Search

Some animals are thought to exhibit cognitive specialization, as they have specialized cognitive modules that solve specific social or ecological problems instead of one general-purpose mechanism that addresses diverse problems. Although there are many examples of specialized cognition, little is known about whether specialization develops through experience or is produced by innate, species-specific differences. Previous work has shown that Polistes fuscatus wasps use face recognition to individually identify other wasps and that P. fuscatus are specialized for learning conspecific faces. Here, we test how experimentally altering face experience in three Polistes species influences the development of face specialization. We show face learning is influenced by both experience and innate, species-specific differences. In P. fuscatus , experience with conspecific faces is not required for the development of face specialization. In two related Polistes species that naturally lack individual face recognition, Polistes metricus and Polistes dominula , experience has different effects on specialization. Polistes metricus , a close relative of P. fuscatus , develops face specialization with experience. However, P. dominula , a more distant relative, uses general pattern recognition to learn faces regardless of experience. Therefore, some species have innate mechanistic architecture that facilitates the development of face specialization, while other species do not. These results suggest that selection shapes animal minds in a modular manner. The capacity for specialized cognitive skills evolves in response to specific ecological or social demands, such as social benefits associated with accurate individual face recognition. Highlights • We test whether cognitive specialization is inherited or requires experience. • We experimentally altered face experience in three species of paper wasps. • Experience produces face specialization in some wasp species but not others. • Face specialization in wasps is influenced by both inheritance and experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keeping with the topics of 9th-11th European Quality Assurance Forums (EQAF), the paper analyzes the impact that a new pedagogical paradigm has on changes in higher education as well as on developing a new quality assurance methodology. At present Europe is featured by a new inter-university institution – tutor support of students; developing assessment practices for professionally-oriented baccalaureate and changes of state policy tools in higher education due to the advent of a new public management. The authors monitor a practice of surveying students and graduates and present results of t4SCL project aimed at developing sustainable strategies and methods of student-centered learning. The paper identifies the focus of 10th and 11th EQAF on trends in higher education development for the coming decades and reveals the dynamics of mentality changes in higher education occurred for the time of the Forums.

This study aimed to: (1) determine the effect of the problem-based service learning model based on the local wisdom of gugur gunung on the environmental concern of the students in Public Senior High School 1 Campurdarat. (2) Determine the effect of problem based service learning models on the ability to write scientific papers at Public Senior High School I Campurdarat. (3) Knowing the students' impressions of the implementation of the problem based service learning model based on the local wisdom of gugur gunung in Lake Buret, Tulungagung. The method used in this study was quasi experiment. The research design used was the post-test control group design with 2 groups: a) experimental group, which is students from class XI science 1 and b) control group, which is students from class XI science 3 of Public Senior High School I Campurdarat, Tulungagung Regency, Indonesia. Data was obtained from post-test of environmental concern and ability to write scientific papers. From the Mann-Whitney test using SPSS, the Z count value was smaller than - Z table (-6.851 <- 1.960), and the significance value was smaller than α (0.000 <0.050), then the decision H0 was rejected which it meant there was a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group based on the measured score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article starts from the following question: how does playing enable learning from experiences that children create to escape the routines and prescriptions of the curriculum? To bring problematizations from this question, we developed an ethnographic investigation from a post-critical perspective in a municipal public school. The argument developed here is that children experiment, invent and create ways to play to escape the routine of school curricula, and thus learn by playing and play by learning. Based on the experiences that children themselves are exposed to, we understand that by exposing ourselves to the good affections they allow us to have, we also need, as teachers, to invent other times, intervals, durations, extensions to proliferate learning in school curricula, which escape of the rigidity and control given by the normative prescriptions that constitute many curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, research on the cognitive neural mechanism of second language (L2) learners' processing time information has focused on Indo-European languages. It has also focused on the temporal category expressed by morphological changes. However, there has been a lack of research on L2 learners' various time coding means, especially for Mandarin, which lacks morphological changes. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we investigated the cognitive neural mechanism of L2 learners with native Indonesian background in processing two time coding means (time adverbs and aspect markers) in Chinese. Indonesian has time adverb encoding time information similar to that of Chinese, but there are no aspect markers similar to Chinese in Indonesian. We measured ERPs time locked to the time adverb " (cengjing)" and the aspect marker "verb + (verb + guo)" in two different conditions, i.e., a control condition (the correct sentence) and a temporal information violation. The experimental results showed that the native speaker group induced the biphasic N400-P600 effect under the condition of time adverb violation, and induced P600 under the condition of the aspect marker "verb + (verb + guo)" violation. Indonesian L2 learners of Chinese only elicited P600 for the violation of time adverbs, and there was no statistically significant N400 similar to that of Chinese native speakers. In the case of aspect marker violation, we observed no significant ERPs component for the Indonesian L2 learners of Chinese. Both groups of subjects induced elicited a widely distributed and sustained negativity on the post-critical words after "verb + (verb + guo)" and "(cengjing)". This showed that the neural mechanism of Indonesian L2 learners of Chinese processing Chinese time coding differs from that of Chinese native speakers., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

