Multidisciplinary Journal of School Education

Editorial

Dominika Ruszkiewicz — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Word in Education: Good, Bad and Other Word

David Carr — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200

St John’s Gospel identifies logos, translated as English ‘Word’, as the divine source of the wisdom or truth of the Christian message, if not with the godhead as such. However, given the cultural and intellectual influence of Greek thought on early Christian literature, one need not be surprised that these (and other) theological or metaphysical associations of Word are almost exactly replicated and prefigured in the dialogues of Plato, for whom formation of the divine aspect or element of human soul clearly turned upon access to or participation in the wisdom of logos. This paper explores the moral and spiritual connections between logos or Word, reason and soul in such Platonic dialogues as Gorgias, Republic and Theaetetus as well as the implications of conceiving education as the pursuit of such Word for ultimate human flourishing.

Cy Twombly’s seasons, in the shadow of Renoir

Marta Mitjans Puebla — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 10:27:53 +0200

The iconographical analysis of Four seasons (1993), by the contemporary artist Edwin Parker “Cy” Twombly (Cy Twombly, 1928 – 2011) must be understood considering the importance of one of the most famous impressionist painters: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 - 1919). La vague (1879) and Paysage bords de Seine (1879) are two oil on canvas where Renoir prints the feeling of captivating the ephemeral through the colour and the movement of light. Four seasons has its roots in American lyrical abstraction. The need of making a portrait of lightness, through a creation where image and text are together, represents the evolution of Renoir’s work in contemporary art. As an impressionist artist, Renoir describes beauty as the reflection of the harmony of the world, as such as a bridge between aesthetic and emotional education. With this proposal, Cy Twombly sublimates the idea of beauty in contemporary art.

What is History is What is Illustrated. The Utilization and Function of Images in History Coursebooks in Poland and Britain.

Aeddan Shaw — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 10:30:24 +0200

In a society which is increasingly visual, and the teaching of history and critical thinking so important in an age of post-truth and fake news, the words of the Swedish poet, Linn Hansén, seem particularly apt: what is history, is what is illustrated. The images found in history coursebooks help learners to imagine the past, providing a visual aid to support learning, but they can also be used to foster critical thinking by treating the images as historical sources in themselves.

This paper presents the results of a pilot study conducted on the functions of images contained in Polish and British history coursebooks using a proprietary paradigm developed on the basis of existing scholarship in English Language Teaching. It shows that the pedagogical functions of images in history coursebooks vary greatly between the two educational contexts. In Britain, images are typically treated as historical sources in themselves, whilst in Poland they typically perform more of a decorative function. The paper closes with a number of recommendations for further research and publishers of history coursebooks.

Italian education’s view of cinema: from suspicion to media education

Rosa Iannuzzi, Jorge Martínez Lucena, Cristina Rodríguez Luque — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 10:31:57 +0200

From the outset, Italian education has been interested in the message of films and cinema’s power of persuasion. Prior to the advent of television, education viewed cinema with suspicion for the alleged damage it caused to the minds of young people. Later, it would view cinema as a means of fascist ideological propaganda. From the 1920s onwards, schools would use cinema as a teaching aid through the so-called “educational cinema”. Since 1960, schools have aimed to teach formal analysis and film content. On the threshold of the new millennium, the revolution in school autonomy obliged every educational institution to independently manage the financial resources allocated to them. This involved the arrival in schools of external experts who were entrusted with media education: they were supported by an internal tutor while the school coordinated the professionals who spe-cialized in cinema; meanwhile the subject teacher entered the Internet era with the innovation of the interactive whiteboard, assuming the role of multimedia author. Thus began the training of teachers within schools, who were registered on the national list of Visual Education Workers.

The Future of Education in the Context of Cognitive Enhancement Practices

Anna Bugajska — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 10:33:19 +0200

The exponential growth of technological advancements creates an environment in which the traditionally conceived cognitive enhancement – education – must constantly redefine itself in the face of the invasive presence of A.I., the social media and various biotechnologies that strive to augment the effect-oriented performance. Whereas on the conceptual level there is a visible shift from the static to flow-modelled education, and the rising trend to invest in the skills like flexibility and creativity, not many of emerging technologies are seriously considered as educational tools. The paper looks into the varieties of cognitive enhancement within educational context. Of major concern are the already available technologies of collective intelligence and nootropics, as well as experimental dowloadable learning. I review the problems occasioned by these technologies, as well as the existing solutions, which tend to incorporate rather than exclude the possibilities of radical cognitive enhancement.

