Perspective Of Social Constructivism Research Articles

Becoming a doctor: using social constructivism and situated learning to understand the clinical clerkship experiences of undergraduate medical students

BackgroundDespite the emphasis on the uniqueness and educational importance of clinical clerkships in medical education, there is a lack of deep understanding of their educational process and outcomes. Especially due to an inherent trait of clinical clerkships which requires participation in the workplace outside the classroom, it is difficult to fully comprehend their educational potential using traditional learning perspectives such as imbibing outside knowledge. Accordingly, this study aims to explore the experiences of a rotation-based clerkship of medical school students from the perspective of social constructivism of learning, which can empirically examine what and how medical students learn during clinical clerkship in South Korea. By providing an insight into the workings of the clerkship process, this study contributes to a better understanding of how a learning-friendly environment can be cultivated at clinical clerkships.MethodsThe study utilized a basic qualitative study to understand what and how medical students learn during their clinical clerkships. Semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews were conducted with eight sixth-graders who had experienced a two-year clerkship at Ajou University Medical School. Data were analyzed based on Lave and Wenger’s situated learning theory and Wenger’s social theory in learning.ResultsWe found that the medical students had developed different aspects of their professional identities such as values, functionality, career decisions, sociality, and situating during their clinical clerkships. Further, professional identity was formed through a combination of participation and reification—the processes involved in the negotiation of meaning. This combination was facilitated by the students’ first experience and relationships with professors, classmates, and patients. Finally, non-learning occurred in the context of over-participation (learning anxiety and alienation) or over-reification (evaluation and e-portfolio).ConclusionsThis study revealed five sub-professional identities and their formation process from the learners’ perspective, thereby uncovering the unique learning characteristics and advantages of rotated-based clerkship and contributing to a further understanding of how gradual improvements can be made to the traditional clerkship education of medical students.

Evaluación de la cultura deportiva universitaria en la nueva era a partir del contexto filosófico

Abstract: University sports culture is an important component of the national cultural system. It is the crystallization of material and spiritual civilization in university sports, as well as the precipitation of sports culture and sports philosophy. However, in the new era, university sports culture presents problems, such as valuing intelligence over physical fitness, lacking in sports culture concepts, and separating spirit and material. In university education, more attention is often paid to academic and intellectual development, while sports and physical exercise are lightly regarded. In fact, university sports culture often focuses only on physical education and sports events, while ignoring the development of other aspects, resulting in an imbalance in the whole sports culture system. The insufficient investment of the school in sports facilities and equipment leads to a lack of necessary material support for students to engage in physical exercise. At the same time, the students’ understanding and pursuit of sports often remain on the surface, lacking in the pursuit of the spirit of the deep-seated. In review of university sports culture, dialectical materialism can be used to analyze the connection among the social background, development trend and mutual influence of sports culture. The perspective of social constructivism can also be used to explore the social construction process of sports culture, all participants’ roles and interactions, and the significance and influence of sports culture in society. Therefore, in order to better solve the problems existing in university sports culture, promote the rapid development of university sports culture in the new era, enhance the confidence of campus sports culture and build a strong sports culture, this article used dialectical materialism method to analyze the current situation of university sports. It explained the relationship between philosophy and sports culture from a philosophical perspective, as well as the current problems in sports culture. Finally, it used the method of social constructivism to explain it from different perspectives. Finally, through the social constructivism method, it examined the university sports culture in the new era and, dialectically, analyzed the forms, functions, reconstruction paths and future thinking of university sports culture. Research has found that the sports culture of universities, in the new era, plays an important role in cultural, educational, and political aspects. The reconstruction and future development of university sports culture, in the new era, need to combine Eastern and Western cultures, inherit excellent traditional culture and achieve innovative development of sports culture.

