Search Results (10)

Artificial intelligence tools are quickly being applied in many areas of science, including learning sciences. Learning requires various types of thinking, sustained by distinct sets of neural networks in the brain. Labelling these systems gives us tools to manage them. This paper presents a pilot application of Large Language Models (LLMs) to physics textbook analysis, grounded in a well-developed neural network theory known as the Five Pillars of the Mind. The domain-specific networks, innate sense, and the five pillars provide a framework with which to examine how physics is learnt. For example, one can identify which pillars are active when discussing a physics concept. Identifying which pillars belong to which physics concept may be significantly influenced by the bias of the author and could be too time-consuming for longer, more complex texts involving physics concepts. Therefore, using LLMs to identify pillars could enhance the application of this framework to physics education. This article presents a case study in which we used selected Large Language Models to identify pillars within eight pages of learning material concerning forces aimed at 12- to 14-year-old pupils. We used GPT-4o and o4-mini, as well as MAXQDA AI Assist. Results from these models were compared with the authors’ manual analysis. Precision, recall, and F1-Score were used to evaluate the results quantitatively. MAXQDA AI Assist obtained the best results with 1.00 precision, 0.67 recall, and an F1-Score of 0.80. Both products by OpenAI hallucinated and falsely identified several concepts, resulting in low precision and, consequently, low F1-Score. As predicted, ChatGPT o4-mini scored twice as high as ChatGPT 4o. The method proved to be promising, and its future development has the potential to provide research teams with analysis not only of written learning material, but also of pupils’ written work and their video-recorded activities. Full article

Flexibility is increasingly recognized as a key competence in addressing current challenges and transitions. It is a multidimensional construct, discussed across various disciplines, encompassing cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dimensions. The European LifeComp framework offers one of the most recent and comprehensive definitions of this competence, emphasizing its role in enabling individuals to adapt to uncertainty, manage complexity, and foster transformative learning. This study investigates the assessment tools available to evaluate flexibility competence, focusing on their alignment with the LifeComp framework. A systematic literature review was conducted using the Scopus and WoS databases, based on inclusion criteria for language, publication type, disciplinary area, research topic, and target population, identifying 22 eligible articles. Following a quality assessment of the articles, a critical analysis revealed the presence of 22 tools and scales, including the actively open-minded thinking (AOT) scale, the resistance to change (RTC) scale, and the flexible thinking in learning (FTL) questionnaire. The findings show overlaps among flexibility and related constructs, such as learning agility and intellectual humility. However, most tools are context-specific and fail to address the multidimensional nature of flexibility competence. Future research should prioritize the development of comprehensive instruments to support educational initiatives, policy development, and professional training. Full article

Open-mindedness appears as a potential intellectual virtue from the beginning of the rise of the literature on intellectual virtues. It often takes up a special role, sometimes thought of as a meta-virtue rather than a first-order virtue: as an ingredient that makes other virtues virtuous. Jason Baehr has attempted to give a unified account of open-mindedness as an intellectual virtue. He argues that the conceptual core of open-mindedness lies in the fact that a person departs, moves beyond, or transcends a certain default cognitive standpoint. Two of his main aims are to show that (1) one does not need to assume a doxastic conflict or disagreement to be at the heart of open-mindedness—that is, there are also instances where the virtue of open-mindedness is needed when there is no opposing view to be considered—and (2) that not all forms of open-mindedness include rational assessment—that is, sometimes being open-minded is not about weighing evidence for and against a claim. So, his main aim is to show that there are various situations that afford open-mindedness, in each of which a slightly different kind of open-mindedness is called for. To unify all these different kinds of open-mindedness is then the goal of his work. He arrives at the following definition of open-mindedness (OM): an open-minded person is characteristically (a) willing and (within limits) able (b) to transcend a default cognitive standpoint (c) in order to take up or take seriously the merits of (d) a distinct cognitive standpoint. In this article, I take seriously Baehr’s suggestion of how to understand open-mindedness as an intellectual virtue and argue that the crux lies in formulating how we can be able to transcend a default cognitive standpoint. This is not as obvious as it has been taken to be in the literature on open-mindedness. Biases, overconfidence, and wishful thinking are difficult exactly because we don’t know that we are engaging in them. That is, they are systematically hidden from our consciousness, otherwise they would not be a bias, overconfidence, or wishful thinking. Hence, the crux of making open-mindedness open-minded is to see how it is possible to make something of one’s own mind visible that is systematically hidden from oneself. I argue that this problem can be solved by looking at research on attention. I base my considerations in this article on Sebastian Watzl’s account of attention, which essentially holds that paying attention is an activity of foregrounding and backgrounding mental contents. That is, attention is the activity of structuring mental contents into a priority structure of foreground and background. If I pay attention to the scene in front of me, I foreground the black letters on my screen, and I background the coffee cup next to them. In this way, I create a priority structure between the letters (as they appear to me) and the coffee cup (as it appears to me). I argue that what allows us to make something of our own mind visible that is systematically hidden from us is a special way of paying attention, hence a special way of foregrounding and backgrounding the involved mental contents. That is, the crux of what enables us to transcend a default cognitive standpoint, the conceptual core of open-mindedness, is a special kind of attention, which I will call ‘open-minded attention’ (OMA). The claim of this article is not that open-minded attention fully describes the virtue of open-mindedness (OMA is not sufficient for open-mindedness). Rather, what I try to show is that in all cases of open-mindedness it turns out that open-minded attention is the necessary component that ensures that we can indeed get rid of prior biases, that is, transcend also those implicit beliefs and expectations that are systematically hidden from us (OMA is necessary for open-mindedness). Full article

