A total of 136 children from 5 to 8 years of age were presented with standard conservation of length and liquid tasks as well as story versions of those tasks. Half of the children were read stories in which the views of two non-conservers came into conflict, and the other half were read "conflict free" stories. Although the length conflict story was found to be significantly easier than the lenght task, the nonconflict story was not. In addition, the length conflict story was significantly easier than the length nonconflict story for the younger children (5-6 year-olds). However no significant differences were found among the liquid conditions. The results suggest that, for length, children's conservation performance was benefitted by cognitive conflict rather than merely the narrative format of the story problem and that children's reasoning can be affected by mere exposure to "socio-cognitive conflict". These results lend support to the controversial claim that symmetrical incorrect conflict is sufficient for stimulating cognitive development. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Recasting (i.e., corrective feedback in which the teacher paraphrases a learner's incorrect utterance without explicitly labeling it as erroneous) is a frequent phenomenon in classroom discourse. Despite its frequency and naturalness, educators continue to debate its efficacy. At issue is whether learners notice such implicit feedback in order to make use of it. This on-going debate centers on the following question: What makes a teacher's recast noticeable to a student? While most of the studies in the recast literature have emphasized student factors such as working memory and/or developmental readiness (e.g., Havranek & Cesnik, 2001), few studies have explored how teacher factors affect learner perceptions of and receptivity to recasts. This study fills this gap by employing qualitative methods to investigate student perceptions of their teacher recasts. Six classes in Applied English Departments at three different institutes of technology in mid-southern Taiwan participated in this study. Different methods were employed to gather student and teacher data in order to arrive at a more complete understanding of classroom recasts: classroom observations, individual student interviews, group stimulated recall interviews, and teacher interviews. According to student interview data, seven teacher categories (e.g., nativeness, teacher language use, teacher affect, etc.) were found to have a significant impact on students’ noticing of and receptivity to recasts. In particular, the findings indicate that EFL student perceptions of recasts are profoundly affected by teachers’ language use (e.g. phonetic and syntactic features) and teachers' nativeness (e.g., native vs. nonnative). Other factors such as teacher-student rapport also mediate students’ attention to and understanding of feedback. In addition to the student self-report data, classroom observation data of teachers' behavior indicated striking differences as well--native teachers tended to correct more grammatical errors while nonnative teachers corrected more phonological errors. In light of these findings, suggestions for improving student awareness of corrective recasts are given to both native and nonnative teachers. It is hoped that the qualitative categories uncovered in this study will lead to more rigorous, testable hypotheses for future quantitative analysis. / text

No description available.

Bodies provide important social information, and adults benefit from this information by recognizing and responding appropriately to bodies. Body recognition is enabled by the fact that human bodies are defined by parts, such as the limbs, torso, and head, arranged in a particular configuration. To understand the development of social cognition, it is important to analyze and document how infants come to recognize bodies. Infants are sensitive to distortions to the global configurations of bodies by 3.5 months of age, suggesting an early onset of body knowledge. It was unclear, however, whether such sensitivity indicates knowledge of the location of specific body parts or solely reflects sensitivity to the overall gestalt or outline of bodies. The current study addressed this by examining whether infants attend to specific locations in which parts of the body have been reorganized. Results of Experiments 1 and 2 show that 5-month-olds, but not 3.5-month-olds, are sensitive to the location of specific body parts, as demonstrated by a difference in allocation of attention to the body joint areas that were normal (e.g., where the arm connects to the shoulder) versus ones that were reorganized. Furthermore, to examine whether this kind of processing is driven by information from the face/head, in Experiment 3 I tested infants on images in which the face/head was removed. Infants no longer exhibited differential scanning of normal versus reorganized bodies. To further assess whether infants were responding to critical information provided by the face/head or whether their processing was disrupted solely because the headless images were incomplete bodies, Experiment 4 examined infants’ performance on body images missing limbs. Once again, infants failed to exhibit differential scanning of typical versus reorganized bodies. Together, these results suggest that 5-month-olds are sensitive to the location of body parts. However, the presence of the face/head (Experiment 3) and limbs (Experiment 4) are necessary for 5-month-olds to exhibit differential scanning of reorganized versus intact body images. Overall, by 5 months of age, infants are sensitive to precise locations of body parts, and thus demonstrate a rather sophisticated level of knowledge about the structure of the human body. The role that the face/head and limbs play in body structure knowledge development is still unclear, and future studies need to address this question.

