Knowledge Formation and the Great Divergence between China and Europe: Manuscripts and Printed Books, ca. 581–1840

Literature dealing with the history of Chinese printed books and printing is voluminous. Yet studies of how knowledge in general and utilitarian forms of knowledge in particular were generated, accumulated and circulated by printed books and their relationship with the long-term socio-economic transformation of China are rare. This paper aims to open up the subject by examining the long-term trends in the production of manuscripts and books and focusing on the connections between the generation and dissemination of useful knowledge in China and the production and circulation of printed books over the centuries and dynasties from circa 581 to 1840 compared to Europe. It connects trends in this indicator for knowledge formation and diffusion to economic growth, urbanization, changes in higher forms of education, the rise of literacy, the development of printing technologies, and changes in perceptions of the natural world. It concludes that human capital formation in China probably proceeded at a slower rate,which is relevant for narratives of the “divergence” between China and Europe.

The Effects of Civic Education on Political Knowledge

Traditionally political knowledge was regarded as an important potential outcome for civic education efforts. Most of the currently available research, however, tends to focus on non-cognitive goals, despite the fact that studies repeatedly have shown that political knowledge is an important resource for enlightened and engaged citizenship. In this article, we investigate whether civic education contributes to political knowledge levels. The analysis is based on the Belgian Political Panel Survey, a two year panel study among 2,988 Belgian late adolescents. The analysis shows that experiences with group projects at school contribute significantly to political knowledge levels two years later on. Furthermore, we can observe an interaction effect as those who are already most knowledgeable about politics, gain most from these group projects. Classes about politics, on the other hand, did not have an effect on knowledge levels. In the discussion, it is argued that civic education can have strong cognitive effects, but that these effects are not always related to classical civic education efforts.

The Effects of Civic Education on Political Knowledge

Traditionally political knowledge was regarded as an important potential outcome for civic education efforts. Most of the currently available research, however, tends to focus on non-cognitive goals, despite the fact that studies repeatedly have shown that political knowledge is an important resource for enlightened and engaged citizenship. In this article, we investigate whether civic education contributes to political knowledge levels. The analysis is based on the Belgian Political Panel Survey, a two year panel study among 2,988 Belgian late adolescents. The analysis shows that experiences with group projects at school contribute significantly to political knowledge levels two years later on. Furthermore, we can observe an interaction effect as those who are already most knowledgeable about politics, gain most from these group projects. Classes about politics, on the other hand, did not have an effect on knowledge levels. In the discussion, it is argued that civic education can have strong cognitive effects, but that these effects are not always related to classical civic education efforts.

Desarrollo cognoscitivo y formación de conocimientos políticos en niños y adolescentes

El artículo examina el desarrollo cognoscitivo y sus diferentes interpretaciones en la investigación de la formación de conocimientos políticos en niños y adolescentes. En primer término, se analiza el fenómeno del desarrollo psicológico desde el reciente consenso teórico acerca de sus principios centrales, propuesto para evitar la fragmentación explicativa de fines del siglo pasado. Tal consenso abarca una nueva perspectiva del desarrollo, sistémica y relacional, que procura superar modelos explicativos que escinden aspectos interdependientes al entenderlos como excluyentes. En segundo lugar, se abordan e ilustran algunas de estas cuestiones a través de diversas investigaciones del desarrollo infantil de conocimientos políticos, incluyendo un estudio propio sobre la formación de la noción de gobierno nacional en niños y adolescentes de la ciudad de Buenos Aires y de La Plata

Desarrollo cognoscitivo y formación de conocimientos políticos en niños y adolescentes

El artículo examina el desarrollo cognoscitivo y sus diferentes interpretaciones en la investigación de la formación de conocimientos políticos en niños y adolescentes. En primer término, se analiza el fenómeno del desarrollo psicológico desde el reciente consenso teórico acerca de sus principios centrales, propuesto para evitar la fragmentación explicativa de fines del siglo pasado. Tal consenso abarca una nueva perspectiva del desarrollo, sistémica y relacional, que procura superar modelos explicativos que escinden aspectos interdependientes al entenderlos como excluyentes. En segundo lugar, se abordan e ilustran algunas de estas cuestiones a través de diversas investigaciones del desarrollo infantil de conocimientos políticos, incluyendo un estudio propio sobre la formación de la noción de gobierno nacional en niños y adolescentes de la ciudad de Buenos Aires y de La Plata

Desarrollo cognoscitivo y formación de conocimientos políticos en niños y adolescentes

