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Homo Problematis Solvendis–Problem-solving Man: A History of Human Creativity
by David H. CropleyThis book presents the history of modern human creativity/innovation through examples of solutions to basic human needs that have been developed over time. The title – Homo problematis solvendis – is a play on the scientific classifications of humans (e.g. Homo habilus, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens), and is intended to suggest that a defining characteristic of modern humans is our fundamental ability to solve problems (i.e. problem- solving human = Homo problematis solvendis). The book not only offers new perspectives on the history of technology, but also helps readers connect the popular interest in creativity and innovation (in schools, in businesses) with their psychological underpinnings. It discusses why creativity and innovation are vital to societies, and how these key abilities have made it possible for societies to develop into what they are today.
Subjectivity within Cultural-Historical Approach
by Fernando González Rey Albertina Mitjáns Martínez Daniel Magalhães GoulartThis book offers a theoretical and epistemological-methodological framework as an alternative approach to the instrumental-descriptive methodology that has prevailed in psychology to date. It discusses the differences between the proposed approach and other theoretical and methodological positions, such as discourse analysis, phenomenology and hermeneutics. Further, it puts forward a proposal that allows the demands of studying subjectivity to be addressed from a cultural-historical standpoint. The book mainly highlights case studies that have been conducted in various countries, and which employ or depart from the theoretical, epistemological and methodological proposals that guide this book. The research discussed here introduces readers to new discussions on theoretical and methodological issues in subjectivity that have increasingly attracted interest.
Haptic Interaction: Perception, Devices and Algorithms (Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering #535)
by Hiroyuki Kajimoto Ki-Uk Kyung Masashi Konyo Dongjun Lee Sang-Youn KimThis book constitutes the proceedings of the third international conference AsiaHaptics 2018, held in Songdo, Korea. It presents the state-of-the-art of the diverse haptics (touch)-related research, including perception and illusion, development of haptics devices, and applications to a wide variety of fields such as education, medicine, telecommunication, navigation and entertainment. This book is a valuable resource not only for active haptics researchers, but also for general readers wishing to understand the status quo in this interdisciplinary area of science and technology.
Social Life Cycle Assessment: Case Studies from Agri and Food Sectors (Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes)
by Subramanian Senthilkannan MuthuThis book highlights the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) of the agri-sector for rice, sugarcane, and cassava in Thailand and the food sector. It also presents a range of models, indices, impact categories, etc. for SLCA that are currently being developed for industrial applications. Though SLCA was introduced in 2010, it is still relatively new compared to environmental life cycle assessment (ELCA).
Understanding the Impact of INSET on Teacher Change in China
by Ming LiThis pivot considers the impact of INSET courses on EFL teachers practicing under the national curriculum reform in China. Providing context-specific findings on the policy and implementation of INSET as well as its impact on teacher education initiatives in both China and similar contexts, it explores the limitations of one off training events such as INSET and the inconsistency between teacher learning results and their classroom practices. The book argues that teachers, when returning to pre-INSET teaching, are influenced by their prior deeply-rooted beliefs largely considered more powerful than newly-learnt theories. Addressing the rarely discussed fact that the complex and dynamic characteristics of teacher learning change over time and support the construct of teacher learning as a social event rather than a one-off event, the book also offers practical solutions on how to improve teacher education and enhance the long-term INSET impact on teacher development, with the ambition of promoting education reform for both teachers and students alike.
Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Anthropocene: A Posthuman Inquiry
by Jamie McphieThis book makes the unorthodox claim that there is no such thing as mental health. It also deglamourises nature-based psychotherapies, deconstructs therapeutic landscapes and redefines mental health and wellbeing as an ecological process distributed in the environment – rather than a psychological manifestation trapped within the mind of a human subject. Traditional and contemporary philosophies are merged with new science of the mind as each chapter progressively examples a posthuman account of mental health as physically dispersed amongst things – emoji, photos, tattoos, graffiti, cities, mountains – in this precarious time labelled the Anthropocene. Utilising experimental walks, play scripts and creative research techniques, this book disrupts traditional notions of the subjective self, resulting in an Extended Body Hypothesis – a pathway for alternative narratives of human-environment relations to flourish more ethically. This transdisciplinary inquiry will appeal to anyone interested in non-classificatory accounts of mental health, particularly concerning areas of social and environmental equity – post-nature.
