Defining and measuring conceptual knowledge in mathematics

A long tradition of research on mathematical thinking has focused on procedural knowledge, or knowledge of how to solve problems and enact procedures. In recent years, however, there has been a shift toward focusing, not only on solving problems, but also on conceptual knowledge. In the current work, we reviewed (1) how conceptual knowledge is defined in the mathematical thinking literature, and (2) how conceptual knowledge is defined, operationalized, and measured in three mathematical domains: equivalence, cardinality, and inversion. We uncovered three general issues. First, few investigators provide explicit definitions of conceptual knowledge. Second, the definitions that are provided are often vague or poorly operationalized. Finally, the tasks used to measure conceptual knowledge do not always align with theoretical claims about mathematical understanding. Together, these three issues make it challenging to understand the development of conceptual knowledge, its relationship to procedural knowledge, and how it can best be taught to students. In light of these issues, we propose a general framework that divides conceptual knowledge into two facets: knowledge of general principles and knowledge of the principles underlying procedures.     

论医学中商业贿赂的概念和伦理问题

讨论医学中商业贿赂的概念和伦理问题。在讨论概念问题时,首先厘清什么是贿赂及医学中的商业贿赂,以及贿赂与其他不当行为的区别。所讨论的伦理问题包括:为什么在医学中贿赂在伦理学上得不到辩护,以及分析这种不合伦理的行为为什么会发生及可能的防治办法。     

Methodological and theoretical issues on psychological traditionality and modernity research in an Asian society: In response to Kwang-Kuo Hwang and beyond

Three objectives are addressed in the present study. First, the methodological and conceptual aspects of my long-term research program on psychological (individual) traditionality and modernity in Taiwan are briefly reviewed to provide a background for systematically responding to Kwang-Kuo Hwang's critique of the research program. Second, my reply to Hwang is made in terms of five major issues, viz. the methodological approach adopted, the theoretical or conceptual basis, the explanation of the discontinuity between individual traditionality and modernity, the semantic opposites and psychological opposites, and the conceptual evaluation of the traditionality and modernity items. Third, a plea is made for conducting more and better studies on individual traditionality and modernity in developing Asian countries. Methodological and theoretical issues are further discussed and clarified for the sake of conducting methodologically and theoretically sounder research in this area.     

Building an integrated positive psychology

The recent emphasis on positive psychology is welcome, and has spurred much relevant research. But, there are still many unresolved conceptual and research issues, which seem to be increasing rather than decreasing. This highlights the importance of conceptually more detailed and comprehensive approaches, so that development of the field can be hastened by addressing emerging issues definitively. The present paper outlines a potentially useful conceptual approach. The paper concludes with a call for issue-resolving research through which orientations and actions proposed as part of positive psychology can be compared in their contributions to performance and health.     

Conceptualizing Media Stimuli in Experimental Research: Psychological Versus Attribute‐Based Definitions

This paper argues for a clearer conceptualization of media stimuli in experimental research and identifies 3 issues impeding our understanding of message processing: (a) assumptions bolstered by manipulation checks about homogeneity of response to media stimuli, (b) conflation of 2 different classes of variables—media attributes and psychological states, and (c) discrepancies between the conceptual model and operational‐level hypotheses used to test research questions. To provide a more comprehensive framework for investigating media effects in experimental research, we argue for a clearer conceptual separation between message attributes and user perceptions and apply a mediation model of information processing to overcome the limitations of conventional approaches. Subjected to 2 empirical tests involving the assessment of Web‐based media, the model finds an increase in explained variance in each instance.     

What does it mean that an issue is conceptual in nature?

McGrath (2005/this issue) argues that "the conceptual complexity [italics added] of the constructs psychologists choose to measure and the scales they use to measure them has played an important role in the failure to develop more accurate measurement systems" (p. 112). Although we agree with this, we argue, in this commentary, that McGrath has misdiagnosed the source of these difficulties and that this misdiagnosis originates with an unresolved articulation of the nature of a conceptual issue and of the relationship between conceptual and empirical issues in science.     

