Educational Reforms in the Former Soviet Union

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there have been movements toward a range of education reforms. In this article, an historical account is presented of education from communist roots to current times.     

Child Maltreatment,Family Characteristics and Adult Adjustment

Abstract

Two alternate processes that may explain the relationship between child maltreatment, childhood family characteristics and adult adjustment (mediation and moderation) were tested using retrospective data from a community sample (N= 175). The levels of five different types of child maltreatment did not mediate the relationship between childhood family variables and adult adjustment. In contrast, family background played a mediating role in the relationship between mal-treatment and adjustment. Evidence of moderation was found in the interactions between different maltreatment types in predicting adjustment. Partial support was found for the moderating influence of family factors on the relationship of maltreatment to adjustment.     

Gadamer and the Otherness of Nature: Elements for an Environmental Education

In this work I search for elements that contribute to the development of the ethical dimension of environmental education. I start with the existence of what C.A. Bowers calls “areas of silence” in the curriculum in both schools and universities. The reason for this silence, I argue, is to be found in the Cartesian conceptual structures of curricula. I suggest that the works of Bacon, Galileo and Descartes provoke a twofold process that I have termed the forgetting of tradition and objectification of nature. As a corrective to this process, I explore the possibilities that the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer opens for rehabilitation of tradition and de-objectification of nature. I work with the concept of the “dignity of things” present in Greek dialectics: that nature is not simply a projection of mind (as the neo-Kantians claim), but something that thought suffers. In my conclusions I argue that for nature to be reinserted into almost all areas of knowledge it is necessary that we respect “the otherness of nature.”     

班级环境与学生适应性的多层线性模型

此研究探索中国中小学体制下的班级社会心理环境对于学生的适应性的关系。以江光荣和林盂平所编制的《我的班级》问卷测量班级环境．选择学生的学校适应（由Teacher-Child Rating Scale（T-CRS）测量）、主观幸福感（以Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale（SLSS）测量）和焦虑（用State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children（STAlC）测量）作为适应指标．以多层线性模型（HLM）方法进行分析,结果显示：学生个体所知觉到的班级环境,对其适应水平有相当肯定的鳃释力,而一个班级学生整体适应水平的高低,与这个班的班级环境有极大关联。此结果表明．中国学校体制下的班级社会心理环境对于学生的发展和适应状况,具有举足轻重的作用。     

Loneliness and belonging in narrative environments

Loneliness and belonging are often framed as psychological states affecting individuals. Their family, friendship, psychological mindset, and acquaintance networks are seen as important factors shaping experiences of loneliness and belonging, but the role of place, culture, and institutional environments are often relegated to the periphery of attention. This article adopts the lens of narrative environment to highlight the importance of environments and cultures in storying experiences of loneliness and belonging, in this instance, among students enrolled at a UK university. Focusing especially on student accommodation and the university's links (or perceived lack thereof) with its locality and the university's infrastructure, we argue for the dialectic and reciprocal relationship between students and their environment in storying experiences of loneliness and belonging. Narrative environment, we argue, encapsulates the way in which some people negotiate a sense of belonging, moving the focus beyond individual psychology and immediate social networks, to the impact of institutional and environmental culture.     

Evaluating teaching and students’ learning of academic research ethics

A team of philosophers and scientists at Dartmouth College worked for three years to create, train faculty and pilot test an adequate and exportable class in research methods for graduate students of science and engineering. Developing and testing methods for evaluating students’ progress in learning research ethics were part of the project goals. Failure of methods tried in the first year led to the refinement of methods for the second year. These were used successfully in the pilot course and in one university setting external to Dartmouth. The process of development and justification for the final methods are discussed here.     

Positive and negative reinforcement effects on behavior in a three-person microsociety

Three-person groups, either of males or of females, resided for 6 to 12 days in a continuously programmed environment. Subjects followed a behavioral program that determined the sequential and contingent relations within an inventory of activities. The program consisted of positive reinforcement days and avoidance days. During a positive reinforcement day, each work unit completed by a subject incremented a group account. The account was divided evenly among the three participants at the conclusion of the study. During a negative reinforcement day, no money was earned, and the group was assigned work unit criterion that, if completed, prevented a reduction in accumulated earnings. During negative reinforcement days, subjects made aggressive verbal responses, which differed in magnitude among the four groups. These differences were evident in several distinct behavioral measures. Performances on components of the work unit were not demonstrably affected by the reinforcement schedules in effect, although during the avoidance condition one subject stopped working and another subject's productivity declined.     

Parents' Estimations of Preschoolers' Number Skills Relate to at‐Home Number‐Related Activity Engagement

According to Hunt's match hypothesis, the accuracy of parents' beliefs about their children's abilities can influence the nature of the early learning experiences they provide. The present study examined the accuracy of parents' beliefs about their preschoolers' number development and relations to parent‐reported frequency of engaging children in number related experiences at home. Parents reported engaging their preschoolers more frequently in conventional numeracy activities, (i.e. counting and identifying numbers) than advanced number‐related activities (e.g. arithmetic) at home, though the frequency of advanced activities increased with the development of children's advanced number skills. Parents were most uncertain about their children's advanced number skills, though they demonstrated an overall tendency to overestimate their children's abilities across number tasks. Increased rates of overestimation and decreased rates of underestimation were associated with increased incidences of advanced activity engagement at home. Thus, results suggest guiding parents to understand their own children's numerical understanding in a wide range of number domains could promote more advanced at‐home number‐related activity engagement. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

企业伦理的德性主义进路及其条件——以所罗门的亚里士多德方式为例

理解企业伦理的德性主义进路不可或缺。美国当代著名经济伦理学家罗伯特·C．所罗门成功地将亚里士多德德性论引入企业伦理学,为人们把握企业伦理提供了一条德性主义的诠释进路。而亚里士多德德性论强调实践、团体、人对幸福的追求和追求卓越等也为企业伦理的德性主义进路提供了思想资源。而美德自身也能够使人们正确地理解商业和商业伦理、使经济交易成为可能、使经济的运行更为成功。但德性主义进路不是没有条件的,它需要个体或企业具有良好的道德价值观念和良好的判断力,也需要规范伦理与之匹配,以及一个尊重美德的社会环境和相关的制度安排。