As online education advances, there is a growing interest in conducting various online courses. However, design thinking education, which heavily relies on active interactions and discussions among team members, has predominantly taken place in offline environments. This raises the question of whether online design thinking education can be equally as effective as offline education. To address this, our study conducted comparative research between offline and synchronous online design thinking classes to investigate how these different environments contribute to developing design thinking mindsets. The acquisition levels of seven design thinking mindsets—ambiguity, curiosity, empathy, experimental spirit, integrative thinking, open mind, and teamwork—were used to measure the efficiency of the design thinking classes. The research involved a 15-week project-based course provided to 126 engineering students at a university, examining the differences in design thinking mindsets before and after the completion of the process. The study’s findings demonstrated that synchronous online classes favorably influence the cultivation of design thinking mindsets, exhibiting efficiency comparable to that observed in traditional offline courses. Specifically, synchronous online classes were found to be more effective in cultivating empathy, integrative thinking, and open mind, while experimental spirit showed more significant development in offline courses. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the potential of synchronous online design thinking education and contribute the development of sustainable and effective online learning environments. Full article

Black higher education professionals are more likely to be under-represented and experience racial discrimination and to be approached by students with whom they share identity characteristics for support, compared to white counterparts. This study explored experiences of stress potentially leading to secondary traumatic stress or burnout and coping efforts in Black-identifying staff (n = 35), who were a subset of a larger sample (n = 559) representing twenty-two U.S. regional universities. Compared to the larger sample, Black respondents were more likely to be in their roles for three years or less, potentially indicating higher rates of turnover. The Sort and Sift, Think and Shift Method was used to conduct a qualitative analysis of participant responses to open-ended questions regarding role-related stressors, efforts to cope, and desired institutional resources. Many staff reported role challenges consistent with experiences of secondary traumatic stress and burnout, which they coped with by engaging in a range of mindful self-care practices (e.g., sustaining supportive relationships, finding meaning in their work, promoting their physical health, setting boundaries). Participants highlighted the urgency of the need for change to institutional infrastructure, policies, and practices to support manageable workloads and treat staff with respect. It is critical for institutions to take an active and intentional role in mitigating stressors that contribute to secondary traumatic stress or burnout by addressing racial battle fatigue, providing adequate resources to meet the needs of under-represented students, protecting the capacity of staff to utilize wellness resources on campus, enhancing role clarity and autonomy, and fostering a sense of cultural pride, respect, and accomplishment, as well as other mechanisms, to create a culture that promotes and sustains the wellbeing of Black staff. Full article