Nous présentons nos trois résultats principaux face à la difficulté d'assister l'analyse socio-cognitive d'interactions humaines. D'une part, nous proposons une description du processus d'analyse de ce genre données ainsi qu'un artefact générique permettant de recouvrir un grand nombre d'artefacts analytiques que nous avons pu observer et que nous nommons rejouable. D'autre part, nous présentons une étude et modélisation informatique des rejouables, et décrivons quatre opérations fondamentales qui peuvent s'y appliquer : synchronisation, visualisation, transformation et enrichissement. Enfin, nous décrivons l'implémentation de cette modélisation dans un environnement d'aide à l'analyse par manipulation de rejouables que nous évaluons dans des situations de recherche réelles. Tatiana (http://code.google.com/p/tatiana), l'environnement logiciel résultant, est basé sur ces quatre opérations et permet l'extension de ces opérations pour s'adapter à de nouvelles formes d'analyse.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The study investigated the impact of a dialogical argumentation instructional model (DAIM) as an intervention teaching strategy to assist pre-service science teachers to implement integrated science-indigenous knowledge (IK) lessons during their seven week block teaching practice at schools in the Western Cape. This imperative is found in Specific Aim 3 of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) of the South African School Curriculum (Department of Basics Education, 2011). The study focussed on the pre-post conceptions of pre-service science teachers’ conceptions of the nature of science and the nature of indigenous knowledge. In addition the study examined pre-service teachers’ sense of self-efficacy in deploying a dialogical argumentation instructional model to implement an integrated science-IK lesson. The sample consisted of a cohort of thirty (30) Post-graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) students training to teach at the Further Education and Training (FET) phase of school. They were a combined class enrolled for method in Natural Sciences, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences. A mixed methods approach was used to generate quantitative and qualitative data using a series of questionnaires, reflective diaries, journals and focus group interviews. Transcripts provided a rich bank of data of which only exemplars were used to highlight trends and to illustrate how theoretical constructs were used as analytical tools. The theoretical constructs used were Toulmin’s (1958/2003) Argumentation Pattern (TAP), Ogunniyi’s (1997) Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CAT) and Banduras’ Social Cognitive Theory (1986). The findings showed that the pre-service teachers appeared to overestimate their sense of self-efficacy (i.e. the ease and comfort) in using DAIM to implement a science- IK curriculum at the pre-test than at the post-test. The study also identified important implications for policy, teacher training programmes, teaching practice, pre-service science teachers, learners and further research. Furthermore, the pre-service reflective experiences indicated their increased awareness of the challenges and successes related to using dialogical argumentation to integrate a science-IK lesson. The most important contribution of this study to an argumentation paradigm was the emergence of a visual model called the Pyramid Argumentation Model that succinctly connected the apparent disparate module units in a holistic way (To be discussed in follow-up reports). The findings revealed numerous complexities as the participants navigated their own cosmologies of a scientific worldview and that of their indigenous knowledge worldview. Finally, the findings have not only corroborated the findings in earlier studies with respect to the merits and demerits of argumentation instruction but also identified various challenges that prospective and even practicing teachers might encounter in an attempt to make school science relevant to the sociocultural environment of learners especially those living in indigenous or traditional societies like the participants in this study.

Cette thèse, s'inscrivant dans une approche sociocognitive, étudie l'apprentissage professionnel des enseignants stagiaires de l'enseignement agricole français durant le stage de pratique accompagnée. Son objectif est de montrer que l'enseignant stagiaire construit et mobilise dans l'interaction sociale avec son conseiller pédagogique des savoirs professionnels relatifs à la prise en charge des " tâches professionnelles " et à son sentiment d'efficacité professionnelle. A partir d'une méthodologie qualitative, cette étude présente les résultats d'une enquête menée auprès de sept stagiaires et six conseillers pédagogiques. L'analyse des éléments empiriques a permis de mettre au jour que les interactions verbales entre le CP et le stagiaire ont une incidence sur les pratiques d'enseignement du stagiaire. Elle a également mis en avant que les interactions verbales et non verbales entre le CP et le stagiaire sont en relation avec le sentiment d'efficacité professionnelle du stagiaire. L'élaboration d'une typologie des savoirs professionnels a permis deconstater que les stagiaires construisent et mobilisent des savoirs à enseigner (savoirs scientifiques, dits théoriques relevant d'épistémè) et des savoirs pour enseigner (savoirs d'action, dits pratiques relevant de phronesis). La mise en relation de la nature des savoirs professionnels et des processus de construction à l'oeuvre (apprentissage social) nous a conduit à proposer une modélisation de l'espace sociocognitif d'apprentissage professionnel durant le stage de pratique accompagnée.

