The 2007 Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education: a new direction for statutory religious education in England and Wales

The aim of this article is to introduce and summarise the main feature of the new Birmingham City Council Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education (2007 Birmingham City Council (BCC). 2007. Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education, Birmingham: City Council.  [Google Scholar]), consider the relevance of its commitments and conclusions to ongoing debates within British religious education, and, finally, offer some kind of provisional assessment of its strengths and worth. By way of introduction, attention is given both to the mounting controversy that currently attends British religious education, which has given rise to conflicting opinions and estimates of its achievements and value, and to the historical role and legal status of agreed syllabuses within English and Welsh education.     

Spirituality and education for global citizenship: developing student teachers’ perceptions and practice

Education for Global Citizenship (E4GC) offers many opportunities to explore spirituality and a sense of how one fits into the world at a range of levels. Beyond the Curriculum Boundaries is a project that enables student teachers to consider E4GC alongside issues of multiculturalism, antiracism and democracy education, with a strong focus on religious education and geography. This paper outlines the ethos behind the project, identifies key elements and themes, appraises student responses, and evaluates key learning points. Student teachers respond to the module in a variety of ways that inform their learning and teaching, and development takes place on both personal and professional levels: as the project has developed the awareness of children’s worldviews and the sense of interconnectedness with others has grown, adding an increasingly spiritual dimension to learning. This article argues that E4GC provides an effective vehicle for supporting the often‐overlooked spiritual dimension of children development.     

In defence of the concept of ‘spiritual education’: a reply to Roger Marples

In a paper published in Volume 11, no. 2, of this journal, Roger Marples argued that the term ‘spiritual education’ is at most superfluous and at worst entirely meaningless. He suggested that the use of the term is unhelpful and will continue to be so unless and until we can identify some body of spiritual knowledge and understanding, linked to experience, which is distinct from, and in some sense ‘beyond’, those of moral, aesthetic and other forms of experience.

This paper critique's Marples's thesis. It examines his ploy of admitting only certain forms of knowledge and understanding, and of privileging certain languages, when determining the rules of engagement with the concept of ‘the spiritual’. It is further argued that to require some empirical evidence in the form of personal experience before the words ‘spiritual’ and ‘spiritual education’ can be meaningful is fundamentally misguided. In conclusion, it is suggested that a willingness to embrace the spiritual as concept, experience and awareness is essential to the education of the child as a whole person.     

Leo Tolstoy the spiritual educator

This paper considers the often overlooked religious and educational works of the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910). After outlining Tolstoy's life, religious and educational views, it is argued that Tolstoy has much to offer spiritual educators today. In particular, it suggests Tolstoy's insistence on the absolute and eternal nature of spiritual and moral truths, coupled with a free and heuristic pedagogy, are key ingredients of an authentic spiritual education.     

学习与脑可塑性的研究进展及其教育意义

脑可塑性是指脑在外界环境和经验的作用下不断塑造其结构和功能的能力.本文阐述了神经科学与认知神经科学关于学习影响动物脑与人脑结构与功能的研究进展.研究表明,学习与经验可以改变脑皮层的厚度与树突的结构,增加树突棘的数量,修饰其形状,对脑的功能代表区产生影响.学习与脑可塑性的多层面研究为理解学习的本质规律以及教育研究与实践提供重要的启示.     

Persistent effects of subliminal stimulation: sex differences and the effectiveness of debriefing

Persistent and non-trivial effects of unconscious stimuli have been reported (Sohlberg & Birgegard, 2003). This raises the ethical question of whether informing participants about such stimuli effectively returns them to a normal state. Two experiments (sex-mixed, N = 70 and 118) tested two kinds of debriefing to participants following subliminal (tachistoscopic) attachment-related or control stimulation. Measures were the Beck Depression Inventory, Structural Analysis of Social Behavior, and Retrospective Attachment. Results showed persistent effects. Simple debriefing about the stimulus was effective in preventing these, while more elaborate debriefing also describing the effects and mechanisms for them was less effective. Persistent effects were also strongly related to participant sex, but debriefing effects were similar in men and women with regard to the purpose of debriefing. The findings have implications for ethical recommendations for subliminal research, and suggest that this unexplored area requires more attention.     

Sex Differences in Episodic Memory

ABSTRACT— Research shows sex differences in episodic memory. These differences vary in magnitude as a function of the type of material to be remembered. Throughout the life span, verbal episodic-memory tasks yield differences favoring women. In contrast, episodic-memory tasks requiring visuospatial processing result in differences favoring men. There are also sex differences favoring women on episodic-memory tasks requiring both verbal and visuospatial processing and on face-recognition tasks. Thus, there may be a small, general episodic-memory advantage for women—an advantage that can increase by the advantage women have over men in verbal production and can be reversed by the male advantage in visuospatial tasks. In addition, environmental factors affect the magnitude of the sex differences in episodic memory.     

The Problem of Confucian Moral Cultivation and Its Solution: Using Ritual Propriety to Support Rule by Law

Thinking about the decline of morality in post-reform China,the author analyzes the development of virtuous governance based on moral education,and concludes that the reason why ancient rulers were so infatuated with it was the inhibitive function of public evaluation on moral transgressions in familiar neighborhoods.However,as China transforms into a dynamic and commercial society,and its people move from familiar neighborhoods to alienated communities in the cities,public evaluation is losing its power over moral transgressors.To prevent the collapse of the moral system,it is necessary to use rule by law to foster people's sense of justice and rule-consciousness-not to simply hope for the appearance of more altruists.This is possible because law is the embodiment of moral principle,and because legal restraints and penalties can be internalized as habits.After a sense of justice and rule-consciousness has been established in people,we can again take up Confucian virtue education to nurture people's sense of shame and dignity,and their humane and righteous mind.However,to stop the current chaos and corruption,it is urgent that we adopt rule by law and supplement it with moral education.     

《科学》和《自然》杂志2015年的两篇心理学文章

本文评述了《科学》和《自然》杂志2015年的两篇文章。《科学》上的文章“心理科学的重现性”对100项心理学实验进行了重复验证。结果表明,只有大约多于1/3的原始研究能够重复。该文章对出现这样结果的原因作了分析,并指出这不是心理学的挫折。我们强调科学精神在于它的不确定性,因而科学才能处在不停的探索中。《自然》上的文章“P值仅仅是冰山的一角”,批评了个别心理学杂志禁用P值的做法,指出研究者应该在实验设计、数据处理等实验的前期阶段下功夫,才能防止心理科学的坍塌。我们结合国内研究生培养的现状,就改进心理学研究生的实验训练提出了建议。     

SARS流行与防治的伦理启示

对传染性疾病的阻击和防治,除了依赖医学自身的发展外,它同样需要得到其他诸学科的支持与配合。从公共卫生伦理学的角度,分析和认识当前对SARS阻击和防治过程中存在的问题,并提出和倡导在全社会重视健康道德观教育。