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This essay reinvigorates the Huxley/Osmond theory that psychedelic drugs can occasion a cross-cultural mystical experience characterized by a sense of "unity with ultimate reality." It offers a long-overdue rejoinder to the position of Constructivist authors such as Steven T. Katz, Hans Penner, and Stephen Prothero that Aldous Huxley's Perennial Philosophy is a defunct position. Specifically, the essay answers three erroneous charges: (1) that Huxley posited his viewpoint as the "core" or "essence" of religion, (2) that Huxley believed he was describing a set of universally shared religious beliefs, and (3) that Huxley's position depends on a belief in—and the possibility of—a state of "pure consciousness." In all cases, these charges will be shown to be erroneous. Moreover, it will also be argued that these claims are inaccurate for most forms of the Perennial Philosophy, and that the Perennial Philosophy is not a homogenous viewpoint, but rather a family of theories as are Existentialism, Postmodernism, and Idealism. The essay ends with a look at new directions for testing the Huxley/Osmond position, including with psychedelic drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To fully understand the transformative leadership potential inherent in the entrepreneurial practices of migrant entrepreneurs, it is crucial for readers of this study to go beyond the common stereotypes of instability and economic survival often associated with migrant entrepreneurship. This study employs interpretive constructivism to investigate transformational leadership identities and practices shared by 16 Romanian immigrant entrepreneurs in London on Facebook and via semi-structured interviews. The participants shared their practices as transformational leaders within their communities and in broader British society. This study draws on theories of Social Identity and self-efficacy (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and Leader-Follower (Graen & Cashman, 1975) to enhance our comprehension of how entrepreneurs enacted idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualised consideration to motivate and inspire stakeholders towards a broader focus on social positive impact rather than solely economic outcomes. This study focuses on Romanian immigrant entrepreneurs and contributes to the interdisciplinary understanding of transformational leadership through entrepreneurship. It facilitates the shift from belief-driven policies to evidence-driven policies that promote and support the inclusivity of entrepreneurs and leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity of blockchain technologies is reflected in the various ways in which social actors operate with crypto transactions, and this is seen in the wide range of discourses and practices adopted on the crypto market. Using social constructivism, this study highlights the fact that social practices in the crypto area respect certain thematic ideologies, through which individual discourses reflect different pragmatic expectations in relation to virtually encrypted transactions. Drawing on inductive thematic analysis based on 38 semi-structured interviews with Romanian investors, four major themes emerge: (1) unbreakable power of code encompasses rather libertarian discourses on potential state policies, (2) key role of peers explains the investments in the crypto market as a form of community membership, (3) assuming plenty of risks highlights the discourses focused on substantial and unpredictable gains, and (4) preferring safety above all encompasses discourses on financial stability through rather conservative behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the normative dilemma raised by the constructivist turn in representation theory by focusing on a neglected aspect of such dilemma: under which conditions representation − taken in its existential and symbolic senses − can enhance democracy. By developing sustained readings of Laclau and Voegelin, it shows how stylistic/formal features such as a figurative and evocative language and a capacity to persuade both rationally and extra-rationally can be key elements for making representation democratic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to provide practical strategies and examples for pre-service early education programs and early education teachers to develop music- and movement-based curricula for teacher preparation programs and early childhood music classrooms. To address the inconsistencies in early childhood music programs, the authors developed the Lighthouse Framework, which utilizes constructivist ideology to help students learn through and adapt the teaching model while simultaneously learning music- and movement-based content. Through this proposed framework, pre-service teachers can gain authentic teaching experience, real-time feedback, and an adaptable framework for their future curriculum planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every learning process is an affective experience. Affect is central in experiencing learning as uncertainty. This article proposes an internal integration of affect into the learning process. The main concepts of learning are articulated with a take on the reflection framework and a dynamic and social understanding of affection, emotions, and aesthetic experiences, helping to integrate concepts like edge-emotions and liminal experiences into the learning process. These concepts support the idea that complex emotions play a central part in learning dynamics, while arguing for reflection as a self-regulatory movement of the learning process. It is argued that there would be no such thing as a merely cognitive learning process. Every time that people learn, they experience edge-emotions and liminal experiences. Furthermore, if the learning process occurs in educational settings, it is possible to think about learning experiences as being mediated by liminal affective techniques and so, open to transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an in-depth exploration of China's Arctic aspirations, with a specific focus on the development of the Polar Silk Road (PSR), and the ensuing implications for the dynamics of global power. The Arctic region, once considered remote and inaccessible, is undergoing a transformation largely driven by climate change. This transformation is unveiling new opportunities for navigation and resource extraction, thereby attracting the attention of various nations, including China. Despite its geographical distance from the Arctic, China has been vocal about its Arctic aspirations, most notably through its proposed PSR initiative. The article scrutinizes the development of the PSR, a component of China's broader Belt and Road Initiative, and its potential to bolster China's economic prowess by unveiling new trade routes and granting it access to valuable resources. It also discusses the potential implications of China's Arctic ambitions for the balance of power among major powers such as the United States, Russia, and the European Union. Drawing on theories from political science and international relations, including realism, liberalism, and constructivism, the article provides a theoretical lens to understand these dynamics. It underscores the need for careful management of Arctic affairs to ensure that competition does not escalate into conflict. The article concludes by highlighting the need for further research to fully grasp the implications of China's Arctic policy and to explore potential responses by other major powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