A word often expresses many different morphological functions. Which part of a word contributes to which part of the overall meaning is not always clear, which raises the question as to how such functions are learned. While linguistic studies tacitly assume the co-occurrence of cues and outcomes to suffice in learning these functions (Baer-Henney, Kügler, & van de Vijver, 2015; Baer-Henney & van de Vijver, 2012), error-driven learning suggests that contingency rather than contiguity is crucial (Nixon, 2020; Ramscar, Yarlett, Dye, Denny, & Thorpe, 2010). In error-driven learning, cues gain association strength if they predict a certain outcome, and they lose strength if the outcome is absent. This reduction of association strength is called unlearning. So far, it is unclear if such unlearning has consequences for cue-outcome associations beyond the ones that get reduced. To test for such consequences of unlearning, we taught participants morphophonological patterns in an artificial language learning experiment. In one block, the cues to two morphological outcomes-plural and diminutive-co-occurred within the same word forms. In another block, a single cue to only one of these two outcomes was presented in a different set of word forms. We wanted to find out, if participants unlearn this cue's association with the outcome that is not predicted by the cue alone, and if this allows the absent cue to be associated with the absent outcome. Our results show that if unlearning was possible, participants learned that the absent cue predicts the absent outcome better than if no unlearning was possible. This effect was stronger if the unlearned cue was more salient. This shows that unlearning takes place even if no alternative cues to an absent outcome are provided, which highlights that learners take both positive and negative evidence into account-as predicted by domain general error-driven learning., (© 2024 The Authors. Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Cognitive Science Society (CSS).)

This paper analyses emergent issues from four conceptualisers of FEResearchmeet. FEResearchmeet claims to be a free and democratic model for building and supporting engagement with research, led by practitioners. The narratives presented seek to document and analyse FEResearchmeet as a movement across the first three years since its inception (2017-2020). After setting out the context and methodology of the work, narrative one explores how a reaction against New Public Management (NPM) sparked an event and how this grew into a movement of collaborating individuals seeking to reposition their voices and knowledge. The second narrative looked at how an early 'meet' was used to challenge norms and barriers to research by creating safe spaces for the development of expertise. Narrative three journeys through the early months of COVID-19 to explore how capacity building through collaboration allows sector workers to value their voices. These narratives lead to a critique of the epistemological changes these experiences have developed and have the potential to develop in the future. The paper concludes by arguing that FEResearchmeet was a reaction against NPM by agentic practitioners who used collaboration and capacity building as tools to create new pools of knowledge in an attempt to change this position.

