Aristotle University of Thessaloniki: Prothiki/ Βιβλιοθήκη ΑΠΘ - Προθήκη
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On the Impact of the Self in a Complex Knowledge Network
No full textThis paper is devoted to establishing the place of the ‘self’ in the complex experience of learning. It is well known that we are most engaged in the classroom when the subject underdiscussion is of personal interest or something we recognize to have meaning to our lives; in other words, when the discussion is about ourselves. The current work aims to validate thisanecdote through brain studies experiments which implicate the different parts of the brain (such as Meical Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC), the right PFC (rPFC), the right Temporal Parietal Junction (rTPJ)) with self-awareness. In particular, we wish to understand how self-awarenesscan impact the learning of a subject like precalculus, a subject taken by a large number of students at most universities. These brain studies are supported by classroom surveys which allowed us to investigate how students’ knowledge networks and topics learned in class wereconnected to their own personal experiences. While this is the start of a series of studies to unravel the various complex issues in learning and teaching, it points to the fact that evenlearning a subject like mathematics is a highly subjective experience. Therefore, in addition to focusing on ‘what’ we are teaching, we ought to equally consider ‘who’ is learning.Keywords: networks; precalculus; self-awareness; neuroscienc
The Classroom as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS): Credible Framing, Useful Metaphor or Mis-Designation?
No full textThis paper discusses the legitimacy of framing school classrooms as complex adaptive systems (CASs) with the aim of advancing discourse about the extent to which systems withineducation can be usefully designated as complex. Perspectives differ on criteria for applying a complexity framing to human systems, a consequence of the lack of any single definition ofcomplexity theory, or agreement on the framing of CAS in human networks. However, the literature on complexity and education appears to both open (ajar) and close the door on descriptions and theoretical treatment of classrooms as CASs, and as a site for complexity-sensitive empirical research. The paper begins by presenting an overview of complexity discourse with respect to education, articulates conceptual framings for CAS and classrooms then moves on to advance the principal arguments in opposition to a conception of classrooms as CASs. Arguments from those in the field who are receptive, albeit tentatively, to applying a CAS lens to classroom systems are then explained. The paper concludes that whilst these arguments have merit, the legitimacy or otherwise of framing classrooms as CASs hinges to some extent on how classrooms and CASs themselves are framed. Finally, aprimer is presented for an empirical complexity-sensitive classroom study undertaken in July 2020, findings from which will be published later this year.Keywords: complex adaptive system, classroom, education, edge of chaos, self-organizatio
CALTeL as an Object Theory of the Complexity Theory Domain on Language Teacher Development
No full textIn this paper, I aim to present the Complex Approach to Language Teaching and Learning(CALTeL) potentially as an object theory related to the pre-service language teacherdevelopment in the complexity theory domain, and within the scope of the Foreign/ SecondLanguage Teaching area in Applied Linguistics. The discussion is essentially grounded intheoretical and philosophical reflections about object theory, metatheory, metaparadigms,sociological paradigms, complex adaptive systems, complex language teachers, languageteachers ́ professionality, approaches and methods to language teaching and learning, and itis related to works such as Meinong (1960), Anthony (1963), Kuhn (1970), Hoyle (1975),Masterman (1979), Overton (2007), Evans (2008), Larsen-Freeman Cameron (2008), Borges Paiva (2011, 2014), Richards Rogers (2014), Borges (2015), Larsen-Freeman (2015, 2017),Bates (2016), Borges Silva (2019) among others. An overview of the CALTeL and its twelveelements is presented, followed by a brief discussion about studies that have already shownevidence of the emergence of some of these elements in language teacher development. Lastly,I emphasize a few themes about the CALTeL ́s elements that still require empirical research.Keywords: object theory, metatheory, complexity theory, complex adaptive system,approach to language teaching and learning
A Complex Systems Perspective on Policy Standards for Teacher Learning and Development
No full textIn the United States, the Interstate Teacher Assessment Consortium (InTASC) Standards and Learning Progressions inform pre-service teacher curricula and in-service teacher professional development and evaluation policies (Council of Chief State School Officers, CCSSO, 2013). We apply a complex dynamic systems (CDS) lens to analyze the Standards document’s ontological assumptions about the nature of teaching and teachers’ professional learning. Our inductive and model-guided content analysis revealed that the Standards’ representation of effective teaching highlights the contextual and iterative, feedback-driven nature of teacher learning and change. Teachers’ learning is described as non-linear and as requiring qualitative reconfigurations of expertise. The development of critical teaching dispositions reflects processes typically associated with identity system exploration. These ideas are congruent with complex dynamic systems theories of teachers’ learning and identity formation such as the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI). We derive two conceptual behavioral landscapes for teachers’ practices and for their means of learning. We close by proposing that the findings underscore the importance of partnerships among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in the use, application, and revision of policy.Keywords: teacher learning, teacher evaluation, complex systems, learning progression
Η σημειωτική διαλεκτική του μουσικού οργάνου: λειτουργίες, πλαίσια, νοήματα