> Context • From an operative constructivist perspective, Luhmann unfolds the guidelines of his theory of cognition. Focusing on how the scientific system reflects, he observes the conditions under which the selective and recursive network of communications, specialized in determining the veracity or falsehood of knowledge, develops in modern society. > Problem • This perspective stimulates several debates that link ontological and epistemological considerations. In order to contribute to these, this article advances the specification of operative constructivism, analyzing the influence exerted on it by an old discussion partner: the analytical realism of Parsons. > Method • This is a theoretical-conceptual work that first addresses the ontological and epistemological approaches underlying the thinking of Parsons and Luhmann, and then contrasts their respective ways of conceptualizing systems, complexity and cybernetics. > Results • Parsons's work is underlined as a precursor of the introduction into sociology of the theories of systems, complexity and cybernetics, a suggestion that finds in Luhmann a follower, who deepens the incorporation of these contributions, but on the basis of conceptualizations of a later generation. At the same time, when the emphasis is placed on the analytical moment of analytical realism, in addition to highlighting another of Parsons's anticipation of operative constructivism, he is appraised as an antecedent of constructivist perspectives on knowledge. > Implications • By virtue of its comparison with analytical realism, the characterization of operative constructivism attends to the main debates it has generated: at the ontological level, it explores the scope of the principle of de-ontologization; epistemologically, it deals with the realism/constructivism tension. In specifying this position, its ambivalences with regard to the radical constructivism of Maturana and von Glasersfeld are also pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

> Context • Mark Johnson and George Lakoff in their theory of metaphor hypothesized that our experience provides certain linguistically traceable patterns that we "live by." Back in the 1930s, the founder of general semantics, Alfred Korzybski, expressed the opposite idea: With language we develop harmful semantic patterns that we can die of. > Problem • The assumption that language kills and that humans tend to construct their realities in a destructive way by force of linguistic habits may sound radical. We aim to elaborate on ways in which our individual capacity for abstract thought gives rise to harmful semantic patterns of experience. > Method • Using the method of conceptual analysis, we compare five contemporary constructivist approaches to language and cognition with Korzybski's theory of general semantics. > Results • Our analysis reveals that embodiment, radical constructivism, biocognitivism, enactivism and bounded rationality implicitly approach the problem of semantic disorders that result from our species-specific cognitive mechanisms of interaction with our experiential world. Drawing on different terminology and using different conceptual angles, followers of these schools of thought emphasize that our semantic adaptation to the surrounding world can be destructive under certain circumstances and lead us to a delusional identification of some source with some target, which can dangerously affect the way we behave towards others and ourselves. > Implications • Our analysis of semantic patterns of (self-)destruction across different constructivist approaches elucidates the nature of knowledge and meaning and allows for a better understanding of major social and even political problems, such as the inability to reach compromises and tendency to use violence instead of peaceful dialogue. > Constructivist content • We build on such constructivist notions as image schemas, embodied reason, morphism, experiential coherences, experiential domains, coordinations of behavior, enaction and others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nick Onuf's constructivism is one of the most important contributions to the field of international relations in what regards the interchange between social and political theories, and philosophy. In this text, I engage with Onuf's body of work taken as a whole. The guiding thread of the problematization I propose is woven through the attention to how Onuf's craft and creative undertaking sets certain beginnings in the construction of his framework, and how setting them has important implications for (the conception of) 'politics'. I would argue that Onuf's conception of politics is sustained on two central beginnings: the conception of humans as 'rational agents' and the framing of what has come to be called 'modernity'. This way, I emphasize what seems to me the most enduring contribution his body of work can provide not only to the field of international relations, but also to contemporary social and political theories more generally. The first section outlines the relation Onuf establishes between rules and rule, while the following two sections deal, in turn, with his conceptions of 'agency' and the 'modern world'. My goal in these first three sections is to reconfigure Onuf's constructivism. The fourth and final section moves ahead, giving a step further - perhaps too far, perhaps too radical -, paving a critical engagement with his work through peripheral (re)begininngs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Driving teacher training program was updated towards more constructivist approach. • Updated method: sample lesson videos quantified by web-based speech recognition tool. • Renewed method improved quality of example lessons recorded for final examination. • More constructivist aspects: formulating objectives, open-ended questions, and feedback. • Recent graduates independently