Psychological Perspectives on Diversity and Social Development
by Janak Pandey Rashmi Kumar Komilla ThapaThis book is a collection of essays covering a range of issues related to socioeconomic inequalities and diversities. The authors, leading social scientists of diverse nationalities, represent varied perspectives. The book has essays on multiculturalism, social inclusion and exclusion of minorities and other marginalized groups such as low castes, linguistic minorities, Adivasis (tribals), persons with disability and unemployed youth. The book focuses on some innovative concepts considered necessary to understand the very process and evolution of aspects of social development such as pro-sociality, authentic responsible self and leadership ideology. The book deals with the challenges for achieving social development and societal harmony. The book will be a very useful resource for social science scholars and particularly for social and cultural psychologists, development professionals and administrators interested in the issues related to social development, social diversity and inter-group relations. The book will also be useful for policy formulation and action.
Statistics and Research Methods in Psychology with Excel
by J.P. VermaThis book, specifically developed for students of psychology, covers a wide range of topics in statistics and research designs taught in psychology, in particular, and other disciplines like management, sociology, education, home science, and nutrition, in general, in most universities. It explains how to use Excel to analyze research data by elaborating statistical concepts. Each chapter contains sections like “Check you Computing skill” and “Check your Statistical Concepts” to enable students to assess their knowledge in a graded manner. The book addresses one of the major challenges in psychology research, viz., how to measure subjective phenomenon like attitude, desire, and preferences of an individual. Separate emphasis has been given to the measurement techniques which are essential tools to assess these subjective parameters in numerical form, required for statistical analysis to draw meaningful conclusions. The book is equally helpful to students of humanities, life sciences and other applied areas. Consisting of 14 chapters, the book covers all relevant topics of statistics and research designs which are important for students to plan and complete their research work.
The Psychology of Chinese Gambling: A Cultural And Historical Perspective
by Chi Chuen Chan William Wai Lim Li Amy Sau Lam ChiuThis book critically discusses the psychology of Chinese gambling from a cultural perspective. In particular, it investigates the history of gambling, the prevalence of gambling in China, and the personality of Chinese gamblers and explores how the Chinese culture has contributed to the development of gambling and gambling problems. Further, it examines specific evidence-based treatment for Chinese problem gamblers and provides a therapeutic model that is tailored to their needs and psychology. This book useful for students and academics conducting research on Chinese gamblers and the treatments that work for them.
Chinese Perspectives on Cultural Psychiatry: Psychological Disorders in “A Dream of Red Mansions” and Contemporary Society
by Wei WangThis book presents a longitudinal study of cultural influence on psychiatric disorders, from late imperial China to contemporary China, drawing on both reviews and lab results to do so. While predominantly offering evidence of cultural influences on psychiatric disorders from a Chinese perspective, it will also be of global benefit since “the national exemplifies the international.” It presents the Chinese “emic” components of culture, including Chinese personality traits, Chinese forms of emotional regulation, and Chinese styles of family structure and function, which will stimulate international interest and research in related areas. The intended readership includes cultural psychiatrists and psychologists, family therapists, personality psychologists, literature-related researchers, and members of the general public who are interested in cultures expressed in fictions.
Social Support, Well-being, and Teacher Development
by Bick-Har LamThis book uses social support as a central theme to provide a sound underpinning for guiding teachers to play more supportive roles in schools. It comprises a series of empirical studies that address the psychological processes involved in feeling supported and providing support, and which demonstrate how students’ and teachers’ well-being can be enhanced through learning and teaching in the classroom.The distinction between teachers who are caring mentors and those who simply impart knowledge has attracted considerable interest among researchers; however, in the twenty-first century education seems to be playing a more restricted role, due to the predominant focus on performance outcomes. This book addresses and identifies teachers’ expanding role in education. It describes various types of support that teachers can offer students, and which serve to enhance a range of learning outcomes. Further, it provides evidence suggesting that teachers’ commitment to learner development is a prerequisite for a satisfying teaching career, and that teachers’ knowledge, skills and ability to provide social support in the classroom form a pathway of professional learning that can take their teaching expertise to a higher level. Lastly, the book offers policymakers suggestions on how to rekindle social support in an increasingly globalised setting in which people are becoming more and more disconnected. Given its multidisciplinary approach, the book is a unique contribution within its subject area, and will be of interest to practitioners in education and beyond.
