In secondary school philosophy classes students learn to reason critically about social and scientific issues. This study examined the effects of a whole-class, teacher-led philosophy classroom dialogue intervention on students’ value-loaded critical thinking. Value-loaded critical thinking is logically consistent, self-reflective reasoning focused on making moral value-judgments about what is right to believe or do. In a quasi-experimental study (N = 437 students) with a pre-test post-test design, we investigated whether engaging in classroom dialogues in which the teachers implemented five design principles for promoting value-loaded critical thinking and transfer thereof, positively affected students’ (n = 150) value-loaded critical thinking in transfer tasks. The results were compared to two comparison conditions: students (n = 149) who participated in regular teacher-led philosophy classroom dialogues and students (n = 145) who followed a regular 10th-grade curriculum without philosophy classes. Results showed that students in the intervention condition outperformed students in both comparison conditions on referring to moral values. Regarding critical reasoning, we only found significant effects compared to the students who followed the regular 10th-grade curriculum. Findings indicate that a specifically designed dialogic intervention can enhance students’ capacities in value-loaded critical thinking.
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From the article: Abstract. This exploratory and conceptual article sets out to research what arguments and possibilities for experimentation in construction exists and if experimentation can contribute towards more innovative construction as a whole. Traditional, -western- construction is very conservative and regional, often following a traditional and linear design process, which focuses on front-loaded cost savings and repetitive efficiency, rather than securing market position through innovation. Thus becoming a hindrance for the development of the sector as a whole. Exploring the effects of using the, in other design-sectors commonly and successfully practiced, “four-phased iterative method” in architectural construction could be the start of transforming the conservative construction industry towards a more innovative construction industry. The goal of this research is to find whether the proposed strategy would indeed result in a higher learning curve and more innovation during the - architectural- process. Preliminary research indicates that there is argumentation for a more experimental approach to construction.
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Could a person ever transcend what it is like to be in the world as a human being? Could we ever know what it is like to be other creatures? Questions about the overcoming of a human perspective are not uncommon in the history of philosophy. In the last century, those very interrogatives were notably raised by American philosopher Thomas Nagel in the context of philosophy of mind. In his 1974 essay What is it Like to Be a Bat?, Nagel offered reflections on human subjectivity and its constraints. Nagel's insights were elaborated before the social diffusion of computers and could not anticipate the cultural impact of technological artefacts capable of materializing interactive simulated worlds as well as disclosing virtual alternatives to the "self." In this sense, this article proposes an understanding of computers as epistemological and ontological instruments. The embracing of a phenomenological standpoint entails that philosophical issues are engaged and understood from a fundamentally practical perspective. In terms of philosophical praxis, or "applied philosophy," I explored the relationship between human phenomenologies and digital mediation through the design and the development of experimental video games. For instance, I have conceptualized the first-person actionadventure video game Haerfest (Technically Finished 2009) as a digital re-formulation of the questions posed in Nagel's famous essay. Experiencing a bat's perceptual equipment in Haerfest practically corroborates Nagel's conclusions: there is no way for humans to map, reproduce, or even experience the consciousness of an actual bat. Although unverifiable in its correspondence to that of bats, Haerfest still grants access to experiences and perceptions that, albeit still inescapably within the boundaries of human kinds of phenomenologies, were inaccessible to humans prior to the advent of computers. Phenomenological alterations and virtual experiences disclosed by interactive digital media cannot take place without a shift in human kinds of ontologies, a shift which this study recognizes as the fundamental ground for the development of a new humanism (I deem it necessary to specify that I am not utilizing the term "humanism" in its common connotation, that is to say the one that emerged from the encounter between the Roman civilization and the late Hellenistic culture. According to this conventional acceptation, humanism indicates the realization of the human essence through "scholarship and training in good conduct" (Heidegger 1998, p. 244). However, Heidegger observed that this understanding of humanismdoes not truly cater to the original essence of human beings, but rather "is determined with regard to an already established interpretation of nature, history, world, and [...] beings as a whole." (Heidegger 1998, p. 245) The German thinker found this way of embracing humanism reductive: a byproduct of Western metaphysics. As Heidegger himself specified in his 1949 essay Letter on Humanism, his opposition to the traditional acceptation of the term humanism does not advocate for the "inhuman" or a return to the "barbaric" but stems instead from the belief that the humanism can only be properly understood and restored in culture as more original way of meditating and caring for humanity and understanding its relationship with Being.). Additionally, this study explicitly proposes and exemplifies the use of interactive digital technology as a medium for testing, developing and disseminating philosophical notions, problems and hypotheses in ways which are alternative to the traditional textual one. Presented as virtual experiences, philosophical concepts can be accessed without the filter of subjective imagination. In a persistent, interactive, simulated environment, I claim that the crafting and the mediation of thought takes a novel, projective (In Martin Heidegger's 1927 Being and Time, the term "projectivity" indicates the way a Being opens to the world in terms of its possibilities of being (Heidegger 1962, pp. 184-185, BT 145). Inspired by Heidegger's and VilemFlusser's work in the field of philosophy of technology as well as Helmuth Plessner's anthropological position presented in his 1928 book Die Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch. Einleitung in die philosophische Anthropologie, this study understands the concept of projectivity as the innate openness of human beings to construct themselves and their world by means of technical artefacts. In this sense, this study proposes a fundamental understanding of technology as the materialization of mankind's tendency to overcome its physical, perceptual and communicative limitations.) dimension which I propose to call "augmented ontology."