No full textThe semiotics of music investigates the relationships between the musical sounds and what these sounds mean to those who produce and employ them in specific socio-cultural contexts (Tagg, 2013). In the semantic network of a communicative musical system, we may state that the value given to a sign is a representational value relative to another sign. This results in a chain of operations and relationships between signs and users. But what exactly is the musical instrument as a musical sign? What are its uses? In the present paper, we will discuss the functions and complexity of instruments as signs in various contexts, through specific examples of musical expression. We will focus on the ways in which musical instruments acquire meaning (bodily mastery, work, tradition, conventions, etc.) and will document the reciprocal relationship between musical instruments and contexts. We will discern musical instruments not only as sound sources but also as signifiers of culture and social interaction. The field in question is unexplored, as the majority of semiotic studies have only researched the musical text or gestures in specific genres
Η συμβολή της σημειωτικής στη σύλληψη οντολογίας από κείμενα
No full textThe advent of the digital age has brought significant changes to the daily lives of humanity. Many human activities were redefined in the context of a new, virtual space, the world of the Internet. This networked space, with its innumerable data and abundance of information, is faced with a serious issue, the "information chaos". In short, this issue is closely associated with the correct retrieval of information achieved mechanically. Understanding and describing the real world plays an important role, among many others, in addressing this issue. On the World Wide Web, this process is carried out using digital semantic technologies, such as, for example, ontologies that have undertaken the conceptual description of the world and its representation. Besides, a very great part of knowledge and information is found in texts which become the input corpus for the capture of ontologies. In this context, this paper aims to explore the links that bring together the fields of ontological engineering and (textual) semiotics. The challenge emerging is the adoption of the fundamental principles of structural and interpretative semantics in conceptualizing ontology from texts. The general basic question that this paper answer is whether semiotics can support ontology capture from texts
Η «πρόοδος» και η «επιστήμη»: ανατέμνοντας το κυρίαρχο φαντασιακό του Δυτικού Κόσμου
No full textIn this paper I will examine how the term progress becomes the basic word that describe a whole linear conception of history, which, although it starts from the eschatological origins of Christian doctrine, has as its basic foundation the perception that the course of the world's development has as its final stage and centre the Western World and the developments achieved within him (a perception which in the post-revolutionary landscape of ideas finds its 'philosophical armouring' in the work of Hegel). On this 'secular' view and the gradual de-metaphysicalisation of the post-medieval world, science was equally structured as a word and meaning, which, although in the early days as scientia it held the meaning of an 'intellectual virtue' linked to religion (religio), later separated from her, and was crucially linked to 'progress'. Through this paper, therefore, Ι will try to highlight, by carrying out a necessary genealogical retrospection based on the history of ideas and concepts: a) the early meaning and development of progress and science as concepts, and b) the later secularized reception of these two lexical signs in modernity and in the contemporary post-modern world, and in the end we will try to draw the necessary accompanying conclusions in the course of our analysis
Some Remarks on Petros Ephesios’ Heirmologion Kalophonikon in Alphabetic Notation
No full textThe present paper aims to reveal the music features of a unique Heirmologion Kalophonikon, the Greek manuscript Xeropotamou 415. This collection was printed around 1830-35 by Petros Manuel Ephesios (†1840) using the alphabetic musical notation, probably inspired by Agapios Paliermos’ similar system. Being regarded as an alternative to the New Method, this notation provides a quite precise way of writing down a melody. Deciphering this musical language, as daring as it can be, proves to be very useful in learning the method that Ephesios used for transcribing the melodies of the kalophonic heirmoi. There are significant dissimilarities between his transcriptions and the ones of the Constantinopolitan exegetists, Gregorios the Protopsaltes (†1822) and Chourmouzios the Chartophylax (†1840). The codex is also highly valuable because it contains several epiphonemata composed by Petros Ephesios, hymns meant to be chanted after the kratemata attached to the kalophonic heirmoi. These musical settings have never been transcribed so far into another music system, being trapped in an obsolete semiography
Biological scarification: Biological method for increasing the germination of seeds of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)
No full textAlfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is one of the most common commercial crops and the world’s main source of fodder production. However, fields that are sown with Alfalfa often remain 1/4 empty since only 30 - 40% of sown seeds germinate, resultingin sparse crops and considerably reduced green mass yield. Alfalfa cultivation does not reach its full potential due to its hard seed coat that prevents germination. Mechanical scarification helps to break the integrity of the hard seed coat and thereby increases their germination, but this method often damages the embryo. This study aims to increase the germination of Alfalfa seeds using a new biological method: biological scarification. A strain of aerobic cellulolytic bacteria 21N2 was isolated and selected from cellulose-containing substrates. Its main characteristics of strain were studied. Identification of the strain using the molecular genetic method was carried out and it was found that the strain belongs to the genus Bacillus. The strain Bacillus sp. 21N2 has high cellulase activity, fixed atmospheric nitrogen, and synthesized B vitamins. Inoculated seeds with bacteria increased their germination by 28 - 34%. The strain has high PGP-activity (plant growth promotion activity), increasing stem length by 3.2 - 3.6 times, root length by 2.0 - 2.7 times. The bacteria changed the hard coat of seeds: the fibrillary structure was destroyed, microcracks were formed, and a pronounced layering of the coat appeared. Degradation of the integrity of the hard coat makes it more accessible to seed germination. Therefore, biological scarification contributes to the transport of water and nutrients to the seed germ, which stimulates seedling growth