The insistence on knowledge accumulation in modern educational discourses has led to the formation of exclusive dichotomies in various forms, most tangibly observable in the division of people into 'knowledgeable' and 'unknowledgeable'. What underlies this dichotomy is a conception of rationality based on which knowledge is seen as an 'instrument' which must necessarily result in a usable, "profitable" product. From a Levinasian perspective, the latter situation inevitably, if not purposefully, leads to the formation of the Other being located at the side of irrationality, hence an unnecessary entity within the knowledge economy. Analysing Werner Herzog's film, "The Enigma of Kasper Hauser's" (1974), this paper aims to show how irrationality, contrary to the belief of dominant educational/pedagogical discourses, can act as a source for creative thinking. The paper argues that by accepting the Other as the unknowable, we allow them to resort to their singularity as a source for imaginative thinking.

Over the last few years, technology has offered new ways of teaching and learning. Accordingly, educational systems are adopting what technology has purveyed to education. The abrupt upsurge of the COVID-19 pandemic also expedited this employment and impelled educational systems to shift to online teaching and learning. Consequently, the offline and paper-based mode of testing has been being replaced with the online and remote mode. Whether the testing mode itself, in its nature, affects the use of reading comprehension strategies and whether learners follow the same patterns of strategies during offline and online reading comprehension tests have not been paid enough attention by scholars, and the findings of few studies in this regard in the literature are also disparate. Thus, the present paper investigated and compared the use of strategies and their patterns of use in offline and online reading comprehension testing. The quantitative analysis of the data revealed that learners apply reading comprehension strategies more in the offline testing mode although they employ the same patterns of strategies in offline and online reading comprehension testing. The qualitative phase of the study uncovered the reasons. That is learners' perception, shaped by their experience and familiarization with the mode of testing; individual differences; washback and reverse washback effects; and affective and emotional factors, yields this difference. Implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

As educational systems design and build new spaces aimed for learning in the digital age, small group configurations around large screens have become a highly popular spatial feature in classrooms and libraries. In this paper, we introduce the idea of intermediate indexing as occurring in the space between the knot of intertwined resources at the fine-grained level of interactions and the public knowledge building effort at the community level. Arguing that these intermediate processes occur in these configurations, we explored a classroom community that studied within a learning space designed to support knowledge building between individuals, small groups, and the community. In this paper, we report on our interaction analysis of a small group of students around a large screen as they negotiate a set of ideas that they want to make public to their community. The results of this study elucidate how collective monitoring of artifacts and documents, inclusive participation structures, and fluid turn-taking transitions in these configurations ultimately contribute to the knowledge building effort.

This paper discusses a sustained effort to introduce and make richer educational development opportunities for colleagues in Slovakia: a community that has common experiences, needs, expectations, access to opportunity and social interactions that follow mutual interest. In this paper, I reflect on the challenges and lessons learnt over two decades while I worked with teachers, educational developers and students taking a community-based, transformation-oriented, and needs-based approach. Over time, this resulted in expanding the community and offering it a broader range of services. The article concludes with four recommendations for those taking community-based approach, including cultivating trust and nurturing hope within the community.

Around the middle of the last century, the prevailing psychological paradigm of behaviourism was challenged by what is now known as the cognitive revolution. Behaviourists viewed learning as changes in patterns of behaviour through reinforcement. By contrast, advocates of the cognitive approach argued that such behavioural changes were outward manifestations of computational operations on mental representations. Here we consider the current state of the cognitive revolution, focusing on the two most contentious issues in the debate: language and learning. The cognitive approach has proved to be extremely fruitful in both fields. Although contemporary learning theory has almost completely embraced the cognitive approach, the study of language has witnessed a clear empiricist trend to revert back to a kind of neo-behaviourism. Many contemporary authors contend that language is a means of communication that is learned solely through the observation of external events, and culturally transmitted to successive generations. Here, we argue that learning and language can only be properly understood from a cognitive perspective, where the mind is conceived of as a biologically underpinned computational system. As is the case in learning theory, there is abundant evidence showing that language is subserved by an autonomous cognitive system in the mind. We conclude that the cognitive revolution has fundamentally changed our understanding of the mind., (© 2023 The Authors. Biological Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cambridge Philosophical Society.)

