Teaching and Learning

In this first of two volumes on twentieth-century curricular reform in the social studies, Ronald W. Evans, a professor in the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University, examines how the "new social studies" came to be in the United States in the wake of the Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957. Spearheaded by university professors in history and the social sciences, many of whom were active participants in the cultivation of the military-industrial complex during World War II, Evans argues that social studies curricular reform in the 1960s and 1970s developed out of precedents set by similar, earlier reforms in mathematics and science. Not only was the current state of social studies in the K-12 setting dismal, it needed an expert overhaul by noneducationists as a matter of national security. The result was a collection of several curricular projects that emphasized the intellectual processes of how learning occurs within the discrete social science fields and history; but, Evans writes, the projects had minimal effect on the actual practice of teaching and learning in K-12 classrooms. In making his case, Evans provides detailed accounts of the research conferences from which science, mathematics, and social studies reform projects emerged. Apart from the central contention that the reform efforts were fueled by Cold War fears and virulent critiques of the thencurrent schooling establishment, one is left to wonder why we should be especially cognizant of this era's reform efforts.

Without undervaluing any other human agency it may be safely affirmed that the Common School improved and energized, as it can easily be, may become the most effective and benignant of all the forces of civilization. Two reasons sustain this position. In the first place, there is a universality in its operation which can be affirmed of no other institution whatever. If administered in the spirit of justice and conciliation, all the rising generation may be brought within the circle of its reformatory and elevating influences. And, in the second place, the materials upon which it operates are so pliant and ductile as to be susceptible of assuming a greater variety of forms than any other earthly work of the Creator. 4

Background The term exceptional learners is a generic one and means different things to different people. One population of exceptional learners is students with disabilities. as defined by the americans with Disabilities act (aDa), an individual with a disability is… a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment (US Department of Justice, 2002).

1. Background This thematic issue addresses core topics on Virtual and Mixed Reality Intelligent Environments. The conventional definitions for virtual and mixed reality systems, eg, in [1–3], do not require that such environments should be intelligent or even reactive. However, most useful applications of virtual reality can be considered intelligent in the sense that the environment changes and reacts to the actions of the user.

Complexity is core part of our lives. Aware or not, people need to understand and communicate complex ideas and perspectives. Understanding and communicating complexity can be facilitated through interactive simulations. Doing so in the physical world is often impractical, however. Users and developers are overloaded with information and ambiguity, costs are prohibitive, and unsupervised physical simulations raise safety concerns. Novel immersive technology might hold the key to transforming how we tackle understanding and communicating complexity. In this position paper, we propose empowering user agency and perception to take part in complex learning experiences and create their own, combining two factors: enhanced visual and spatial context provided by location-awareness, immersive environments, and somatic, embodied agency; and enhanced cultural and social context by leveraging as input methods the rich semantics of cultural-social gestures and rituals. To deem the feasibility o...

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Educational transformation requires that people volitionally change from a set of behavioral practices buttressed by organizational supports, policies, and incentives to a markedly different set of practices that requires an altered organizational context accompanied by a shift in assumptions, beliefs, and values at both the individual and institutional levels. Some research in immersive learning, particularly in virtual reality, shows promise of accomplishing the unlearning of deeply held beliefs, values, and attitudes by influencing the mind/brain cognitively and affectively, intrapersonally and interpersonally.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new approach for assessing learning outcomes from collaborative work in 3D virtual environments. It represents a novel computational framework that improves recording and observing collaborative activities between students to evaluate learning outcomes. The framework includes a virtual observation model that maps observing learners in classrooms with observing and assessing the students in 3D spaces. This can be accomplished by applying a mechanism that combines natural agents and software agents to support collecting learning evidences from virtual activities and simulate the educators’ observation(s). Such a novel framework will solve issues that could develop from evaluating students’ performance, interaction, skill and knowledge in collaborative virtual learning environments.