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Professional higher education is expected to educate large numbers of students to become innovative professionals within a time frame of three or four years. A mission impossible? Not necessarily, according to Henriëtta Joosten who is a philosopher as well as a teacher. She uses the experimental, liberating, but also dangerous ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche to rethink contemporary higher professional education. What does it mean to teach students to strive for better in a professional world where horizons tend to disperse and the possibility of long-term orientation is disappearing? Following Nietzsche, five key elements of striving for better are explored: uncertainty, excellence, critical thinking, truth seeking friendship, and learning through ups and downs. From these five perspectives, Joosten scrutinises existing educational discourses on professional higher education in search for openings to transform these discourses into new, more appropriate ones. Understanding excellence as rising above oneself (rather than being better than others), she argues for a learning environment in which all students are encouraged to excel. Such an environment allows for uncertainty and learning through ups and downs. Furthermore, teachers are prepared to risk their certainties in order to let a joined quest - that is, a quest of students and teacher - for better truths arise. Using the Nietzschean-inspired notions which have been developed in the study, Joosten describes two factual cases. One case relates to a course in close reading: first-year students jointly read philosophical and scientific texts. The second case involves a group of eleven senior students developing a course in project management. These descriptions and the recommendations serve as a catalyst for constructive debate on the question of how all students can be equipped for a dynamic professional world.
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Educational policies in the Netherlands reveal that the current mainstream participatory approach to citizenship education jeopardises students’ autonomy. Especially in Dutch post-secondary vocational education, citizenship education has been shown to be mainly aimed at socialization: initiating students into tradition, internalising rules, societal norms and values. This article reports on the findings of a research project, which is grounded in the assumption that integrating Bildung, citizenship education and critical thinking is a promising way to grapple with the perceived overemphasis on socialization strategies. We justify the interrelationship of critical thinking, Bildung, citizenship education, and professional training from two perspectives – historical and contemporary. It is only by combining these concepts, we contend, that educational professionals can create teaching materials more geared to developing autonomy, and prepare students in vocational training to navigate the political and societal dilemma’s on the work floor. Furthermore, we also clarify our perspective by offering three educational principles, used in our project to guide the design of teaching materials, that form a context for integrating citizenship, critical thinking, and Bildung in vocational education. A practical illustration is subsequently discussed.
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Elke van Buggenhout (muzikant; piano-improvisatie & muziektherapeut) en Bert van den Bergh (filosoof & psycholoog) vatten in het voetspoor van fenomenologische benaderingen depressie op als een verstoring van de elementaire afstemming tussen (in)dividu, wereld en ander. Het fenomeen depressie voert in die opvatting naar de bodem van de menselijke existentie en zodoende naar het hart van onze hedendaagse cultuur. In dit licht verbinden zij een oneigentijds muziektheoretisch perspectief met kritische muziekfilosofische duidingen van onze westerse muziekcultuur. Voorts slaan zij een brug naar cultuurtheoretische interpretaties van onze laatmoderne cultuur als geheel, die op verschillende wijzen en in diverse sferen grondig ‘ont-stemd’ kan heten. Zij doen dit alles uitgebreid in een binnenkort te verschijnen essay, waarvan in dit artikel de hoofdgedachten zijn gevat.