Social Support Networks, Coping and Positive Aging Among the Community-Dwelling Elderly in Hong Kong
by Susu LiuThe dramatically increasing aging population of Hong Kong has elicited new risks and opportunities to facilitate a positive life for older adults. This book offers a holistic review of gerontological theories and literature, and constructs a conceptual framework of social support networks, coping and positive aging. In light of the implications of the convoy model of social support to depict an indigenous landscape of positive aging in Hong Kong, this is one of the very few empirical studies that adopts both quantitative research and qualitative research. The research consisted of a pilot study of in-depth interviews with 16 older Hong Kong Chinese and a main study surveying 393 older members of District Elderly Community Center. The results of the study indicate that family and peer support constitute the mainstay of support networks of the elderly, and that family and peer support are associated with positive aging. Moreover, the study shows that it is the depth of emotional closeness, namely, close interaction and intimacy with social partners that makes the greatest contribution to positive aging. Additionally, problem coping and emotion coping are found to mediate the relationship between social support networks and positive aging. There is potential in bringing more domestic helpers into elderly care and improving the service quality such that the goal of Aging in Place can be promoted in Hong Kong. Intended for researchers in social work, gerontology and positive psychology, it is also essential reading for graduates and social work professionals interested in this area. This book makes a valuable contribution to social gerontological research among Hong Kong older adults and the promotion of wellbeing in the elderly via the construct of positive aging in the culture of Chinese society.
The Psychology of Tolerance: Conception and Development (SpringerBriefs in Psychology)
by Rivka T. WitenbergThis book offers a new standpoint to understanding tolerance to human diversity by approaching it from the perspectives of cognitive, developmental and prosocial psychology. Emphasising the positive aspects of social perception and behaviour, it invites readers to re-consider ‘tolerance’ not simply as the opposite of prejudice, but as something that can in fact coexist with prejudice and intolerance. Drawing on original empirical research conducted with children, adolescents and young adults, the book maps the response patterns for tolerant judgement and justification, including psycho-developmental factors. It explains how tolerance regarding differences of colour, creed and culture is based on underlying beliefs that guide the reasoning process to support judgements about human diversity. Showcasing emerging theory and a new methodology of data collection that goes beyond common approaches, this book outlines a unique potential developmental trajectory for tolerance to human diversity based on fairness, empathy and reason. The book challenges students, researchers and general readers across the fields of psychology, human ethics and moral philosophy with its new insights into the character of prosocial beliefs.
Researching Conflict, Drama and Learning: The International DRACON Project
by John O'Toole Dale Bagshaw Bruce Burton Anita Grünbaum Margret Lepp Morag Morrison Janet PillaiThis book offers a comprehensive and critical guide to research and practice in the field of arts education and conflict management. The DRACON project explores the relationship between drama and conflict transformation. This international, interdisciplinary and comparative action research project, begun in 1996, is aimed at improving conflict management and transformation among adolescent school students using the medium of educational drama.The book reports on the underpinning principles, and on action research practice in Malaysia, Sweden and Australia. The strategies and techniques, which were revolutionary when first introduced, are now tried and tested. The book chronicles the history, successes, opportunities and challenges of the original 10-year project, and brings the story up to date by highlighting some of its many legacies and resulting influences around the world. This book will benefit researchers, academics and graduate students in Education, the Social Sciences, Dispute Resolution and the Performing Arts.
Enacted Personal Professional Learning: Re-thinking Teacher Expertise with Story-telling and Problematics
by Carmel PattersonThis book offers a vital new approach to teacher professional learning, drawing on teachers’ stories from the field. It investigates expert teachers’ professional learning and uses a narrative framework to analyse their meaning-making processes. The book focuses on how proficient teachers develop their expertise, emphasising that individual needs and the contextual nature of learning require a personally enacted approach. Further, it explores the stories of five secondary school teachers, nominated by their colleagues for their outstanding expertise, to present new insights into expert teachers’ views. Using a new evidence-based approach, Enacted Personal Professional Learning, it incorporates teachers’ unique perspectives, problems and thought processes in order to understand expert teachers’ learning, and offers essential principles for promoting storytelling to help teachers be or become empowered educators who can actively shape education communities for teacher professional learning.