This qualitative inquiry articulated a grounded theory of workplace motivation through investigating the degree to which and the way in which thoughts of the future were integrated into the thinking and the behaviors of twelve purposefully selected subjects from organizations in education, business, and government from across the state of Montana. Subjects represented a range of authoritative positions within their work organizations, from subordinate to authority. Data was collected during one-on-one semi-structured interviews and analyzed through a codified process of (a) open coding, (b) axial coding, and (c) selective coding. Open coding revealed a number of categories by which interviewees think about and act upon ideas of the future within the workplace: "workplace factors", "personality factors", "changing environments", and "career scripts". These categories were then examined within context during axial coding and analyzed for the conditions, consequences, actions, and interactions that took place from the perspectives of the interviewees. Relationships between individual perceptions, behaviors, and transactions within the work environment were thus, systematically examined from a "micro" perspective. During selective coding, a narrati ve script was developed through re-approaching the data and resultant findings from a "macro" approach and completing a plausible explanation for the development of the phenomenon. This narrative report interrelated the categories recognized within the initial two stages of analysis and provides the foundation for the resultant theory generated through this study. A simplified visual model is offered as a conclusion of the analysis. It was found that workplace Future Time Perspective is often actively engaged through work activities, being influenced by workplace rhythms, perceived opportunities, threats, and the lack of time to accomplish one's objectives. Future Time Perspective is often deemed necessary to perform common workplace activities and is even extended through workplace goals, deadlines, and seasons of activity. A number of environmental cues were reported as eliciting thoughts about the future within the workplace. The researcher posits that an important finding of this study is that workplace Future Time Perspective is a transactional mental representation resulting from person-environment interactions. For instance, attributional style, locus of control, and personal organizational commitment were found to be important factors that differentiated the Future Time Perspective of the interviewees across situations and work environments. This merits a re-examination of Future Time Perspective as a stable disposition and a call for integration of a better understood construct into theory and practice for education, business, and government.

Background The term exceptional learners is a generic one and means different things to different people. One population of exceptional learners is students with disabilities. as defined by the americans with Disabilities act (aDa), an individual with a disability is… a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment (US Department of Justice, 2002).

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to outline a vision for digital stories of development, or online personal learning environments, which may eventually replace what we currently call “electronic portfolios” in education.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual article that provides a lifelong, life‐wide perspective on electronic portfolios based on the authors' research, focusing on some of the issues that need to be addressed to make this vision a reality.FindingsBased on the concept of “lifetime personal web space,” this online archive of a life's collection of reflections, memories, digital artefacts and memorabilia, both personal and professional, has the potential to change the current paradigm of electronic portfolios, mostly institution‐bound, and focus instead on the individual or the family as the center for creating a digital archive, which can be used in a variety of contexts across the lifespan, from schools to universities to the workplace. Finally, ...

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the main forms and components of future consciousness, to identify the important values for enhancing future consciousness, and to describe a variety of educational strategies for heightening future consciousness.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a historical review of the development of future consciousness and a psychological review of recent theory and research on its components and benefits, and argues for a teaching philosophy and strategy based on positive psychology and the development of virtues and wisdom.FindingsFuture consciousness is multi‐dimensional and involves all the major capacities of the human mind. A set of different forms of future consciousness has evolved over time, encompassing practical and social intelligence, mythic narrative, rationality and emotionality, science fiction, and future studies. Psychologically, future consciousness involves human emotion and motivation, learning and memory, all ma...

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore future consciousness, in particular the desire for adventure and change, in light of the literature and ideas around academic development in higher education teaching and learning, and with a particular focus on supporting staff in their engagement with technologies in new ways.Design/methodology/approachThe article builds on and extends recent work by the authors Barnes and Tynan; and Tynan, Lee and Barnes, as well as that of other researchers and theorists. A case study approach is adopted, in which the narratives or “stories” of academics at an Australian university relating to issues surrounding learning technologies are analysed. The themes that emerge from the preliminary analysis are synthesised to draw out barriers and potential solutions from the participants' perspectives, especially with regard to their self‐identified future professional development needs, and particularly in relation to their adoption and sustainable us...