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Over the last two decades, institutions for higher education such as universities and colleges have rapidly expanded and as a result have experienced profound changes in processes of research and organization. However, the rapid expansion and change has fuelled concerns about issues such as educators' technology professional development. Despite the educational value of emerging technologies in schools, the introduction has not yet enjoyed much success. Effective use of information and communication technologies requires a substantial change in pedagogical practice. Traditional training and learning approaches cannot cope with the rising demand on educators to make use of innovative technologies in their teaching. As a result, educational institutions as well as the public are more and more aware of the need for adequate technology professional development. The focus of this paper is to look at action research as a qualitative research methodology for studying technology professional development in HE in order to improve teaching and learning with ICTs at the tertiary level. The data discussed in this paper have been drawn from a cross institutional setting at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands. The data were collected and analysed according to a qualitative approach.
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This paper presents work aimed at improved organization and performance of production in housing renovation projects. The purpose is to explore and demonstrate the potential of lean work organization and industrialized product technology to improve workflow and productive time. The research included selected case studies that have been found to implement lean work organization and industrialized product technology in an experimental setting. Adjustments to the work organization and construction technology have been implemented on site. The effects of the adjustments have been measured and were reviewed with operatives and managers. The data have been collected and analyzed, in comparison to traditional settings. Two projects were studied. The first case implied am application of lean work organization in which labor was reorganized redistributing and balancing operations among operatives of different trades. In the second case industrialized solution for prefabricated installation of prefabricated roofs. In both cases the labor productivity increased substantially compared to traditional situations. Although the limited number of cases, both situations appeared to be representative for other housing projects. This has led to conclusions extrapolated from both cases applicable to other projects, and contribution to the knowledge to improve production in construction. Vrijhoef, R. (2016). “Effects of Lean Work Organization and Industrialization on Workflow and Productive Time in Housing Renovation Projects.” In: Proc. 24 th Ann. Conf. of the Int’l. Group for Lean Construction, Boston, MA, USA, sect.2 pp. 63–72. Available at: .
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Purpose – Information verification is an important factor in commercial valuation practice.Valuers use their professional autonomy to decide on the level of verification required, thereby creating an opportunity for client-related judgement bias in valuation. The purpose of this paper is to assess the manifestation of client attachment risks in information verification. Design/methodology/approach – A case-based questionnaire was used to retrieve data from 290 commercial valuation professionals in the Netherlands, providing a 15 per cent response rate of the Dutch commercial valuation population. Descriptive and inferential statistics have been used to test research hypotheses involving relations between information verification and professional features that may indicate client attachment such as an executive job level and brokerage experience. Findings – The results reveal that valuers acting at partner level within their organisation obtain lower scores on information verification compared to lower-ranked valuers. Also, brokerage experience correlates negatively to information verification of valuation professionals. Both findings have statistical significance. Research limitations/implications – The results reflect valuers’ reasoning behaviour rather than actual behaviour. Replication of findings through experimental design will contribute to research validity. Practical implications – Maintaining close client contact in a competitive environment is important for business continuity yet may foster client attachment.The associated downside risks in valuation practice call for higher awareness of (subconscious) client influence and the development of attitudinal scepticism in valuer training programmes. Originality/value – This paper is one of the few that explore possible sources of valuer judgement bias by relating client-friendly valuer features to a key area of valuation i.e. information verification.
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Achtergrond: Er is in de literatuur over morfodysforie al uitgebreid onderzoek gedaan naar de invloed van heersende schoonheidsidealen op het lichaamsbeeld vanuit de psychologie, sociologie en filosofie, maar nog niet naar de vraag hoe de stoornis volgens de genoemde zienswijzen cultuurhistorisch en technologisch wordt ‘gemedieerd’. Doel: Betogen dat de heersende normen en waarden rondom het uiterlijk die voorschrijven hoe lichaam en geest zich tot elkaar moeten verhouden, in verschillende tijdsperioden door het gebruik van de op dat moment in zwang zijnde technologieën, invloed hebben op de totstandkoming of het verloop van de stoornis. Methode: Literatuurstudie. Resultaten: Een cultuurhistorische vergelijking tussen de glasziekte en de morfodysfore stoornis. Conclusie: Het voert te ver om te zeggen dat de glasziekte van toen de morfodysforie van nu is als we kijken naar het type patiënten of hun symptomen. Echter, als we de relaties vergelijken tussen de notie van een verstoord lichaamsbeeld, en de technologische mediatie van de heersende normen en waarden rondom het perfecte lichaam, kunnen we toch stellen dat beide ziektes gemeenschappelijke kenmerken vertonen. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elkemuller/
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