utilize more constructivist methodology. Modern learning focuses heavily on theory and ideals, offering scant practical guidance on execution and outcome evaluation. This research paper aims to show that the integration, in 2018, of a contemporary educational approach into the driving teacher training program at Tallinn University, Estonia, with specific implementation and evaluation criteria, changes actual teaching behavior towards constructivist principles. This approach involved a change in which students began video recording their driving lessons and transcribing them using a web-based speech recognition tool while following specific instructions. This process allowed for feedback and self-analysis throughout the learning process. The study analyzed 145 videotaped driving lessons, which were submitted as final examinations in the driving teacher training curriculum at Tallinn University Haapsalu College between 2017 and 2021. The natural quasiexperimental study compared transcripts of recordings (N = 145; 115 males) before (n = 38) and after (n = 107) the methodology change. The findings reveal a significant increase in the implementation of constructivist principles within the lessons after methodology change in 2018: lesson objectives and evaluation criteria were formulated more often, leading to an increase in open-ended inquiries and a higher prevalence of feedback and analysis. Additional pilot analysis of data from 11 driving teacher certificate renewers in a brief education program supported the efficacy of revised approach: the exam lesson recordings exhibited significantly more constructivist elements compared to the initial stage of the program. There were variations in the length of training both pre and post methodology change. While longer training displayed more constructivist elements, the impact of the methodology shift was notably more pronounced. In summary, the utilization of specific expectations, evaluation criteria and assessment tool in the driving teacher training program promotes a shift in which graduating teachers independently use more constructivist and learning-centered methodology. This approach has the potential to shape more responsible drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on the role of Atlanticism in the changing post-Cold War international environment, taking note of the diversity of interests and postulating what shaped the world in that period of time. A broad trend of deregulation of international relations, and challenges it carries along with it, require a thorough strategic analysis. Two capital concepts of international relations theory, realism and constructivism, have been applied and empirically tested by the use of semi-structured interviews in order to adequately assess the position of the phenomena in focus and suggest viable recommendations for the period to come. The paper argues in favour of gradual modification of Atlanticism in accordance with its fundamental values and mindful of strategic challenges it faces in a very dynamic and unpredictable contemporary environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate about lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) characterises them as future problems in need of pre-emptive regulation, for example, through codifying meaningful human control. But autonomous technologies are already part of weapons and have shaped how states think about human control. To understand this normative space, I proceed in two steps: first, I theorise how practices of designing, of training personnel for, and of operating weapon systems integrating autonomous technologies have shaped normativity/normality on human control at sites unseen. Second, I trace how this normativity/normality interacts with public deliberations at the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on LAWS by theorising potential dynamics of interaction. I find that the normativity/normality emerging from practices performed in relation to weapon systems integrating autonomous technologies assigns humans a reduced role in specific use of force decisions and understands this diminished decision-making capacity as 'appropriate' and 'normal'. In the public-deliberative process, stakeholders have interacted with this normativity by ignoring it, engaging in distancing or positively acknowledging it – rather than scrutinising it. These arguments move beyond prioritising public deliberation in norm research towards exploring practices performed at sites outside of the public eye as productive of normativity. I theorise this process via international practice theories, critical security studies and Science and Technology scholarship to draw out how practices shape normativity, presenting ideas of oughtness and justice, and normality, making something appear normal via collective, repeated performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into education has heralded a transformative era in the way students learn and faculties teach. Among the burgeoning array of AI tools, ChatGPT stands out as a versatile and powerful resource. Developed by OpenAI, ChatGPT is an AI-driven conversational model that generates human-like responses. This research draws on the Constructivism Learning Theory to uncover the key drivers pushing higher education students to use ChatGPT for academic purposes, and the multifaceted consequences it brings to the academic environment, by integrating the perspectives of key stakeholders: students, faculty, and education experts/leaders. The key findings of in-depth, face-to-face, interviews with key stakeholders revealed 12 main drivers that motivate students and their faculty to use ChatGPT mainly for learning purposes. However, the findings identified the multifaceted (six positive and another six negative) consequences of using ChatGPT for academic purposes. Recommendations for mitigating the negative consequences of ChatGPT were discussed with key stakeholders, particularly education experts/leaders, who were more concerned about using ChatGPT for academic reasons. The research reveals that higher education institutions should establish clear guidelines as a part of higher education policy, supplemented with training sessions for students and their faculty, about the responsible use of ChatGPT for academic purposes to mitigate any ethical concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social network sites allow users participation as sharing of information, exchange of ideas and presentation of themselves. In this process, the focus is on a wide range of formerly private topics that are now publicly negotiated. In recent years women who post content about their motherhood on Instagram are becoming increasingly popular. Thus, motherhood, both its individual