reforma do ensino médio e o capitalismo histórico

The Brazilian high school, the last stage of basic education, is at an emblematic moment in its history. The law 13.415/2017 puts structural changes in this stage of education, such as changes in workload and inclusion of new curricular components, in line with a new national curriculum, the Common National Curricular Base. We seek to contribute to the understanding of the situation of the curricular component of Sociology (representing the Social Sciences) in this significant movement, specifying the case of the State of São Paulo, given that the component has a history of instability in school education, minimized with its inclusion as compulsory throughout the country in 2008. This contribution focuses on the relationships between the historical moment of changes in secondary education and the ruptures and continuities of the capitalist productive system, using the Systemic Cycles of Accumulation as a tool for analysis. The configuration of Sociology will be approached from the category of powerful knowledge, and how this knowledge is compromised in the current changes.