Bridging Conversations: Discussing the Intra‐professional Relationship between Medical Family Therapy and Family Therapy

This article examines the conceptual and practice relationship between medical family therapy (MedFT) and its parent field, family therapy, with MedFT viewed as the extension of relational sense‐making and understanding into a specific venue; that of medicine. The extension of this relational meaning system into medicine is typified by the ability of the therapist to negotiate and connect three main areas of conceptual difference that often account for conflictual relationships between mental and biomedical healthcare providers: (i) patient and provider conceptualizations of issues and goals, (ii) linear and circular understanding of issues and goals and (iii) consultative and expert positions on issues and goals. Two case examples are offered to describe how these three areas of tension are reconciled in practice.     

The Analysis of Intervention Change in Children and Families: Methodological and Conceptual Issues Embedded in Intervention Studies

This article provides an overview of methodological and conceptual issues underlying the assessment of change during psychotherapy with children and families. Three central considerations are discussed: (1) What changes do we measure? (2) When do we measure change? (3) How do we measure change? The difficulties with the traditional methods of assessing change are highlighted, and suggestions for a new paradigm that calls for expansion of the nomological network relevant to the analysis of change, as well as the inclusion of more assessment points and more reliable and valid measures of the change process, are presented. Illustrations of key points are provided from the Adolescent Transitions Program, a theoretically based intervention program targeting high-risk youth.     

Luther Research and Ecumenism

Abstract : The article discusses the fundamental conceptual problems underlying the ecumenical vocabulary. These problems result from issues present available in academic studies that often aim at emphasizing the great divide between Luther and medieval theology, as well as providing a justification for the specific and distinctive characteristics of Lutheran theology. The author aims at overcoming the problematic confessionalism which results from these conceptual presuppositions.     

How the tower of information leads to an integrated framework for biopsychosocial ideas

The biopsychosocial model is the prevailing conceptual model in relationship to which clinicians organize their analysis, evaluation and intervention. Since its promotion by Engel, little work has been done to provide a more solid conceptual basis for the relationship between the biological and the psychosocial processes in sickness and in health. We propose such a framework, using the perspective of life forms as information gathering and utilizing systems. We derive the simplest non-trivial model, the four domain model, which consists of the physical domains determining human processes: the environment, the body, the confined memories, and the communicable memories. We then re-visit Engel's case study to contrast our model with his systems approach, and apply it to issues in psychosomatics and the mind-body connection.     

Effects of increasing cognitive load on sustained attention tasks in schizophrenic disorders and schizotypy

In this study we analyze the attentional performance using different cognitive load attentional tasks: low-load cognition (0-CPT) and high-load cognition (DS-CPT). Participants were a group of schizophrenic patients and two groups of normal population psychometrically classified as low schizotypy and high schizotypy according to the SPQ. Our results show that schizophrenic patients were more sensitive to increments on cognitive load, being their attentional performace worse than the rest of the groups. The lack of significant findings in vigilance on the schizotypal traits group is discussed in terms of conceptual and methodological issues about the utility of psychometric strategies to identify vulnerable populations within the spectrum of the schizophrenic disorders.     

Advances in understanding and intervening in teacher stress and coping: The Coping-Competence-Context Theory

Teacher stress and burnout are associated with many adverse outcomes for teachers, students, and the educational system. This paper describes the Coping-Competence-Context (3C) Theory of Teacher Stress. The theory is based on empirical research on teacher stress and coping highlighted within this special issue and attempts to more explicitly highlight three critical interconnected pathways to teacher stress development and intervention. The 3C model also highlights why teacher stress is important and should be the topic of future inquiry by showing clear links between teacher stress and adverse student and teacher outcomes. Lastly, this paper provides guidance for leverage points to intervene and describes a future research agenda in three domains: measurement, conceptual, and intervention issues and challenges.     

Some things you should know about structural equation modeling but never thought to ask

Iacobucci (2009, 2010) covers a number of important issues in the use of structural equation modeling and in so doing provides researchers with many useful insights and sensible suggestions. This commentary focuses on three issues where our views differ somewhat from those expressed in the target articles: SEM and causal inferences, sample size, and model fit. In addressing each of these issues, our perspectives do not so much contradict the views expressed by Iacobucci as they reflect a somewhat different conceptual emphasis.     