Strategically unlearning specific knowledge, behaviors, and practices facilitates product and process innovation, business model evolution, and new market opportunities and is essential to meet emergent supply chain and customer requirements. Indeed, addressing societal concerns such as climate change and net zero means elements of contemporary practice in food supply chains need to be unlearned to ensure new practices are adopted. However, unlearning is a risky process if crucial knowledge is lost, for example, if knowledge is situated in the supply base not the organization itself, or there is insufficient organizational food safety knowledge generation, curation, and management when new practices/processes are designed and implemented. An exploratory, critical review of management and food safety academic and gray literature is undertaken that aims to consider the cycle of unlearning, learning, and relearning in food organizations and supply chains with particular emphasis on organizational innovation, inertia, and the impact on food safety management systems and food safety performance. Findings demonstrate it is critical with food safety practices, such as duration date coding or refrigeration practices, that organizations "unlearn" in a way that does not increase organizational, food safety, or public health risk. This paper contributes to extant literature by highlighting the organizational vulnerabilities that can arise when strategically unlearning to promote sustainability in a food supply context. Mitigating such organizational, food safety, and public health risk means organizations must simultaneously drive unlearning, learning, and relearning as a dynamic integrated knowledge acquisition and management approach. The research implications are of value to academics, business managers, and wider industry., (© 2023 Institute of Food Technologists®.)

Theories of embodied cognition postulate that perceptual, sensorimotor, and affective properties of concepts support language learning and processing. In this paper, we argue that language acquisition, as well as processing, is situated in addition to being embodied. In particular, first, it is the situated nature of initial language development that affords for the developing system to become embodied. Second, the situated nature of language use changes across development and adulthood. We provide evidence from empirical studies for embodied effects of perception, action, and valence as they apply to both embodied cognition and situated cognition across developmental stages. Although the evidence is limited, we urge researchers to consider differentiating embodied cognition within situated context, in order to better understand how these separate mechanisms interact for learning to occur. This delineation also provides further clarity to the study of classroom-based applications and the role of embodied and situated cognition in the study of developmental disorders. We argue that theories of language acquisition need to address for the complex situated context of real-world learning by completing a "circular notion": observing experimental paradigms in realworld settings and taking these observations to later refine lab-based experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this teaching tip, we—a literacy professor and two K–12 teachers—encourage a rethinking of the baseline writing assessment by sharing our experiences with "The Paper Selfie," an activity that juxtaposes the arts and young people's personal writing. By centering students' identities, their hopes, beliefs, dreams, and realities, alongside images they create to depict themselves, The Paper Selfie can serve a role in enabling young people to see themselves in their learning as we gather important data to guide our writing instruction. As such, this teaching tip provides an example of how a baseline writing assessment can be informative and meaningful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An alternative to insert history of science (HS) in teacher formation programs is the use of concept maps (CM), which may be very useful to represent the historical elaboration dimension of science concepts, laws, and principles. This paper presents the results of a study that identifies the conceptions of pre-service physics teachers about the relationships between CM hierarchical organization and knowledge elaboration in HS. In the first stage of the research, the content analysis methodology was used to analyze and categorize the students' answers to questions concerning the relationships between CM hierarchical organization and HS. In the second stage, the answers of a different group of pre-service teachers were analyzed concerning the level of agreement with the categories previously elaborated. The students associated CM hierarchical organization with knowledge improvement, elucidation of the importance level of the concepts, and the relationships between more general and more specific contents. We point out that the use of CM in HS subjects may contribute to the pre-service teachers associating HS concepts not in a chronological way, but in hierarchical order, from the most general to the most specific ones.

There has been a call to amplify the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and expand its reach by engaging with audiences outside the academy. In this paper, we share our journey in crossing disciplinary boundaries and creating a SoTL-informed infographic for public consumption. As the field of SoTL continues to evolve, infographics hold tremendous potential to communicate SoTL to various stakeholders, including educators, students, administrators, policymakers, and the public. We outline best practices in infographic development and the potential of infographics as a tool for taking SoTL public, emphasizing their visual appeal and effectiveness in conveying complex information. We conclude by discussing the implications of using infographics to advance SoTL communication. The efforts of our group serve as a valuable example of how infographics can be used to bring SoTL knowledge out of academia and into the public domain.