negotiation and the associated structural conditions, increasingly takes place not only in private, but also in the public space of the new media. International studies deal more and more with this phenomenon and show that predominantly positively occupied motherhood-topics are published by so called mumfluencers, leading to a "positivity bias". The article deals with motherhood in social media in the context of existing research and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of corresponding developments. It outlines a possible theoretical integration of the phenomenon from different perspectives and subsequently points out perspectives for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jason Ralph's book, "On global learning: pragmatic constructivism, international practice and the challenge of global governance," offers ethical guidance for practitioners in a changing world. Ralph suggests that practical judgment based on human imagination and experimentalism should guide practices that serve the global public interest, rather than relying on abstract principles. He develops two normative tests to assess existing international practices and norms, and explores the problem-solving capacities of communities of practice in the areas of security, climate, and health. Ralph also emphasizes the importance of inclusivity, sympathy, and democratic methods in these communities. [Extracted from the article]

In my commentary, I examine the thesis of the ascendancy of analytical realism over operative constructivism and propose its contextualization within the broader framework of contemporary debates on the logic of social research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book "Power Transition in the Anarchical Society: Rising Powers, Institutional Change and the New World Order" examines the impact of the rise of non-Western powers, with a focus on China, on the future of the world order. It presents different perspectives, including realist, liberal, and constructivist analyses, on how this power transition will shape the international system. The book takes an English School approach, analyzing the social and normative bases of international order, and argues that while the order will undergo transformations, it will ultimately survive. The article suggests that future research should consider the role of regions in shaping the order transition and explore non-liberal notions of solidarism and pluralism. [Extracted from the article]

This article delves into the concept of constructs in psychology, which are abstract ideas that we create based on our experiences. These constructs help us anticipate future events, but they are not exact replicas of our experiences. Instead, they are individual mental representations. Constructs are organized hierarchically based on their level of generality and are derived from similarities and differences we identify in our experiences. The article also explores the role of language and abstract thinking in the development of constructs. It aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of constructs and their significance in psychology. [Extracted from the article]

This article critically describes and compares intraregional geopolitical imaginaries as they appear in the official discourses of two groups of states in EUrope: Soft Eurosceptic discourse of Hungary and Poland vs. Europhile discourse of France and Germany. The analysis is carried out through application of pragmatic analysis and language games analysis of official speeches of the leading politicians of these states delivered in the year 2018 on the theme of 'Future of Europe'. The theoretical framework of Rule-oriented Constructivism and the analytical framework of Critical Geopolitics guide this research. This research complements existing literature on geopolitical imaginaries highlighting the importance of linguistic practices, spatial understandings and intersubjective spaces in EUropean integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article's main concern is to come to an understanding of the reasons why the Afghan army could not be successful against the Taliban during the withdrawal process and what the effects were of this failure on international relations. The main argument in the study about the failure of the Afghan Army is that because the transition stages from the lower identity to the upper have not been completed, and the identity structure was left as a tribal-based one rather than integrated Afghan identity, the loyalty to the state could not be fulfilled and therefore the practices like bribery or favouritism in assignments led to corruption in the system causing an imperfect structure with a failure against the Taliban. As to the effects on international relations, the withdrawal of the USA from the region caused the power vacuum in Afghanistan to deepen even more. Whilst analyzing the aspects of the reasons why the Afghan army had failed against the Taliban, the on-site observation method is used lasting 6 months between June 2017 and January 2018 and the on-site interviews were personally carried out during this aforementioned time period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the Learning Sciences emerged in 1991, there was an ethos of studying learning in humans and machines in conjunction with one another. This ethos reflected three decades of prior work on the interdisciplinary study of learning; however, in the three decades since the emergence of the Learning Sciences, it seems to have largely disappeared. I begin by describing the ethos that was prevalent in 1991 using quotations from the inaugural editorial of the Journal of the Learning Sciences. I then describe how this ethos was prevalent decades before the Learning Sciences in four distinct approaches to cognitive science research, which I call the "Four C's"—cognitivism, constructivism, cybernetics, and connectionism. I suggest three reasons why the Learning Sciences moved away from the use of artificial intelligence as a central tool for thinking about learning, noting that these reasons do not suggest a fundamental incompatibility between the two. I end by discussing how Learning Scientists might once again embrace artificial intelligence and computational modeling and use them as tools for gaining insight into the constructivist, situated, and socio-cultural nature of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers rejoice and hobbyists beware, I Researching National Security Intelligence i provides readers with a robust exploration of intelligence studies that is at times dense. Despite a few essay topics being difficult to grasp, editors Stephen Coulthart, Michael Landon-Murray, and Damien Van Puyvelde have tailored a cohesive product that is at the forefront of intelligence methods research. As Nolan's essay ties up the theme of limitation in this section, it also easily fits into Part III of this anthology, which focuses on multidisciplinary approaches to intelligence. [Extracted from the article]