Uluslararası Örgütlerin Rolüne İlişkin Sosyal İnşacı Bir Yaklaşım: BM’nin Norm-Üretim ve Sosyalizasyon Fonksiyonlarının İç Savaş ve Küresel Terörizm Örnekleri Üzerinde İncelenmesi

The increase in both quantity and quality has made international organizations an undeniable component of the modern international system. Although the individual interests of states create important problems in the realization of the common interests on which the organizations are based, mainstream approaches that see organizations as only the tools of states ignore the important roles they play in the international system. In this context, the study, based on the assumption that international organizations have a fundamental role in the development of the normative dimension of the international system, aims to develop a more comprehensive approach to international organizations from the perspective of social constructivism. The study suggests that international organizations have a role that enables and limits the relations between international actors with their norm-producing and socialization mechanisms. This asserted hypothesis will be explained with examples of the norm-producing and socialization activities of the United Nations (UN) in combating civil war and global terrorism.

Talent as a social construction: Proposing a constructivist conceptualization of athletic talent

Talent identification, selection, and development represent critical areas of inquiry for sport scientists as indicated in the large amount of research attention dedicated to these topics. However, talent researchers rarely explicitly discuss their underlying conceptual understanding of “talent”.Within this article, we approach the construct “talent” from the perspective of social constructivism. We consider talent as a social construction that is historically changing and contextually embedded. Organizations that act as “purchasers” of talent (sports clubs, youth squads, etc.) have to develop ideas about which athletes represent the best fit against the background of the performance conditions within the respective sport (in the sense of possessing the set of characteristics that is most promising for future success). The purpose of these organizational “talent” descriptions is to try to ensure that the person with the highest chance of being successful is promoted. However, multidimensionality, asynchronicity, and discontinuity of talent development make the prediction of sporting success extremely difficult. Talent development needs to be thought of as an iterative process that is highly individualized and idiosyncratic. To make a person fit to the expectations of an organization requires a high degree of flexibility, reflexivity, and, not least, patience from talent development programs.Using the example of athletic talent, we show that the principles of constructivism provide a useful terminological, theoretical, and methodological basis for the empirical analysis of the complex process of talent emergence and development. Methodologically, idiographic approaches are needed that explore the intrinsic dynamics of talent development pathways.

Streamlining civil - military education for national development in Nigeria

The National Policy on Education in Nigeria defined tertiary education as the education given after secondary education. By that definition, all professional military training education in the country are tertiary education being post-secondary education. However, despite the rigorous, systematic and methodical trainings offered by military personnel, their certificates are not recognized as tertiary education certificates outside the military and as such retired personnel found themselves unemployable after military career and unable to participate in any meaningful national development activities. Using a qualitative research approach based primarily on social constructivism perspective, this paper sets out to investigate how to achieve equivalence between military training and civil tertiary education certificates to enhance national development in Nigeria. The basic assumption of the paper was that without integrating military and civil education certificates, retired military personnel cannot contribute to national development which constitutes colossal waste of highly trained human resources in the country. The findings showed that all military training courses’ certificates can be recognized if the military authorities will initiate the procedures of getting their training curriculum adjusted and discussed at the National Council on Education. The paper recommended that the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff should initiate the engagement of all relevant stakeholders to discuss military training curriculum and seek the accreditation of all the courses accordingly.

Emotionally Engaged Parent Versus Professional Teacher: Strategies for Maintaining Borders Between the Dual Teacher-Parent Role in School

Abstract The paper presents findings on primary teachers’ and other school actors’ constructions of the teacher and parental role. Specifically, it focuses on strategies for maintaining borders between the personal (parent) and professional (teacher) roles in school environments in Slovakia. We approached the concepts of role and identity from the perspective of social constructivism and symbolic interactionism. Thirty-one interviews and focus groups with school actors were analysed using critical discourse analysis. In the next step, discourses on managing the dual role were analysed using thematic analysis. Results show participants described regulating or restricting verbal, emotional and behavioural expression, and engaged in favouritism avoidance as strategies for separating out the roles. All point to the need to eliminate favouritism as a key meaning in the construction of the teacher role through impartialness and parental role as favourably inclined to create inter-role conflict. We stress the importance of exploring teacher and parental roles in various circumstances in order to obtain a complex picture of negotiating these roles in everyday life.

