Mindfulness and discussing “thorny” issues in the classroom     

Konstantinos Alexakos  Leah D. Pride  Arnau Amat  Panagiota Tsetsakos  Kristi J. Lee  Christian Paylor-Smith  Corinna Zapata  Shequana Wright  Theila Smith 《Cultural Studies of Science Education》2016,11(3):741-769

Being in the moment, showing compassion, being non-judgmental, acknowledging deep emotional challenges without getting stuck: these are mindfulness characteristics important to us as teachers, yet not often included in teacher preparation. These concerns become magnified when we focus on difficult knowledge and thorny issues, like topics related to gender and race. Using a sociocultural framework, we address how mindfulness, heuristics, and other contemplative practices can be adopted to create safe, supporting, and healing spaces for such complex, often emotionally painful discussions. Participant narratives are used extensively to provide a voice to those marginalized or hurt. Drawing from these narratives and their experience in discussing thorny issues, we put forth possible solutions and interventions that can create spaces that encourage and support critical discourse through mindful practices. The development of a heuristic for discussing thorny issues whose characteristics can be adopted by interested teachers and educators to help frame and mediate this type of difficult discussion is an outcome of this research.  相似文献   

Environmental education and the science of ecology: exploration of an uneasy relationship     

Konstantinos J. Korfiatis 《Environmental Education Research》2005,11(2):235-248

While modern science is receiving harsh criticism within the framework of environmental education, at the same time ecology is presented as an alternative science, characterized as ‘holistic’ and ‘non‐exploitative’. However, many of the characteristics of the science of ecology do not comply with its characterization as alternative science. Furthermore, ecology is a science with competing paradigms, provisional theories, incommensurable worldviews, and extensive theoretical and methodological debates. The treatment of the science of ecology in environmental education is not taking into account the relevant evidence, resulting in a quite strong positivistic and dogmatic educational approach. The importance of approaches that comply more with a post‐positivistic account of education are discussed in the light of the possible contribution of environmental education to science education discourse.  相似文献   

Creating and using knowledge: an analysis of the differentiated nature of workplace learning environments   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Alison Fuller  Lorna Unwin  Alan Felstead  Nick Jewson  Konstantinos Kakavelakis 《British Educational Research Journal》2007,33(5):743-759

This paper argues that contemporary workplaces give rise to many different forms of knowledge creation and use, and, as a consequence to different forms of learning and pedagogical approaches. Some of these are utilised to the benefit of the organisation and employees (though not, necessarily, in a reciprocal manner), but others are buried within everyday workplace activity. The discussion builds on earlier work where it was argued that organisations differ in the way they create and manage themselves as learning environments, with some conceptualised as ‘expansive’ in the sense that their employees experience diverse forms of participation and, hence, are more likely to foster learning at work. By studying the way in which work is organised (including the organisation of physical and virtual spaces), this research is suggesting that it is possible to expose some of this learning activity as well as to identify examples where new (or refined) knowledge has been created. In this regard, it is argued that it is important to break down conceptual hierarchies that presuppose that learning is restricted to certain types of employee and/or parts of an organisation and to re‐examine knowledge as applied to the workplace. The conclusion focuses on how such an approach, and in particular the use of a productive system analysis, is strengthening the concept of expansive and restrictive learning environments.  相似文献   

Kindergarten Children Discussing the Fairness of Probabilistic Games: The Creation of a Primary Discursive Community     

Konstantinos Tatsis  Sonia Kafoussi  Chrysanthi Skoumpourdi 《Early Childhood Education Journal》2008,36(3):221-226

In this paper we analyse the language used by kindergarten children and their teacher while they discuss the fairness of two games that involved the concept of chance. Their discussions show that the children are able to overcome their primary intuitions concerning the fairness of a game and to comprehend the important role of materials. The children mostly used counting strategies in order to justify their opinion; this reveals the establishment of a primary discursive community based on the premise that each opinion should be justified in order to be accepted by the other children and the teacher.

Chrysanthi SkoumpourdiEmail:

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Parental requests for evaluation and authorities’ responses: issues of accord     

Ioannis C. Dimakos  Alexandra Tsaganelia  Konstantinos Lavidas 《欧洲特需教育杂志》2016,31(4):565-575

The present study investigated the reasons of parents request for the initial evaluation to determine their children’s special educational needs (SEN) and the state authorities’ response in the Greek educational system. For the needs of the present study, 250 case files were randomly selected from a state Centre for Differential Diagnosis and Support, which is responsible for the identification, evaluation and intervention for students with SEN. Various data were recorded, such as parental reason for requesting the evaluation, the official designation for each case, whether the parent accepted the evaluation results and whether any individualised intervention plan or other recommendations were specified. The analysis suggested that most cases involved students with learning disabilities, although a certain degree of disagreement in the classification of students was observed. For the majority of cases, parents accepted the official diagnosis; however, the state centre did not offer an intervention plan to benefit the students in the majority of the cases. Implications based on the present study findings are considered.  相似文献   