El artículo examina el desarrollo cognoscitivo y sus diferentes interpretaciones en la investigación de la formación de conocimientos políticos en niños y adolescentes. En primer término, se analiza el fenómeno del desarrollo psicológico desde el reciente consenso teórico acerca de sus principios centrales, propuesto para evitar la fragmentación explicativa de fines del siglo pasado. Tal consenso abarca una nueva perspectiva del desarrollo, sistémica y relacional, que procura superar modelos explicativos que escinden aspectos interdependientes al entenderlos como excluyentes. En segundo lugar, se abordan e ilustran algunas de estas cuestiones a través de diversas investigaciones del desarrollo infantil de conocimientos políticos, incluyendo un estudio propio sobre la formación de la noción de gobierno nacional en niños y adolescentes de la ciudad de Buenos Aires y de La Plata

Tiedon jakaminen tiimityössä

Knowledge-sharing in a teamwork The study examines the link between knowledge-sharing that takes place in a team and the dimensions and objectives of the team s activities. The question the study poses is: How does knowledge-sharing in a team relate to the team s activities? The exchange of knowledge is examined using knowledge-sharing networks and the conversion model, which describes the process of knowledge formation. The answer to the question is sought through four empirical articles describing the activities of a team from the viewpoint of quality, fairness, power related to knowledge management, and performance. One of the articles used in the study describes the role of networks in work life more generally. It attempts to shed light on the manner in which team-related networks operate as part of a more extensive structure of organizational networks. Finland is one of the most eager users of teamwork, if numbers are used as a yardstick. About half of all Finnish wage earners worked in teams in 2009, and comparisons show that the use of teams in Finland is above the EU average. This study focuses on so-called semi-autonomous teams, which carry out permanent work tasks. In such teams, tasks are interdependent, and teams are jointly responsible for ensuring that the work is done. Team members may also, at least to some extent, agree between themselves on how the tasks are carried out and are able to take part in the decision-making process. Such teamwork makes knowledge-sharing an important element for the team s activities. Knowledge and knowledge-sharing have become a major resource, allowing organizations to operate and even compete in today s increasingly competitive markets. A single team or a single organization cannot, however, possess all the knowledge required for carrying out the tasks assigned to it. Although it is difficult to copy the knowledge generated in an organization, it is important to share the knowledge within and between organizations. External links supply teams and organizations with important knowledge that allows them to keep their operations up-to-date and their structures well-functioning. In fact, knowledge provides teams and organizations with an intangible resource that improves their capacity to interact with their environment and to adjust to it. For this reason, it is important to examine both the internal and external knowledge-sharing taking place in a team. The findings of the study show that in terms of quality, fairness, performance and the knowledge management issues concerning a team, its social network structure is both internally and externally connected with its activities. A team structure that is internally coherent and at the same time open to external contacts, is, with certain restrictions, connected with the quality, fairness, and performance of the team. The restrictions concern differences between procedural and interactional justice, public and private sectors, and the team leaders and ordinary team members. The role of the team leader is closely connected with the management of networks that are considered valuable. The results of the study indicate that teamwork is supervisor-dominated. Thus, teamwork does not substantially strengthen the influence of individual employees as players in knowledge-transfer networks. However, ordinary team members possess important peer contacts inside the organization. Teamwork clearly allows employees to interact in a democratic manner, and here the transfer of tacit knowledge plays an important role. Keywords: teamwork, knowledge-sharing, social networks, organization