This dissertation focuses on strategy formation of firms as it unfolds over time and in context. The research questions are defined to take into account the complexity of this phenomenon, in that the themes emanating address the involved structures, processes and managerial agency as the roles and influences of managers.A "semi-deductive" methodology is introduced in order to make use of the richness of theories that pertain to the research questions. The logic behind this conduct is to first construct an interdisciplinary interpretation system based on a thematic bridging of theoretical texts. In a second stage of creating knowledge, the themes are not only retained but also extended by virtue of empirical texts. A case study covers both the organizational and sectorial level of analysis during a period of six years; thus including all the competing firms within an industry, as well as the broader context in which these companies operated. The individual level is represented by the top management groups of all firms. On both theoretical and empirical grounds, a socio-cognitive perspective emerges in which an emphasis is placed on the reciprocity between individuals as acting subjects and their social contexts. The interaction is seen as the linkage that binds actors, structures and processes. Strategy formation of the firm is uncovered as a process of structuration encapsulating distinguishable structures, interaction processes and actors. The managerial role of coupling interactions is featured. The influence of managers is discussed in terms of a freedom of interpretation and a freedom of physical action. This study carries empirical as well as theoretical implications for several research fields such as industrial evolution, the management of strategic change and the theory of the firm in general. Here, the socio-cognitive framework generated may serve as a basis for uniting individual and social aspects. The "semi-deductive" methodology may also find a broad field of application. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 1993</p>

Cette thèse, s’inscrivant dans une approche sociocognitive, étudie l’apprentissage professionnel des enseignants stagiaires de l’enseignement agricole français durant le stage de pratique accompagnée. Son objectif est de montrer que l’enseignant stagiaire construit et mobilise dans l’interaction sociale avec son conseiller pédagogique des savoirs professionnels relatifs à la prise en charge des « tâches professionnelles » et à son sentiment d’efficacité professionnelle. A partir d’une méthodologie qualitative, cette étude présente les résultats d’une enquête menée auprès de sept stagiaires et six conseillers pédagogiques. L’analyse des éléments empiriques a permis de mettre au jour que les interactions verbales entre le CP et le stagiaire ont une incidence sur les pratiques d’enseignement du stagiaire. Elle a également mis en avant que les interactions verbales et non verbales entre le CP et le stagiaire sont en relation avec le sentiment d’efficacité professionnelle du stagiaire. L’élaboration d’une typologie des savoirs professionnels a permis deconstater que les stagiaires construisent et mobilisent des savoirs à enseigner (savoirs scientifiques, dits théoriques relevant d’épistémè) et des savoirs pour enseigner (savoirs d’action, dits pratiques relevant de phronesis). La mise en relation de la nature des savoirs professionnels et des processus de construction à l’oeuvre (apprentissage social) nous a conduit à proposer une modélisation de l'espace sociocognitif d'apprentissage professionnel durant le stage de pratique accompagnée. / This thesis, based on a socio-cognitive approach, deals with the professional training of student teachers in French agricultural education during their practical work experience. The main objective is to demonstrate that the student teacher’s social interaction with his academic advisor allows him to use and develop his professional knowledge relating to practical matters and also to develop a feeling of professional efficiency. Based on a qualitative analysis this study presents the results of an investigation of seven students and six academic advisors. An empirical analysis indicates that discussions between the academic advisor and the student teacher affect the teaching methods of the student. This study also highlights the importance of such verbal and nonverbal communication between the academic advisor and the student teacher on the student’s belief in his own efficiency. In constructing a typology of the professional’s knowledge, it isshown that the students build and use teaching knowledge (scientific knowledge often called theoretical epistemic knowledge) and teaching ability (action-based knowledge often called practical phronesis knowledge). The linking of professional knowledge and social learning prompts us to propose a model of the socio-cognitive aspect of professional training during the student teacher’s practical work experience.

In September 2017, an online petition urged a Swiss candy factory to change the name of its chocolate covered meringue candy from the questionable name “Mohrenkopf” (engl. moor’s head) to anything non-racist. This demand caused a big public outcry and led to the debate over the legitimacy of the name. The aim of this present thesis is to examine the role of the Swiss news media in a discourse of racism by looking at their response to the petition. The data sample of 30 newspaper articles was analyzed with an analytical framework modeled after van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach to critical discourse analysis. The theoretical framework for the analysis is based on mass communication theories, discourse theory as well as on the concept of commodity and retro racism. The results demonstrated the power of Swiss news media in the debate and showed how deep denial of racism is rooted in Swiss society, which finds expression in retro racism. Ultimately, the findings question the neutrality of Swiss news media in discourses of racism.