There are growing calls for a decolonised curriculum. With the study reported on here, I offered an understanding of this critical topic through student voices. In this study, I illustrated how super heroes and their stories could contribute to decolonised teaching informed by the findings of the research. I specifically used the views of 30 final-year students enrolled in a strategic management course at a rural university in South Africa. Data were collected using a focus-group technique relying on group interviews. Students were asked to evaluate their experiences during the semester-long course, focusing on their understanding of aspects that could be improved given the decolonial tide. Two narratives emerged from the analysis as crucial findings. Firstly, the students expressed a desire for super heroes in the form of individuals that they can relate to to feature in higher education teaching. Secondly, related to the first request, the students also needed stories relatable to their context as a dominant feature in such teaching. I interrogate the role of the 2 findings in informing a decolonised curriculum and improving my teaching practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does the decline in paradigmatic self-identification mean for how international relations (IR) scholars think about the world? We answer this question with a 2020 survey among nearly two thousand IR scholars. We uncover a two-dimensional latent theoretical belief space based on scholarly agreement with conjectures about the state, ideas, international institutions, domestic politics, globalization, and racism. The first dimension separates status quo–oriented scholars from more critical scholars. The second dimension captures the realist–institutionalist divide. We have three key findings. First, non-paradigmatic scholars vary greatly in their theoretical beliefs. Second, measurement invariance tests show that there is a similar structure underlying the beliefs of paradigmatic and non-paradigmatic scholars. Third, we find no evidence that non-paradigmatic scholars rely less on their theoretical beliefs in making predictions about conflict, institutions, political economy, democracy, and human rights. Instead, the positions of scholars in the two-dimensional theoretical belief space rather than self-assigned paradigmatic labels correlate with predictions about the world. Our findings suggest that non-paradigmatic scholars are not so different from self-identified Liberals, Constructivists, and Realists, although the decline of paradigmatic self-identification may still matter for how scholars organize debates and disciplinary divides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Krippendorff's target article provides an opportunity to deepen my earlier presentation of how my understanding of radical constructivism developed. In particular, critical cybernetics as presented in the target article offers a way of examining the language in observers' "realities" to identify the epistemological traps embedded and provide a means to discuss and question these discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Out-of-school laboratories offer the chance to teach science action-oriented and problem-based in an original context. The effectiveness of out-of-school laboratories has primarily been investigated by changes in the student's attitude before and after the visit, however, the direct comparison between the regular science class and the out-of-school teaching has so far mostly been neglected. The present study closes the current gap by allowing the students to directly compare both learning situations (workshop in the laboratory and the regular biology lessons) in a questionnaire study (N = 163). Results show that the out-of-school learning situation implements facets of moderate constructivism (active and social) significantly better and a higher value of interest is achieved in comparison to the regular biology lessons in school. Moreover, frustration is significantly lower at the out-of-school laboratory. Rank order correlation implies coherence between the previous knowledge concerning the topic of the workshop and the other factors. Prospectively, a preparatory script for each workshop will be developed to allow better preparation in school and guide the teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demonstrating how race is socially constructed has been a core sociological objective, yet many individuals continue to hold essentialist and other concepts of what races are and how to account for group differences. These conceptualizations have crucial consequences for intergroup attitudes, support for social policies, and structures of inequality, all of which are key sociological concerns; yet much of the research in this area has emerged outside of sociology. Our review of this interdisciplinary scholarship describes the range of views people hold, the attitudes and behaviors associated with them, and what factors contribute to these views. We focus primarily on essentialism and constructivism, although we describe the greater variety of beliefs beyond this dichotomy, as well as fluidity in how people use these concepts. We conclude by presenting research on strategies for reducing essentialist belief systems and identifying key areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an edited version of a recorded conversation between Helena Hargaden, Charlotte Sills, Graeme Summers and Keith Tudor, initiated and moderated by Nicole Lenner and Thomas Wehrs. It looks at the history of how Hargaden and Sills and Summers and Tudor developed their respective theories of relational transactional analysis: relational TA, informed by theories of the unconscious and child development, and making connections with neuroscience, metaphor, poetry and art; and co-creative TA, informed by field theory, constructivism and a psychology of health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconstructive biographical research is a diverse and differentiated sociological field. In this introduction, we trace its interdisciplinary and transnational historical development, consider the most important theoretical influences, and characterize central research areas. In this way, we show that reconstructive biographical research is a distinct sociological approach to social analysis. It offers a reflexive access to understanding, classifying, and explaining social processes and social challenges through the analysis of experienced