School Spaces for Student Wellbeing and Learning: Insights from Research and Practice
by Hilary Hughes Jill Franz Jill WillisThis book introduces a new wellbeing dimension to the theory and practice of learning space design for early childhood and school contexts. It highlights vital, yet generally overlooked relationships between the learning environment and student learning and wellbeing, and reveals the potential of participatory, values-based design approaches to create learning spaces that respond to contemporary learners’ needs. Focusing on three main themes it explores conceptual understandings of learning spaces and wellbeing; students’ lived experience and needs of learning spaces; and the development of a new theory and its practical application to the design of learning spaces that enhance student wellbeing. It examines these complex and interwoven topics through various theoretical lenses and provides an extensive, current literature review that connects learning environment design and learner wellbeing in a wide range of educational settings from early years to secondary school. Offering transferable approaches and a new theoretical model of wellbeing as flourishing to support the design of innovative learning environments, this book is of interest to researchers, tertiary educators and students in the education and design fields, as well as school administrators and facility managers, teachers, architects and designers.
Computational Thinking Education
by Siu-Cheung Kong Harold AbelsonThis This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.This book offers a comprehensive guide, covering every important aspect of computational thinking education. It provides an in-depth discussion of computational thinking, including the notion of perceiving computational thinking practices as ways of mapping models from the abstraction of data and process structures to natural phenomena. Further, it explores how computational thinking education is implemented in different regions, and how computational thinking is being integrated into subject learning in K-12 education. In closing, it discusses computational thinking from the perspective of STEM education, the use of video games to teach computational thinking, and how computational thinking is helping to transform the quality of the workforce in the textile and apparel industry.
Health and Wellbeing of India's Young People: Challenges and Prospects
by Shalini Bharat Geeta SethiThis volume fills a major gap in the evidence base on adolescents and youth in India by bringing together research, policy critiques and programme analyses in an intersectoral and multidisciplinary way. With about 373 million persons between the ages of 10 and 24 years, India has the largest number of young people of any country in the world. While this large cohort presents an excellent opportunity to reap a rich demographic dividend, their potential can be realised only with intelligent investments, which create well nourished, healthy, appropriately educated and skilled youth. This volume is based on desk reviews and is complemented by discussions with experts in 4 key thematic areas: nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, mental health and livelihoods, overall focusing on the health and wellbeing of the young in India. Each chapter provides a comprehensive picture of the current situation in a focal theme and identifies significant gaps in information/data and programmes. In addition, it explores the scenario of building capacity for undertaking research on, and with adolescents, through a qualitative needs assessment. This timely volume provides a thorough overview of related research, policy and programmes for a wide group of social and behavioural scientists and public health experts interested in India’s young people.
Shaping the Future of Education, Communication and Technology: Selected Papers from the HKAECT 2019 International Conference (Educational Communications and Technology Yearbook)
by Will W. K. Ma Wendy Wing Lam Chan Cat Miaoting ChengThis book gathers selected papers from the Hong Kong Association for Educational Communications and Technology 2019 International Conference on the theme of “Shaping the Future of Education, Communication and Technology.” It contributes to a scholarly discussion that looks beyond what future media and technology can offer for education, and reflects on best practices and lessons learned from applying new media and technology in a wide range of fields. Scholars from educational technology, communication, and higher education share their research work in various formats such as empirical research, best-practice case studies, literature reviews, etc. The topics of the papers are divided into four main areas, including curriculum, pedagogy and instructional design; teaching and learning experiences with technology; online learning and open education resources; and communication and media. The book’s unique quality is its combination of perspectives and research work on communication, education and technology. Thus, it will encourage an interdisciplinary discourse and exchange concerning communication, new media, and educational practices.
Cultural-Historical Approaches to Studying Learning and Development: Societal, Institutional and Personal Perspectives (Perspectives in Cultural-Historical Research #6)
by Anne Edwards Marilyn Fleer Louise BøttcherThis collection of papers examines key ideas in cultural-historical approaches to children’s learning and development and the cultural and institutional conditions in which they occur. The collection is given coherence by a focus on the intellectual contributions made by Professor Mariane Hedegaard to understandings of children’s learning through the prism of the interplay of society, institution and person. She has significantly shaped the field through her scholarly consideration of foundational concepts and her creative attention to the fields of activity she studies. The book brings together examples of how these concepts have been employed and developed in a study of learning and development. The collection allows the contributing scholars to reveal their reactions to Hedegaard’s contributions in discussions of their own work in the field of children’s learning and the conditions in which it occurs.