A Corpus-Based Study of the Discursive Construction of Corporate Identities by Chinese and American Banks

Abstract By taking the perspective of Social Constructivism and the Discourse-Historical Approach, and using the corpus linguistic tool Wmatrix, this study compares the discursive strategies adopted by Chinese and American banks in their construction of corporate identities. The research underlines the shared and unique features presented in prominent themes, communication strategies and lexical patterns. It is found that Chinese banks prefer to emphasise their historical development, industrial ranking and organisational structure to positively construct their identity as industry leaders, adopting a corporate ability strategy through the frequent usage of numbers and superlative adjectives. However, American banks tend to stress care for their employees, communities and environment. They prefer to use a corporate responsibility strategy to build their identity as social contributors through the frequent usage of performative verbs to exhibit specific corporate activities. This study may have practical implications for Chinese companies wishing to improve their international communication capability and may offer educational implications for Business English teaching.

U.S. – China Relations through the Perspective of Social-Constructivism

"The twentieth century was marked, especially in its second part, by the rivalry of the United States and the Soviet Union, a rivalry that prompted many analysts to devise theories about this seemingly perpetual bi-polar international system. Yet after 1989 these theories crumbled under the seemingly unexpected dissolution of one of the two poles of the system, and thus new theories emerged, trying to better explain what was happening. One such theory, the Social-Constructivist one, tried to argue that identities, ideas and the way in which these are constructed also play a pivotal role in international relations. In the pages below I will try to analyze what is emerging to be a similarly century-defining rivalry, the one between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, through the ‘lens’ of Social-Constructivism, to find out if the theory laid out by Alexander Wendt almost three decades ago can still aptly explain the world of today. Keywords: U.S. – China relations, Social-Constructivism, Discourses "

Local-civilizational research and social constructivism: points of intersection

This article represents a polemical response to the critical of poly-civilizational research article by D. E. Letnyakov, who offers to shift away from the essentialist attitudes in the context of studying the phenomenon of civilization, and rather focus on the mechanisms of formation of civilizational identity. In contradiction of the aforementioned point of view, the author of this article argues the inferiority and one-sidedness of the attempts to limit the multi-paradigm vector of research to a single methodological approach, substantiates the philosophical grounds of such multi-paradigmality, and on the example of gender studies, indicates the discrepancies that emerge due to neglecting the essential approach by the researchers. The subject of this article is the methodology of civilizational research. The author does not intent to refute the provisions of social constructivism completely, since its adherents made a considerable contribution to social knowledge, but rather demonstrate that in a number of multi-paradigm vectors (to which civilizational research belong to), this methodological approach cannot be limited to just one. It is substantiated that for philosophy, the criticism of civilizational theory from the perspective of social constructivism, is the phenomenon similar to refutation of Lobachevsky’s geometry from the standpoint of Euclidean geometry, or the laws of quantum mechanics based on the Newton laws. These are different worlds, different set of coordinates, with fundamentally different laws effective therein.

Lecturer’s Feedback and Students’ Writing Performance: Social Constructivism Perspective

EFL writing as the form of productive skill has been the main issue for university students in Indonesia. Therefore, to maintain EFL students to be a good writer, lecturer’s feedback is necessary. The aims of this study were to find out whether there is any relationship between lecturer’s feedback and students’ writing performance, and to find out in what ways the lecturer’s feedback given seen from social constructivism. The researcher employed mixed method which took the data from 60 third-semester students in two Essay Writing Classes, and it was collected by using questionnaire, students’ writing score, and interview guide. The findings showed that correlation coefficient was .273 which indicates that the correlation between lecturer’s feedback and students’ writing performance was positive. While, seen from the significant level, it showed the number .042 which means there was statistically significant relationship between those two variables. The qualitative finding asserted that the lecturers always gave feedback frequently in the two forms, both were oral and written feedback. Other than that, although only one of the lecturers who used elaborated feedback, they both provide the assistance and objectivity during the assessment process. Based on the results of this study the lecturers must give feedback continuously towards students’ work and it should be given together with an explanation. Moreover, the future researcher can find the similar topic from another learning theory such as behaviorism or cognitivism.