and/or narrated life stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the number of art museums in China has increased significantly in recent years, art museum educators find it difficult to create relevant, relatable, and engaging learning experiences for children in different contexts of art museums. I conducted this qualitative, comparative case study in Shanghai, China, examining how two different art museums, one contemporary art-based, and another one traditional Chinese art-based, conceptualize museum education for children. The research data included face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with museum educators and a content analysis of documents gathered from the museums' websites. Using the frameworks for the contextual model of learning and constructivism theory in museum learning, I compared and contrasted the two art museums educational approaches in creating connections between educational programming and children's learning. I found that both art museums were able to connect programming to children with their current exhibitions, but using two different approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Adjatado systems of knowledge, the Ifá is a mediator between the world of the living and of the dead and this mediation depends on the funerary rites. Ifá is a word used to refer to the science of divination, the son of God, among other names. It is present from a person's birth to death. The paper discusses the Ifá's relation with the cultural processes of the construction of the Adjatado person, assuming its significant role in the lives of the Adjatado people in sustaining personal experience. After discussing selected cultural perspectives, about the meaning of Ifá for the Adjatado people, we propose a dialogue on the construction of the person in relation to death in the framework of Semiotic-Cultural Constructivism in psychology, in which death can be discussed from a philosophical perspective, articulated to the phenomenology of temporality, tradition, and alterity (cf. Simão, 2005; 2010; Simão, Guimarães & Valsiner, 2015), nevertheless, the subject of death has not yet been much explored. We argue that the dialogue here proposed enables an understanding of how the meanings that the Adjatado confer to the experience of death is related to processes that involve the cultivation of the person in the culture, addressing further developments concerning dialogues between diverse cultural understandings on psychological processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructivism is an epistemological philosophy that influences all aspects of the educational environment. The constructivist paradigm is based on the understanding of the student's independent construction of knowledge and supports a holistic approach to learning. This poses several challenges to the integration of the constructivist approach into traditional classroom and subject-centered systems. This study presents practical guidelines for the development of constructivist lessons in the conditions of the Bulgarian educational system, which is being modernized by introducing a competence-based educational approach. Jonassen's model and an updated typology of different types of lessons were used. Models and practical guidelines for developing constructivist lessons of various types are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, three common theoretical perspectives dominated the practices of learner-centered pedagogy (LCP) across the world. These perspectives include constructivism, humanism, and transformative theoretical traditions. This article critically examines the contributions and weaknesses of these theoretical traditions as ways of conceptualizing how learning occurs. Then, the researcher revisited the idea of "learner-centered pedagogy" in a new theoretical strand that strives to engage learners in discerning critical aspects of the object of learning. Therefore, it is argued that the new theoretical strand, the variation theory, makes a powerful contribution to LCP practices in bringing about student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the authors discuss the possible reasons why educational quality in Western democracies is declining while it is improving in dictatorial and quasi-dictatorial states like China and Singapore. Also cited are how the embraced view of knowledge is the most important factor that influence the functioning and development of school systems, and the concept of 'ideal types' by German sociologist Max Weber.

Aptly named I Meaning Making: A Constructivist Approach to Counseling and Group Work in Education i by Richard L. Hayes outlines how the "meanings" we "make" from our unique experience of the world structure our understanding of education and the counseling process. As such, meaning changes over time and Hayes speaks to this importance by relating constructivist principles to the societal challenges we face today. In line with constructivist perspectives, Hayes argues for more democracy in our educational systems and notes that "democracy is the social structure that best provides the proper context for such empowerment" (p. 168). [Extracted from the article]

The article explores a particular case of negative transfer of the Surrealist artistic project during the early phase of the French-centred movement within the Romanian avant-garde magazines network. Dismissed as “inauthentic” or mediated for its scandalous allure, Surrealism is unsuccessful at making inroads into the Romanian avant-garde press, closely connected to International Constructivism. This process triggers a delayed, albeit impressive, response to the Surrealist aesthetic and political thought, toward the end of the 1920s, and is, initially, largely regarded as a fraught association. Arguing that artistic circulation and transmission is not always a synchronous or symmetrical process in a centre-periphery direction, the article opens an inquiry into the motivations and implications of the Romanian negative response to early Surrealism. Additionally, the article provides insights into the complex interplay between Constructivism and Surrealism in the space of the Romanian avant-garde periodicals, essential for the understanding of Central and Eastern European avant-gardes, and a new perspective on how the periphery moderates the Surrealist label and its artistic project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there are many tools for assessing young children's self-regulation according to varied conceptual definitions and purposes, the purpose of this study was to develop, validate, and norm a Self-Regulation Assessment Scale for Early Childhood (SASEC) for directly evaluating observed behaviors of young children in naturalistic