Learning Reflective Skills with the Use of Narrative Techniques.

Maria Szymańska — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200

The article is to elicit how important is to draw attention to learning reflective skills for personal and social development, particularly the learner development. The use of narrative techniques in the process of learning can occur beneficial for its participants. That is why, their crucial meaning for pedagogical purposes is emphasized in the analyzed material. These techniques implemented in a didactic and upbringing practice, also, can be treated as techniques of gathering data in the qualitative research that is the author’s target of interest.
Keywords: learner, learning, reflective learner’s skills, narrative, narrative techniques,

The Competent Teacher of a Gifted Pupil in Early Primary School Education - Expectations versus Reality. The Author’s Own Study

Aneta Kamińska — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 10:34:35 +0200

The aim of the article is to present the results of the study on early primary school teacher’s preparation for working with gifted pupils. The study was conducted among 697 primary school teachers teaching in grades I, II, and III in Cracow and nearby towns. The theoretical aim of the article is to demonstrate, on the basis of the subject literature, the most important predispositions these teachers should possess. The author's own study has revealed that teachers are not adequately prepared to provide effective and engaging education for gifted pupils at an early school age. In the last part of the article the author indicates solutions aimed at improving this situation, e.g. enriching the offer of university study programmes for teachers in the area of education of gifted students; creating a position of a "teacher of gifted students"; creating separate centres supporting educational development of gifted students; and extending cooperation between all educational units.

The Advantages and Limitations of Translanguaging in Teaching Third of Additional Languages at the University Level

Teresa Maria Wlosowicz — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 10:35:36 +0200

The purpose of the paper is an analysis of the advantages and limitations of the use of translanguaging, or the mobilisation of students’ whole multilingual repertoires to facilitate understanding and learning (Lewis, Jones, Baker, 2012, p. 655), in the teaching of third or additional languages (De Angelis’s (2007) term) at the university level. The paper is based on two studies by the [name deleted to maintain the integrity of the review process], on the use of translanguaging in the teaching of Spanish [name deleted to maintain the integrity of the review process] and French [name deleted to maintain the integrity of the review process]. It analyses the use of translanguaging for the purposes of explanation and awareness-raising, taking into consideration the increased language learning experience and awareness of multilingual students (cf. Hufeisen, 2018), and its perception by the students. However, despite its advantages, it also has limitations related to students’ lack of experience with translanguaging and unwillingness to use their multilingual repertoires in learning particular languages.

Speech Understanding by Children Diagnosed with Delayed Verbal Development in the Context of Family Functioning

Krzysztof Gerc, Marta Jurek — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 10:36:58 +0200

The assumptions of the own research presented in the article refer to the socio-interactive approach that assumes that learning and proper language acquisition by a child require cognitive activity, proper progress in cognitive development, and active - resulting from social relations - observation of adult speech. The research assumptions also take into account the importance of the autoregulatory function of language and systemic understanding of the concept of family.

The aim of the study was to check the presence of the relationship between speech understanding by children with delayed verbal development and the various dimensions of their family functioning and ego-resiliency of parents.

The study included a group of 72 well-cognitively functioning Polish children aged 5-7 with a diagnosis of delayed verbal development and their families selected using random and nonprobability sampling. The children were examined using the Polish Picture Vocabulary Test – Comprehension - version A (PPVT-C). Functioning of the families of the examined children was operationalized by the results of FACES IV by D. Olson (the Polish version of the scale was used); while the Ego Resiliency Scale was used to study resilience.

The results of the conducted research indicate, among others, that families of children with lower scores on speech understanding present less favorable functioning profiles in the scope of selected dimensions of FACES -IV: Family Communication, Cohesion, Disengaged and Family Satisfaction. However, the relationship between the child's understanding of speech and other demographic variables such as parent's age, parent's gender, parent's education, marital status has not been confirmed.

It was recognized that the results of the research will allow in the future to optimize the therapeutic services offered to children with verbal development disorders and their families in their natural environment, as well as to allow the presentation of appropriate strategies to support speech development (especially speech understanding abilities) in children. The creation of a group representing a certain type of language disorder will allow a better adaptation of the training program to the specific difficulties experienced by a child, as well as allow for more effective involvement of parents in preventive measures.