Teacher Adaptive Practices: Extending Teacher Adaptability into Classroom Practice (SpringerBriefs in Education)
by Tony LoughlandThis book introduces the construct of teacher adaptive practices, extending existing research on teacher adaptability into classroom practices. It identifies specific teaching practices that constitute the just-in-time adaptation during lessons that provides opportunities for students’ critical and creative thinking. 278 classroom observations of teachers resulted in a summary of teaching behaviours that constitute teacher adaptive practices. Based on these findings, the book develops a practical teacher improvement program.
Multidimensional Approach to Quality of Life Issues: A Spatial Analysis
by Braj Raj Kumar SinhaThis comprehensive volume provides a broad overview of quality of life issues covering a wide geographical region: North America, Europe, parts of Africa, East Asia, and South Asia. Spread over more than 25 chapters, it includes the latest findings from these regions to provide a multidisciplinary account of the major dimensions of quality of life, and therefore has a vast scope. The volume is divided into four thematic parts: theoretical dimension; Demographic dimension; socio-cultural and economic dimensions; and urban and environment related dimensions. Extensive maps, diagrams and tables accompany the discussions and facilitate understanding. This is an indispensable reference and serves the interest of students and scholars of human geography, economics, demography, sociology, anthropology, social work, and philosophy. It is particularly useful for those engaged in further research on quality of life issues.
Blended Learning Designs in STEM Higher Education: Putting Learning First
by Christopher N. Allan Chris Campbell Julie CroughThis book offers a set of learning principles to support the design of rich learning experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) higher education, including detailed evaluations and discussions for a variety of science subjects. Further, it presents a professional learning framework that can be used to support the implementation of blended learning technologies to increase buy-in from academic staff, to support grass roots initiatives, to develop a sense of community, and to sustain change. The principles developed here will help readers to think about blended learning from a learner’s perspective, put learning first, and develop activities that will help learners achieve better learning outcomes.In addition, the book addresses how to design rich, evidence-based, blended learning experiences that support learning. It demonstrates a range of learning principles in practice, with step-by-step instructions, and includes templates, supporting material, instructions and other resources to help teachers embed and adapt designs in their own subject. Readers will be equipped with an expanded toolkit of resources, designs, ideas and activities that can be directly applied in a variety of subject areas.
Playing the PhD Game with Integrity: Connecting Research, Professional Practice and Educational Context (Understanding Teaching-Learning Practice)
by John A Bowden Pamela J GreenThis book focuses on integrity throughout the PhD journey and beyond, and is organised around two main themes: (1) integrity in relation to the capabilities developed by doctoral candidates for professional practice; and (2) integrity and coherence at the PhD system level. The working methods of key participants such as PhD candidates, supervisors, university managers, government agencies and politicians are central to achieving integrity goals within PhD programmes. In this context, a number of constructs are developed that inform the practice-based elements of the book in relation to conducting doctoral research, research supervision, academic writing, and research training support systems; in particular, these include our Moral Compass Framework for professional integrity, notions of collective morality, decision-making when faced with ‘wicked’ problems, connected moral capability and our double-helix model of capability development, negotiated sense in contrast with common sense, completion mindsets and contexts, mindfulness, liminality, and mutual catalysis in joint authorship.While the data the book employs stems from practice-led research within the Australian doctoral system, the conclusions drawn are of global relevance. Throughout the book, wherever appropriate, comparisons are made between the Australian context and other contexts, such as the doctoral systems of the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.
Research and Practice in Chemistry Education: Advances from the 25th IUPAC International Conference on Chemistry Education 2018
by Madeleine Schultz Siegbert Schmid Gwendolyn A. LawrieThis book brings together fifteen contributions from presenters at the 25th IUPAC International Conference on Chemistry Education 2018, held in Sydney. Written by a highly diverse group of chemistry educators working within different national and institutional contexts with the common goal of improving student learning, the book presents research in multiple facets of the cutting edge of chemistry education, offering insights into the application of learning theories in chemistry combined with practical experience in implementing teaching strategies. The chapters are arranged according to the themes novel pedagogies, dynamic teaching environments, new approaches in assessment and professional skills – each of which is of substantial current interest to the science education communities.Providing an overview of contemporary practice, this book helps improve student learning outcomes. Many of the teaching strategies presented are transferable to other disciplines and are of great interest to the global community of tertiary chemistry educators as well as readers in the areas of secondary STEM education and other disciplines.