China’s Voting Practice at the UN Security Council, Its Legal and Political Interpretation: Case of Syria

This article examines intersection of three contemporary issues that occupy academic thought intensively: China’s global politics, its changing voting practice at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), and the international response to the civil war in Syria. The aim of the article is to provide quantitative and qualitative analysis of China’s voting practice in the UNSC regarding the civil war in Syria, to outline a legal and political interpretation of its voting patterns and to conceptualise China’s politics in the UNSC regarding this issue. The article argues that reasons behind China’s rapidly growing use of the veto in the UNSC regarding Syria are vaguely related to the case of Syria itself, but directly reflect the primacy of China’s domestic politics and its strategic aspirations to reshape global governance. Growing concern within the international community about the human rights abuses taking place on a mass scale against Uighurs in Xinjiang is the most prominent catalyst that enables and provokes China’s systemic reaction. Therefore, although China has neither geopolitical nor strategic interests in Syria, Syria’s case serves as a battleground for China’s attempts to transform the collectively accepted interpretation of multilateralism, democratic values, and norms. This aspect underlines the necessity to observe China’s politics from the perspective of social constructivism. Methodologically, this article draws on political discourse analysis theory, examines China’s arguments in the UNSC and argues that China’s voting behaviour in the UNSC regarding Syria focused on reinterpretation of two grand concepts of international law: state sovereignty and non-interference.

Generalist, specialist and generic positions experienced by occupational therapists in Norwegian municipalities

Purpose Reforms in the health-care system may impact how health-care professionals perceive and enact their roles. This study aims to examine the way in which occupational therapists experience and describe their roles in municipalities after the implementation of a health reform (the Coordination Act) in Norway. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study was designed within the perspectives of social constructivism. Data was collected through focus group interviews with 10 community-working occupational therapists. A thematic framework analysis was used to examine the participants’ experiences. Findings The following four themes emerged: external factors that framed and shaped the occupational therapists’ roles in municipalities; the strengths and dilemmas of the generalist; the problematic generic position and the strengths; and dilemmas of the specialist. Originality/value The study suggests that occupational therapy practitioners should identify new opportunities and adapt to health reform changes. They also need to renegotiate their roles as the health reforms require more specialized competences. Greater emphasis must be placed on the core knowledge and competences of occupational therapists to strengthen their professional identity in the municipalities.

DE LA RESILIENCIA A LA TRANSFORMACIÓN DE LAS ORGANIZACIONES. CASO: CAMPESINOS ECOLÓGICOS DE LA SIERRA MADRE DE CHIAPAS

E n este artículo se analiza el origen y desarrollo de procesos organizativos campesinos orientados hacia la producción de café orgánico y de comercio justo en la Reserva de la biósfera El Triunfo, Chiapas, México; así como los elementos que posibilitan su permanencia. Desde el constructivismo social, y haciendo uso de la metodología cualitativa, se examina la trayectoria de la organización campesina cafetalera CESMACH (Campesinos Ecológicos de la Sierra Madre de Chiapas, Sociedad Civil). Encontramos que el desarrollo y la permanencia de esta organización campesina están fundamentados en las subjetividades compartidas, acciones colectivas permanentes, normas propias, capacidades autogestivas y adaptativas, cadenas de valor apropiadas y en la redistribución de beneficios los cuales impactan en el cumplimiento de la visión, misión y principios tanto de la asociación campesina como los del área natural protegida. Se puede considerar como un caso excepcional, por el acompañamiento y recursos externos recibidos en sus inicios, pero sin crear dependencia.