This paper follows an earlier report of young children's object play activities investigated in a cross-sectional sample of 289 typically developing children. Thirty-minute videotaped observations were taken of children at 8, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54, and 60 months of age in their homes. Forty-nine percent were boys. Children were identified as White (70%); mixed racial/cultural backgrounds (14%); Asian (7%); Black (6%); and Latinx (3%). This study reports patterns of cognitive development based on mastery scores derived from frequency and variety of activities in the 27 categories identified in the earlier study. Mastery scores afforded evaluation of the robustness of certain play categories, and the retention and reduction of others, yielding a final set of 14 to describe and assess developments in play. Discussion centers on the value of differentiated categories along with scores that yield a standard for an assessment of children's play.

This paper takes on and explores the disturbing and perhaps counter-intuitive notion that the university is the place where the intellect goes to die. This idea is explored alongside Georges Bataille's suggestion that the death of thought might actually be a worthy pursuit and only thought which seeks its own limits is worth striving for. The deleterious effects of the university upon thought are nonetheless contrasted to Bataille's own attempts to take thought to the point of its expiration. The key difference between the 'teaching of death' that Bataille has in mind, and the enactment of the death of thinking that the university achieves is this: Bataille seeks, however impossibly, to bring death "into the field of vision". Academic knowledge production, by contrast, with its systematism, its rigor, its proceduralism and its subsumption by work, merely abandons the thinking subject to the inevitable result, which for Bataille, is unthinking servility, a premature, utterly suppressed, and domesticated, death-in-life.

Informal science activities occurring at various non-traditional learning sites present a pivotal model for involving youths in the science learning process. The dynamic landscape of emerging technologies has prompted the exploration of innovative methodologies to bolster and refine informal science education. However, the expanse of this field and its attendant complexities has led to a lack of empirical evidence on the subject matter necessitating further research. This paper presents the findings of a systematic literature review, spanning the years 2017 to 2022, focusing on empirical inquiries into the deployment and impact of digital tools and technologies on the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of student learning. The investigation pertains specifically to unconstrained, extracurricular learning environments, encompassing science centers and museums and outdoor locations. A methodical search of renowned electronic databases, including ACM Digital Library, ERIC, Google Scholar, Sage, and Web of Science, supplemented by rigorous cross-referencing, yielded a corpus of seventeen (n = 17) relevant studies. These were subjected to a thorough qualitative content analysis. A diverse array of scientific concepts was found to have been investigated using hardware-based, software-based, or mixed approaches. Notably, augmented reality (AR) emerges as a preeminent focal point within the purview of digital interfaces explored by researchers. The synthesis of findings underscores the affirmative influence of digital tools and technologies on pivotal facets such as engagement, motivation, attitude towards science, and comprehension of scientific principles. In culmination, this study delineates prospective research focus for future studies in informal science education.

The decision-making around resource allocation in universities is complex. It plays out through the structures of governance and bureaucracy, through interactions with colleagues, workplace cultures and through day-to-day individual work practices. To survive and succeed within this complex environment, teaching support staff need to be sensitive to the cues provided by their institution. This paper focuses on the cues available to teaching support staff within university strategic plans and considers the effects these cues may have on their day-to-day decision-making. The results provide a sample of the competing cues that have an impact on teaching support staff and provide a foundation for a reconsidered approach to university strategic planning.