Factors,issues and interdependencies in the incorporation of a Web 2.0 based learning environment in higher education     

Theodoros Karvounidis  Konstantinos Chimos  Sotirios Bersimis  Christos Douligeris 《Education and Information Technologies》2018,23(2):935-955

This work investigates the effect a Web 2.0 learning environment may have in higher education in adding value to the students’ existing competencies. The major issues that this work examines are whether the incorporation of a Web 2.0 environment in higher education has an effect on the students’ performance and what are the significant factors that should be taken into account in the deployment of these technologies to achieve the maximum possible benefits and whether and how they correlate to each other. These factors are derived from the students’ views on the use of technology in a university course deployment and from the students’ personal opinions about a pilot course in a Web 2.0 learning environment. Although the results indicate no direct effect on the students’ performance, significant factors have been revealed via a thorough assessment, which has been performed in the context of a semester–long course, utilizing statistical process control techniques. The derived factors are namely: “Technology as an educational reinforcement”, “Technology as a tool to enhance comprehension” and “Enhancement of student interest and experience”, while in the second one “Completeness of the educational approach”, “Satisfaction from the educational approach” and “Course demands”. These factors can then form the basis for a feedback processes and a monitoring mechanism for a continuously updated educational process.  相似文献   

Greek Day Care Centres' Quality,Caregivers' Behaviour and Children's Development La Qualité des Crèches en Grèce,le Comportement des Institutrices,et le Développement des Enfants La Calidad de las Guarderías Infantiles Griegas,el Comportamiento de las Maestras de Educación Infantil y el Desarrollo de los Niños     

Konstantinos Petrogiannis 《International Journal of Early Years Education》2002,10(2):137-148

The 'global' quality of the caregiving environment for young infants and toddlers in day care centres in Athens, the 'structural' and 'dynamic' features in terms of group size, the adult child ratio, the caregiving style and, finally, the interaction patterns developed between the caregivers and the children, were all factors evaluated for potential developmental effects. Participants in the study were 60 toddlers, experiencing full-time (more than 20 hours/week) day care provision, and for at least 6 months out-of-home care, while attending 25 day care centres located in the greater Athens area. Children's assessments included measures of cognitive, language and socio-emotional development. Interviews and observational techniques were used to assess the quality of the day caregiving environment and the interaction processes between caregivers and the children. Children's development was considered in terms of the quality of out-of-home care experience. It was found that the course of development could be predicted by the overall day care centre quality index as measured by the ITERS scale, with the separate contribution of some other variables according to the examined developmental aspect. Dans le cadre d'une recherche concernant les influences possibles sur le développement des enfants, nous avons étudié les facteurs suivants: l'évaluation 'globale' de la qualité de l'environnement des services de soin et d'éducation dans les crèches d'Athènes, les caractéristiques 'structurelles' et 'dynamiques' concernant la taille du groupe d'enfants en classe, l'analogie institutrices/enfants, le style de soin et de comportement de l' institutrice, enfin, le style d'interaction entre institutrices et enfants. Dans cette recherche ont participé 60 enfants de 18 mois, fréquentant 25 crèches de la région d'Athènes pour plus de 20 heures par semaine et pour une durée d'au moins 6 mois au moment de la recherche. L'appréciation du développement des enfants concernait le domaine cognitif, langagier et socio-émotionel. Pour l'évaluation de la qualité de l'environnement des crèches et les processus d'interaction entre institutrices et enfants, nous nous sommes servi de méthodes d'interview et d'observation. Le développement des enfants a éte´ évalué en fonction de la qualité de l'environnement des crèches. Nous avons conclu que le développement est corrélé avec la qualité globale de la crèche, telle qu'elle a été calculé avec l'échelle ITERS. Par ailleurs, nous avons observé la contribution d'autres variables selon le secteur étudié du développement. La apreciación "global" de la calidad del ambiente de la prestación de servicios de cuidados y educación a los niños en las guarderías infantiles de Atenas, las características "estructurales" y "dinámicos" que conciernen al número de los niños en la clase, a la proporción maestras/niños, al estilo de la prestación del cuidado y del comportamiento de las maestras y, en fin, al esquema de interacción entre maestras y niños han sido los factores que se han examinado en cuanto a su possible influencia sobre el desarrollo de los niños. En nuestra investigación participaron 60 niños de 18 meses de edad que frecuentaban 25 guarderías en la región de Atenas durante más de 20 horas a la semana y por lo menos 6 meses hasta la investigación. La apreciación del desarrollo de los niños se refiere al sector cognitivo, verbal y socio-emocional. Para la evaluación de la calidad del ambiente de las guarderías y para los procedimientos de intercambio entre maestras y niños se han utilizado las técnicas de la entervista y de la observación. El desarrollo de los niños se ha apreciado en relación con la calidad del ambiente de las guarderías. Ha resultado evidente que el curso del desarrollo guarda relación con la calidad general de la guardería, la cual se ha evaluado según la escala ITERS, mientras se ha notado también el aporte de otras variables, según el aspecto del desarrollo estudiado.  相似文献   