play experiences within the normal preschool environment. An exploratory sequential mixed methods research design was used. The 315 participants included 153 parents and 15 educators for the qualitative component and 147 children ages 3–5 years for the quantitative component. The analytical steps of a qualitative grounded theory research design were applied to adult participant interviews and focus group discussions, which culminated in 12 scale items for measuring a child's ability to initiate, modulate, and cease behaviors, tasks, or activities of varied complexities, social configurations, and limiting conditions. Children's SASEC scores were assessed via video recordings of play behaviors in naturalistic settings. Based on factor analysis results, the SASEC items constitute a single construct. According to the results of hierarchical linear modeling and multiple linear regression, preschool children's SASEC scores can be compared to the SASEC mean and standard deviation regardless of various demographic variables. Implications and recommendations for future work include having early childhood educators, child and youth care practitioners, counselors, parents and families, social workers, behavioral sciences researchers, and policy makers use the SASEC to measure young children's self-regulation while developing or monitoring the efficacy of generalized enhancement programs and individualized treatment plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

i , Gloria Swindler Boutte ([2], 2023) writes about the Maasai warriors of eastern Africa and the traditional greetings they exchanged among themselves with a question: I Kasserian Ingera i , meaning "And how are the children?" In a somewhat parallel way and what can be considered a response to the wisdom of the Maasai people, John Dewey reminds community leaders that "what the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children. In her thoughtful book I Educating African American Students: And How Are the Children?. [Extracted from the article]

We address the following three questions that summarize the concerns of commentators: (a) Is the metaphor of creativity as catching the big fish useful? (b) What is the relationship between radical constructivism and the 4E approach? (c) What do we understand by teaching from the 4E approach?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context • References to education in the 21st century often follow popular framings of education focusing on "skilling" and self-regulated learning without reflecting education as a key concept in educational research. Inter- and transdisciplinary efforts at the seams of 4E cognition and educational research can offer mutual benefits and enhanced perspectives for conceptualizing and designing educational arrangements open to the future. > Problem • Education and educational research are contested fields. Depending on disciplinary backgrounds and entanglements of educational research and policy, different operative fictions of, for example, optimization, emancipation, calculable output, or freedom of personality development play a role. I highlight some challenges and often neglected contexts at the crossroads of learning and education as Bildung. > Method • I summarize some historical background regarding education, educationability (Bildsamkeit) and the relevance of educationalization formulas. Furthermore, I consider a number of issues related to learnification, literacification, datafication and the impact of the global education industry. A critical analysis shows that some challenges have been undervalued in the discourses at the crossroads of education and 4E cognition, so far. > Results • As for the future of 4E cognition research, perspectives are not necessarily limited to quantitative measurement, calculability, formalization and computational models of cognition. Further clarification should include relations of measurable and non-measurable dimensions of education as well as humanist and posthumanist assumptions of learning subjects. > Implications • Insights are beneficial for educational researchers and specialists from different disciplines who want to overcome reductionist or lopsided perspectives regarding the future of education. > Constructivist content • 4E cognition considering extracranial processes is compatible with radical constructivism and relevant to educational research and pedagogical practice. However, considering the relevance of entanglements of micro-, meso - and macro-levels in education, the increasing impact of the global education industry and contemporary challenges of various critical ecologies, enhanced perspectives of constructivism that are informed by Siegfried J. Schmidt's media-cultural constructivism and Kersten Reich's interactive constructivism provide broader prospects for conceptualizing and designing education in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyze the evolution of Poland's behaviour in the EU over the years. Such an analysis reveals that the Polish position as a member of the EU is not static and formed once and for all but is rather subject to a continuous reconstruction process. This article argues that the identity of Poland within the EU is not constructed once and for all but is rather subject to changes - specifically between Euro-enthusiasm and Euroscepticism - also affecting the interplay between Polish and European foreign policies. In the process of its candidacy to become a member of the EU, Poland endeavoured to adjust itself to EU standards and adopted EU norms and values. In the first decade of its membership in the EU, Poland had effectively downloaded the EU norms and standards and by behaving according to the logic of appropriateness it gained the necessary trust and approval from the EU. However, the current situation in Poland demonstrates that Poland has retreated from its previous course and has become Eurosceptic. This article further explores the factors behind the current distancing of Poland from the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relativist position on knowledge is summarized by Protagoras' phrase "Man is the measure of all things". Protagoras' detractors countered that there was no reason for his pupils to employ him since, by his own admission, his lessons lacked privilege. This the educationist's relativist paradox. The Enlightenment tradition of Descartes, Locke and Kant solved this paradox by distinguishing given objective knowledge from constructed subjective knowledge, but this position has itself been discredited by the work of Sellars, Quine and many other thinkers. Because the Enlightenment solution to the educationist's relativist paradox is no longer satisfactory, an alternative solution to this paradox is