This paper is a response to Robyn Ewing's key paper by reporting on the ways that embedding Arts -based practices have enhanced my teaching and students' learning. It will also detail some of the roadblocks to implementing these practices. The social and emotional benefits of embedding the Arts along with strengthening skills in critical thinking and creative writing will be described. The importance of integrating creative arts into classroom programming is the focus of Robyn Ewing's key paper. She makes a passionate and well-informed argument for embedding Arts-rich experiences in the classroom to assist students in developing 21st century literacy skills and understandings. Ewing acknowledges the growing pressure on teachers with a fully packed curriculum. Yet she believes the integration of creative arts is being grossly overlooked as a means to best support students' literacy needs and foster creativity. There is great value in integrating the Arts across all KLAs. It provides students with opportunities to explore ideas and concepts through a range of perspectives and create meaning in new forms while gaining a greater understanding of themselves through the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite progression in the ethical and methodological conduct of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research, disparities still pervade, indicating limitations in knowledge translation. One identified gap is a lack of documented experiences detailing how ethical guidelines may be practically applied. This paper aims to (i) describe the research processes involved in co-designing a physical activity and psychosocial health program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls and (ii) highlight learnings of the collaborative research journey. The Criteria for Strengthening Reporting of Health Research involving Indigenous Peoples (CONSIDER) statement was used to document participatory research activities undertaken with an Aboriginal community partner. Building upon the CONSIDER statement, Aboriginal (N = 3), Torres Strait Islander (N = 1) and non-Indigenous (N = 4) research team members engaged in critical reflection to identify lessons learnt. Researchers identified a tension between participatory research principles and the expectations of funding agencies and research institutions. Consequently, timelines must be flexible to foster meaningful community engagement and participatory processes. Additionally, researchers and community stakeholders are encouraged to embrace tensions that may associated with participatory research or the pressures Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers face from their community and organization. Furthermore, differences in professional (i.e. occupational) and cultural knowledge systems need to be acknowledged and accounted for within the early stages of a project to ensure informed decision-making. Identified lessons will assist relevant stakeholders in the development of future Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health programming, ensuring the most appropriate health solutions are devised with community., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Purpose: The Listen to Learn for Life (L3) Assessment Framework is a framework that outlines how to systematically assess the links between the classroom environment, listening, learning and well-being. The purpose of this paper is to review the published literature to understand what is known about the characterisation of activity component of the L3 Assessment Framework and determine what is not known and needs to be investigated in future research. Design/methodology/approach: Literature reviews (Web searches for systematic, scoping or general reviews; scoping reviews following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses extension for scoping reviews protocol; and extended Web searches) were conducted to characterise lecture, group work and independent work activities in terms of the perceptual setting, source degradation and transmission degradation. Findings: Most research that has been conducted is for classrooms in general and does not specify results specifically for lecture, group work and independent work, which is important for understanding how the learning environment changes with the different activities. What is known about the lecture, group work and independent work activities are discussed; however, it is noted that this often comes from only a few studies. Future research areas to contribute to this literature as well as fill current research gaps are proposed. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first review paper to synthesize previous research characterising the classroom environment for different activities using the L3 Assessment Framework. It provides an analysis of the limitations of existing literature and proposes future research to help fill in these gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When males and females have distinct behaviour, learning may vary between the sexes. Polistes fuscatus wasps provide an interesting model to study sex differences in learning because males and females have different social behaviour. Female wasps have highly variable facial patterns used for individual face recognition, live in cooperative groups where interactions depend on individual face recognition and excel at learning female faces. In contrast, male wasps lack the type of variable facial patterns necessary for individual face recognition and do not participate in the type of social interactions known to favour individual recognition in females. Instead, males leave the nest soon after adulthood and devote their energy to mating. Given the behavioural differences between males and females, females may be more adept at learning wasp faces than males. Here, we train male and female P. fuscatus to discriminate between pairs of female P. fuscatus face images and pairs of colours. Females learned to discriminate between pairs of face images more accurately than males. However, males and females were equally adept at colour learning, indicating that there are no generalized sex differences in learning. The sex differences in face, but not colour, learning are consistent with the adaptive specialization hypothesis, which posits that cognitive abilities are selected to solve particular social or ecological problems. Overall, general learning capacity is similar across male and female wasps, but face learning is shaped by sex-specific recognition behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]