Didactical reconstructions for organizing knowledge in physics teacher education

Physics teachers are in a key position to form the attitudes and conceptions of future generations toward science and technology, as well as to educate future generations of scientists. Therefore, good teacher education is one of the key areas of physics departments education program. This dissertation is a contribution to the research-based development of high quality physics teacher education, designed to meet three central challenges of good teaching. The first challenge relates to the organization of physics content knowledge. The second challenge, connected to the first one, is to understand the role of experiments and models in (re)constructing the content knowledge of physics for purposes of teaching. The third challenge is to provide for pre-service physics teachers opportunities and resources for reflecting on or assessing their knowledge and experience about physics and physics education. This dissertation demonstrates how these challenges can be met when the content knowledge of physics, the relevant epistemological aspects of physics and the pedagogical knowledge of teaching and learning physics are combined. The theoretical part of this dissertation is concerned with designing two didactical reconstructions for purposes of physics teacher education: the didactical reconstruction of processes (DRoP) and the didactical reconstruction of structures (DRoS). This part starts with taking into account the required professional competencies of physics teachers, the pedagogical aspects of teaching and learning, and the benefits of the graphical ways of representing knowledge. Then it continues with the conceptual and philosophical analysis of physics, especially with the analysis of experiments and models role in constructing knowledge. This analysis is condensed in the form of the epistemological reconstruction of knowledge justification. Finally, these two parts are combined in the designing and production of the DRoP and DRoS. The DRoP captures the knowledge formation of physical concepts and laws in concise and simplified form while still retaining authenticity from the processes of how concepts have been formed. The DRoS is used for representing the structural knowledge of physics, the connections between physical concepts, quantities and laws, to varying extents. Both DRoP and DRoS are represented in graphical form by means of flow charts consisting of nodes and directed links connecting the nodes. The empirical part discusses two case studies that show how the three challenges are met through the use of DRoP and DRoS and how the outcomes of teaching solutions based on them are evaluated. The research approach is qualitative; it aims at the in-depth evaluation and understanding about the usefulness of the didactical reconstructions. The data, which were collected from the advanced course for prospective physics teachers during 20012006, consisted of DRoP and DRoS flow charts made by students and student interviews. The first case study discusses how student teachers used DRoP flow charts to understand the process of forming knowledge about the law of electromagnetic induction. The second case study discusses how student teachers learned to understand the development of physical quantities as related to the temperature concept by using DRoS flow charts. In both studies, the attention is focused on the use of DRoP and DRoS to organize knowledge and on the role of experiments and models in this organization process. The results show that students understanding about physics knowledge production improved and their knowledge became more organized and coherent. It is shown that the flow charts and the didactical reconstructions behind them had an important role in gaining these positive learning results. On the basis of the results reported here, the designed learning tools have been adopted as a standard part of the teaching solutions used in the physics teacher education courses in the Department of Physics, University of Helsinki.

The Media as a Window on the Past? The Impact of Television and Newspaper Consumption on Knowledge of the Democratic Transition in Portugal

This study seeks to expand our understanding of how the media increase the level of political information, by focusing on an understudied yet important learning outcome: knowledge of the political past. The article explores the factors underlying variation in the recognition of the leading actors in the transitional process in Portugal. The results show that television news and newspaper exposure foster recognition of these actors, but that media use interacts with personal experience of the transition (stronger effects among younger cohorts) and party identification (stronger impact on those who do not feel close to a political party).

Knowledge management and open access e-theses: Indian initiatives

This paper aims to describe recent developments in the services provided by Indian electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) repositories. It seeks to explore the prospect of knowledge formation and diffusion in India and to discuss the potential of open access e-theses repositories for knowledge management.This study is based on literature review and content analysis of IndianETDrepository websites. Institutional repositories and electronic thesis and dissertation projects in India were identified through a literature survey as well as internet searching and browsing. The study examines the tools, type of contents, coverage and aims of Indian ETD repositories.The paper acknowledges the need for knowledge management for national development. It highlights the significance of an integrated platform for preserving, searching and retrieving Indian theses. It describes the features and functions of Indian ETD repositories.The paper provides insights into the characteristics of the national repository of ETDs of India, which encourage and support open access to publicly-funded research

Political Education and First-Time Voting in Switzerland

The proposed paper investigates the effect of political education on first-time voting in Switzerland. Theoretically, the paper takes up assumptions of recent research that political education is positively related to political interest, and hence to political participation. Thereby, the paper adds to the literature in two aspects: First, in Switzerland, education is a cantonal matter presenting a unique opportunity to investigate the impact of political education on voting on individual as well as cantonal level. Second, political education is not only measured by political knowledge, but also by civic skills and attitudes acquired in school. Conceptually, the study adopts a multilevel approach permitting a simultaneous testing of the influence of individual and contextual determinants on electoral participation. This paper corresponds closely to the panel topic by examining the important question of how political education affects the voting behaviour of first-time voters not only on individual, but also on contextual level.

Changing pedagogic codes in a class of landscape architects learning 'ecologically sustainable development'

Professional discourse in education has been the focus of research conducted mostly with teachers and professional practitioners but the work of students in the built environment has largely been ignored. This article presents an analysis of students’ visual discourse in the final professional year of a landscape architecture course in Brisbane, Australia. The study has a multi-method design and includes drawings, interviews and documentary materials, but focuses on the drawings in this paper. Using the theory of Bernstein, the analysis considers student representations as interrelations between professional identity and discretionary space for legitimate knowledge formation in landscape planning. It shows a shift in how students persuade the teacher of their expanding views of this field. The discussion of this shift centres on the professional knowledge that students choose rather than need to learn. It points to the differences within a class that a teacher must address in curriculum design in a contemporary professional course.