Methodological developments in personality research: An introduction

This article first provides a brief overview of some of the empirical and conceptual work in personality following Mischel's (1968) critique Strengths and weaknesses of traditional personality research designs including laboratory experiments, experimental personality designs, and preexperimental correlational studies are presented Some more recent approaches to designing laboratory research that attempt to address issues of external validity and approaches to designing field Investigations that attempt to address issues of internal validity are discussed Issues associated with the measurement of constructs, the broadening of measurement methods, and newer data analytic techniques are noted Finally, a brief orientation to the other papers in the special issue is presented     

Malevolent Creativity in Terrorist Organizations

Terrorist organizations are both imitative and innovative in character. While the drivers of imitation have been extensively modeled using concepts such as contagion and diffusion, creativity and innovation remain relatively underdeveloped ideas in the context of terrorist behavior. This article seeks to redress this deficiency by presenting a conceptual framework with which we can understand the complex nature and multiple drivers of creativity and innovation within terrorist organizations. The overriding questions we address are: what factors spark creativity and innovation within terrorist organizations, and are there particular organizational traits that increase an organization's propensity to be creative and innovative? Using insights from industrial and organizational psychology and aided by illustrative examples and case studies from the history of terrorism, we aim to show that the multiple drivers of creativity and innovation are identifiable. By providing a conceptual framework that explores these key issues, we suggest that a much clearer research agenda for these issues may emerge. We conclude with a discussion concerning how our framework can help inform counter‐terrorism practices.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
S imona G iordano , Understanding Eating Disorders: conceptual and ethical issues in the treatment of anorexia and bulimia nervosa
M argaret C hatterjee , Ghandi and the Challenge of Religious Diversity
D erek B olton & J onathan H ill , Mind, Meaning and Mental Disorder: The Nature of Causal Explanation in Psychology and Psychiatry     

Transfer of Learning Across Cultural Practices

Although Baranes, Perry, and Stigler (this issue) address important aspects of the interplay between learning in school and out-of-school settings, I found the more intriguing issues linked to some unanalyzed presuppositions about the character of children's out-of-school mathematics and transfer of learning between settings. In the following commentary, I sketch some interpretive problems that arise when these issues are considered, and I point to the need for embedding the study in a larger conceptual framework.     

Attention in Children: Conceptual and Methodological Issues

This commentary discusses conceptual and methodological issues in the assessment of attention in children. The five articles in this special issue are important advances in the study of attention in children with brain-related disorders. They provide important guidelines for future studies in this area: specification of the underlying model of attention, selection of tasks according to the model, and the use of multiple tasks in well-defined clinical populations.     

Information dissemination in early childhood education

Trends and issues in the dissemination of knowledge are discussed in terms of current trends. The general trends include the rapid rate at which new journals and documents are produced and increasing specialization in the field. Among the issues discussed are the optimum information hypothesis, optimum conceptual size of information, vividness and propitiousness of the information, and orientations to knowledge of subcultures within a professional field. The field of early childhood education is used as the example of each trend and issue. Lilian G. Katz is Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) where she is also Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. She is currently President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Professor Katz is author of more than one hundred articles, chapters, and books about early childhood, teacher education, and parenting. Her most recent book isEngaging Children’s Minds: The Project Approach (with Sylvia Chard).     

Aesthetic,Ethical, and Cognitive Value

Abstract

This paper addresses two recent debates in aesthetics: the ‘moralist debate’, concerning the relationship between the ethical and aesthetic evaluations of artworks, and the ‘cognitivist debate’, concerning the relationship between the cognitive and aesthetic evaluations of artworks. Although the two debates appear to concern quite different issues, I argue that the various positions in each are marked by the same types of confusions and ambiguities. In particular, they demonstrate a persistent and unjustified conflation of aesthetic and artistic value, which in turn is based on a more general failure to explicitly tackle the demarcation of aesthetic value. As such, the claims of each side are rendered ambiguous in respect of the relation that is supposed to hold between all these types of value and artistic value. These issues are discussed in light of a recent argument proposed by Matthew Kieran, to undermine, to some extent, the conceptual distinction between aesthetic, cognitive-ethical, and artistic values in our appraisal of art works. In rejecting his argument, I defend the conceptual distinction and a pluralistic conception of artistic value that allows for cognitive and ethical values to count as artistic, but not aesthetic, values.