Identidad profesional y socialización de género: un estudio desde la manualística escolar en la España democrática

The construction of professional identity is a concept that holds interest for a variety of disciplines such as Anthropology, Psychology or Pedagogy. From the perspective of social constructivism, it has a narrative, dynamic character and is shaped by the interaction of the subject with current socio-historical discourses and their interiorization. During the decade of the nineteen seventies, the labor market in Spain experienced a massive incorporation of women, brought about by social and legislative advances in education and employment. The years of Spanish democracy are essential in the configuration and renewal of female identity in the economic field. This article focuses on the influence of the school textbook - the main didactic resource used in formal education - in this configuration. It presents models and stereotypes linked to gender, with a potential influence on the transmission and configuration of a biased socio-labor culture. In order to study this influence, our research examines a total of 20 elementary education textbooks in the areas of Language and Social Sciences in two periods of democratic Spain —the so-called Transition period and the current moment—, to explore the professional identity of women linked to the economic socialization as this is conveyed through this educational tool. Our results reveal a minimal inclusion of women as economic subjects in the textbooks; the underrepresentation of females performing paid activities, as well the lack of professional diversity serve to highlight a substantial inequality in the socialization processes between men and women, contrary to the goals of coeducational teaching values.

Constructivism theory and its explanation of the interactions and issues of the Middle East

The emergence of social constructivism theory is a turning point in the field of theories of International Relations, being viewed by a different subject from what preceded it from theories through a social understanding of what is going on in this relationship. Hence, this research examines the main concepts of social structural theory such as identity and interest and the role of actors without countries along with the main role of the state in interactions and international issues, and then using the main concepts of structural theory at the international level in the interpretation of interactions and major issues in the Middle East. Accordingly, interactions and issues in the Middle East are interpreted as a conflict that is between the components of the states and non-state actors.
 Furthermore, in this region interactions and issues revolve around religious, sectarian, and national identities. Additionally, the perspective of social constructivism, it is clear that the sectarian conflicts produces interactions and issues in three forms: namely, the struggle of the Iranian Shiite-Saudi identities and the struggle of the Shiite-Sunni identities in Iraq and lastly the conflict of Shiite-Sunni identities in Yemen. In terms of interactions and issues between national identities in the region, there is a struggle for the identity of the Turkish-Kurdish nationalities, the struggle for the identity of the Arab-Kurdish nationalities, and the struggle for the identity of the Persian-Kurdish nationalities. Thus, conflict and religious interactions produced issues between the Islamic and Jewish identities divided into two parts, namely the struggle of the Sunni-Jewish Islamic identities and the struggle of the Shiite-Jewish Islamic identities. Consequently, chaos is prevalent in this region, and it is difficult to imagine a way out of it, as long as a conflict within the region is characterized by ideologies, values and identities..

What counts as disciplinary literacy instructional approaches in teacher education?

Drawing on the literature, this article examines approaches for developing disciplinary literacy in teacher education. Findings from different researchers indicate that most university entrants are underprepared for the academic literacy required to thrive in this system. While the focus of such research is critical, the generic approach that most researchers have taken in this area is largely questioned. Building on this dissatisfaction, there is a growing number of studies that promote distinctive, epistemological and discursive practices of disciplinary literacy. However, limited studies have sought to understand the approaches used in disciplinary literacy instruction in teacher education. Thus, this study explored through a literature study the approaches used by initial teacher education to prepare pre-service student teachers as disciplinary literacy facilitators. Through this focus, this article contributes to this knowledge gap by accounting for the approaches used in teacher education to develop disciplinary literacy instruction. To achieve the purpose of the article, we framed our argument from a social constructivism perspective. Based on an analysis of literature, we motivate for the need for understanding disciplinary literacy as a phenomenon that is embedded in social practice, fluidity, human interaction, and institutional and historical artefacts, but that also requires regulation.