Science and creationism: a response to Kenneth Tobin     

Konstantinos Alexakos 《Cultural Studies of Science Education》2009,4(2):495-504

In his December editorial on Michael Reiss, Kenneth Tobin (Cult Stud Sci Educ 3:793–798, 2008), raises some very important questions for science and science teachers regarding science education and the teaching of creationism in the classroom. I agree with him that students’ creationist ideologies should be treated not as misconceptions but as worldviews. Because of creationism’s peculiarly strong political links though, I argue that such discussion must address three critical and interconnected issues, including the uncertain state of teaching evolution in public schools nationally, the political convergence of the creationist political beliefs with bigoted worldviews, and creationism’s inherent contrariness to science and human progress. I suggest that we as science educators therefore not consider all sides to be equally right and to instead take side against the politics of creationism. I also argue that we need much more serious discussion on how to better teach science to students who hold creationist worldviews, and that science educators such as Reiss need to be part of that.

Konstantinos AlexakosEmail:

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Konstantinos Alexakos   is an assistant professor in the School of Education at Brooklyn College (CUNY). He is a former New York City high school science teacher and a former NYC transit worker. His research interests include sociocultural issues especially fictive kinships among minority science students and perseverance and success.  相似文献   

Effect of 4 weeks of basic military training on peripheral blood leucocytes and urinary excretion of catecholamines and cortisol     

Makras P  Koukoulis GN  Bourikas G  Papatheodorou G  Bedevis K  Menounos P  Pappas D  Kartalis G 《Journal of sports sciences》2005,23(8):825-834

In this study, we assessed the effects of a 4 week basic military physical training programme for male recruits of the Hellenic Air Force on the number and distribution of circulating immune cells and adrenergic and adrenocortical hormonal responses. One group of recruits (exercised, n = 48) participated in moderate intermittent physical exercise, whereas a second group (non-exercised controls, n = 9) performed only light work in the barracks. Both groups participated in the same non-physical, classroom-type training and testing. Military training by the exercised group resulted in significant increases in CD4+ T-lymphocytes, renal cortisol excretion and the urinary noradrenaline/adrenaline ratio, together with reductions in neutrophils and the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio. In the exercised group, the urinary noradrenaline/adrenaline ratio correlated positively with the training-induced changes in CD4+ T-lymphocytes and negatively with changes in the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio. No significant relationship was found between training-induced increases in cortisol excretion and any of the peripheral blood cell alterations. Our results indicate that 4 weeks of military training consisting of intermittent moderate exercise resulted in a significant increase in CD4+ T-lymphocytes and reduction in neutrophils. These changes were probably driven by alterations in hormonal status, including the significant impact of sympathetic nervous system activation.  相似文献   

Insulin sensitivity derived from oral glucose tolerance testing in athletes: disagreement between available indices     

Niakaris K  Magkos F  Geladas N  Sidossis LS 《Journal of sports sciences》2005,23(10):1065-1073

The aims of the present study were to determine whether available "fasting" and oral glucose tolerance test-derived insulin sensitivity indices could effectively discriminate between individuals with higher than normal insulin sensitivity, and whether they would all provide similar information in clinical practice. Sprint runners (n = 8), endurance runners (n = 8) and sedentary controls (n = 7) received a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test. All participants were healthy lean males, aged 21-29 years. Besides glucose and insulin responses, a total of nine such indices were computed. Fasting as well as post-load glucose concentrations were similar in the three groups, while basal plasma insulin and the insulinaemic response to glucose were both higher in untrained individuals (at P < 0.05 and P < 0.02, respectively). There were no differences between endurance and sprint runners. The results for insulin sensitivity, however, were quite variable: three indices showed that both groups of athletes were more insulin-sensitive than controls; three indicated that this was the case for endurance runners only; one indicated that this was the case for sprint runners only; and two showed that sprint runners were more insulin-sensitive than either sedentary individuals or endurance runners (all differences were significant at P < 0.05). Controlling for total body weight or lean mass did not effectively resolve this disagreement. Apparently, the various insulin sensitivity indices examined provided different quantitative and qualitative information, despite insulin action being greater in both groups of athletes relative to controls, as reflected by their similar glucose tolerance with lower insulin concentrations. We suggest, therefore, that the use and interpretation of such indices among physically active individuals be made with caution.  相似文献