proposed. This alternative re-examines both the basis of empiricism and the role and origins of language, and introduces the concepts of triggered hallucinations, cognitive evolutionary pressure, and cognitive empathetic resonance. Cognitive empathetic resonance provides a mechanism that can explain how our thoughts and actions are made possible by language; it is language that acts as a creative and generative force and helps us to live in the world we do. This approach inverts the empiricist claim that ideas start off grounded in an external reality and develop into more sophisticated concepts. The view of ideas presented here is that ideas are free-floating and, if they are grounded at all, are grounded as an active post-hoc process. The conclusion is that although facts do exist and are privileged, this is not because they are 'given' but because they are the ante required to join a space of discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We open this issue welcoming a new member to our I Mind, Culture, and Activity i editorial collective, Aydin Bal (University of Wisconsin-Madison). More specifically, the authors review literature that current teaching practices remain largely monolingual and emphasize the need to support teacher developmental processes of reconceptualization. Describing their work as an "emic examination", they describe "how teachers who were prepared in a program established by the authors and grounded in social-constructivism conceptualize young children's construction of knowledge in the classroom.". [Extracted from the article]

This article analyses the relationship between the geographical context as a physical space and the historical narrative as an imagined space in the formation of Taiwanese national identity. Based on the theoretical proposal of constructivism, that emphasises the importance of identity in shaping the interests of the States, the article suggests that the geographical and historical conditions have enabled Taiwan to develop a different national identity from that of the Chinese. For this, the assumption is that the geographical context generates material conditions and social interactions, turning the territory into an “imagined” space. This immaterial space is, above all, the result of historical narratives. Thus, the elements that configure the Taiwanese identity affect the foreign policy of this State, particularly in the search for international recognition. The conclusion highlights how the case of Taiwan evidences the manner in which identity influences foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both scholars of American Jewry and advocates working in American Jewish communities have linked a moral commitment to greater inclusion of ethnically and racially diverse Jews with a constructivist approach toward the study of American Jewish identity. What has gone unquestioned is the applicability of this constructivist approach to the study of all types of American Jews. In this article, I examine the assumptions embedded in the social scientific constructivist notion of Jewish identity and argue for acknowledgment and interrogation of its liberal grammar. Drawing on original field data, I examine a Syrian Sephardic Jewish community in the United States and posit that the Jewishness negotiated in this group cannot be properly understood through this perspective and must instead be viewed through the framework of tradition. I argue that interpreting American Jewish identity through a subjective liberal lens is itself a construction that not only cannot capture traditional notions of Judaism but in fact excludes them. This analysis and these findings shed light on the discrepancy between constructivist social scientific categories of study which are presented as not only proper but also more ethical due to their supposed universality and the way these categories can end up omitting groups they are meant to include. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context • Humberto Maturana's biology of cognition (BoC) represents a novel analysis of cognition grounded in biology and neuroscience. While BoC has facilitated demonstrable improvements in research and development results, it contrasts with prevailing mainstream viewpoints, models, and terminology. Accordingly, effort is required to develop a working knowledge of Maturana's work before one can reasonably apply it or contribute to BoC's ongoing conceptual advancement. Problem • The effort required in learning BoC increases the risk of misrepresenting or misinterpreting BoC and overlooking its value. Applying BoC requires both a working knowledge and creative adaptations. These adaptations can prove difficult and obscure recognition of credit due BoC for positive outcomes. Finally, the BoC community of interest faces challenges in absorbing lessons learned and refining the BoC conceptual framework to facilitate future researchers in benefiting from Maturana's legacy. These issues reflect three areas of concern: (a) effectively understanding BoC; (b) usefully applying BoC; and (c) elaborating and extending BoC. Method • I identify key issues underlying these areas of concern, review lessons learned regarding the understanding and application areas, and offer recommendations for elucidating some of the most important issues for constructively advancing BoC. Using examples from successful professional experience, I illustrate the issues involved in applying BoC in research and development projects, the benefits obtained, and the problems in assigning credit for such benefits to BoC. Results • Access to fundamental BoC resources has improved over the last three decades. The specific points of difficulty in developing a working knowledge of BoC remain much the same as they were for Maturana's university students decades ago. The four issues I consider most important for clarification or conceptual development are: A - the role and scope of autopoiesis, B - ontological and epistemological entailments of BoC, C - the entitative bias, and D - the new orientation that shifts from entities to relations. Implications • The core of biology of cognition risks increasing obscurity unless (a) its tenets are more clearly established and widely disseminated and (b) the means for applying its insights for practical benefit are developed and tested via experience. These results are offered to aid in progressing Maturana's version of constructivism toward increased recognition of the potential value BoC - and constructivism in general - offers. Constructivist content • Maturana's work entails a focus on an observer's subjective experience of its life world, and therefore entails an epistemology consistent with the constructivist perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]