The role of gender in the use of Hungarian address forms

Forms of address are directly related to the nature of social relationships. The gender of the discourse partners, including the question whether they are of the same or different genders, thus has an impact on the use of forms of address. The goal of this paper is to highlight the major gender-related characteristics of Hungarian address practices by reporting on a comprehensive sociolinguistic study based on questionnaires and interviews. In line with the perspective of social constructivism, the gender-related usage patterns of address forms are interpreted as actively shaping the construal of particular relationships and gender roles rather than merely reflecting them. Thus, the research findings suggest that iterative patterns in the use of more confidential/affectionate forms with women contribute to the maintenance of female gender roles.

Soft governance by hard fact? The OECD as a knowledge broker in education policy

As the policy field of education has become increasingly internationalized over the last two decades, international organizations like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) play an increasingly decisive role in the diffusion of knowledge, monitoring, and research in global education policy. Although the OECD lacks any binding or coercive governance instruments in relation to states, or ability to provide material incentives for compliance, it has nevertheless successively expanded its influence regarding education. From a perspective of social constructivism, we argue that the transmission of ideas and information generated through ratings and rankings can be viewed as a crucial governance tool for the influence of an international organization (IO). Our article seeks to analyze how the OECD uses large-scale education assessments to promote the economically based idea of human capital and related learning techniques in education policy – thus influencing national education systems. Furthermore, the OECD and its distinctive approach of soft governance through putative hard fact may become a role model for other IOs, both in the field of education and beyond.

The “Somalinisation” of terrorism and counterterrorism in Kenya: the case of refoulement

ABSTRACTKenya’s state discourse on terrorism and counterterrorism securitises Somali refugees and refugee camps. Using the securitisation theory, a perspective of social constructivism as a theoretical framework, the article attempts to establish the relationship between the securitisation of Somali refugees and refugee camps and refoulement as a measure to counter the securitisation. The arguments raised are the speech acts of Kenya’s securitising actors expressed in the terrorism discourse present Somali refugees and refugee camps as existential threats to peace and security in the country. Consequently, their speech acts expressed in the counterterrorism discourse present non-refoulement of the refugees as an existential threat to national security so as to justify, to the targeted audience, the adoption of refoulement, a norm-violating measure, to counter the fear of the threat of terrorism from Somali refugees and refugee camps. Terrorism and counterterrorism in Kenya have, therefore, been “Somalinised”. The conclusion offers ways of preventing the “Somalinisation” of terrorism and counterterrorism in Kenya.

Facilitating Conceptual Change in Students' Comprehension of Electrochemistry Concepts through Collaborative Teaching Strategy

This paper reports on a study to determine the effectiveness of collaborative teaching on physical sciences students' comprehension of electrochemistry in the Ximhungwe circuit of the Bohlabela district in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The design of the teaching strategy draws upon theoretical insights into perspectives of social constructivism and empirical studies to improve upon the teaching of the main topic, specifically galvanic cells, electrolytic cells and electrode potentials. In addition, the effect of collaboration as a teaching strategy on students’ perception of their chemistry classroom environment was also investigated. A sample of 90 grade 12 physical sciences students from four intact public schools was conveniently selected to participate in the study. Students were given electrochemistry concept test (ECT) as well as chemistry classroom environment questionnaire (CCEQ) as pre-test and post-test. One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) conducted showed that students taught using collaboration had significantly better acquisition of scientific conceptions related to electrochemistry than students taught using lecture method. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation also revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between achievement and students’ perception of their chemistry classroom environment. However, ANCOVA and ANOVA results indicated that there was no significant contribution of students’ perception of their chemistry classroom environment to their comprehension of electrochemistry concepts. This study provides statistical evidence on the importance of meaningful learning combined with social process to improve students’ understanding of electrochemistry.