Actively open-minded thinking (AOT) is measured by items that tap the willingness to consider alternative opinions, sensitivity to evidence contradictory to current beliefs, the willingness to postpone closure, and reflective thought. AOT scales are strong predictors of performance on heuristics and biases tasks and of the avoidance of reasoning traps such as superstitious thinking and belief in conspiracy theories. Nevertheless, AOT is most commonly measured with questionnaires rather than performance indicators. Questionnaire contamination becomes even more of a danger as the AOT concept is expanded into new areas such as the study of fake news, misinformation, ideology, and civic attitudes. We review our 25-year history of studying the AOT concept and developing our own AOT scale. We present a 13-item scale that both is brief and accommodates many previous criticisms and refinements. We include a discussion of why AOT scales are such good predictors of performance on heuristics and biases tasks. We conclude that it is because such scales tap important processes of cognitive decoupling and decontextualization that modernity increasingly requires. We conclude by discussing the paradox that although AOT scales are potent predictors of performance on most rational thinking tasks, they do not predict the avoidance of myside thinking, even though it is virtually the quintessence of the AOT concept. Full article

Empathy, defined as an emotional ability to put oneself in the place of others, read their state of mind, and think how they are feeling, is an essential pillar of nursing care. On the other hand, anxiety is a frequent emotion that can be generated in stressful work environments, like nurses developing their activity. The aim of the present study is to explore the value of empathy and anxiety personal traits in staff nurses. The sample was comprised of 197 staff nurses from tertiary level hospitals from Madrid, Spain, where 79.2% were women and 20.8% were men in the present study. The instrument used for analysis was the Spanish adaptation of the 16PF5 questionnaire. The results showed the following measurements to warmth (5.58), lively (5.25), socially bold (5.6), privacy (5.82), open to change (5.62), self-reliance (6.12), and anxiety (6.38). Furthermore, anxiety affects positively to warmth (t: 2.66; p > 0.0001) and lively (t = 2.36; p < 0.05), but in a negative way to social bold (t = −3.17; p < 0.001) or open to change (t = −5.81; p < 0.0001). However, it was not seen to have any effect over privacy (t = 1.96; p = 0.052) and self-reliance (t = 1.19; p = 0.234). Finally, it is recommended that healthcare professionals reinforce their personal competencies to strengthen their skills to manage anxiety and improve their empathy competencies. Full article

The major problems in the world today are problems of government or the lack of it. Thus, the relevant parts of intelligence are those that make for good citizenship, such as supporting the best candidates and policies. I argue that dispositions, as well as capacities, are part of intelligence, and that some dispositions are the ones most crucial for citizenship, particularly the disposition to engage in actively open-minded thinking (AOT) and to apply it as a standard for the evaluation of the qualifications of authorities and leaders. AOT is a general prescriptive theory that applies to all thinking. It affects the aptness of conclusions and the accuracy of confidence judgments, and it reduces overconfidence when extreme confidence is not warranted. AOT may be affected by different factors from those that affect other components of intelligence and thus may undergo different changes over time. Whatever has happened in the past, we need more of it now. Full article

Teaching is a complex profession, which is further complicated by the integration of technology into classrooms. Reflection can help teachers unpack the complexity in their practice. Reflection can be an effective instructional strategy in helping preservice teachers develop technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), the complex and dynamic knowledge necessary for effective technology integration into instruction. In this study, reflective activities were integrated into a Learning By Design (LBD) environment, which was created to help preservice teachers develop TPACK. This paper investigated the participants’ TPACK development and examined how reflection helped them construct TPACK. Through content analysis of the participants’ reflective journals, the researcher found that the preservice teachers developed initial TPACK awareness. However, their reflection in technology knowledge and the content aspects of TPACK were limited and superficial. Interviews with the participants showed reflection helped the preservice teachers remember what they learned by describing and elaborating on their in-class experiences, pushed them to think about how to apply what they learned in their future classrooms, and helped them become more reflective and open-minded about using technology in classrooms. Finally, the researcher discussed this study’s implications for teacher educators and researchers. Full article

The research results now available clearly show that the connection between psychiatry, racial hygiene, and eugenics is much more complex than a discussion focussing on the Third Reich and the holocaust led us to suspect. After 1933, eugenic efforts in Germany merged with National Socialist dictatorship, were made to serve anti-Semitism and the racial politics of the government, and opened up new areas of political activity. As a social movement, eugenics was at the same time an expression of a belief in progress, which found a great echo in the workers’ movement, as well as a reaction to the fear of degeneration and decadence which became gradually more intensive at that time. Democratic countries, too, such as the Scandinavian Countries, Switzerland, and the United States, showed how a definition of democracy aiming for a healthy populace and theories of inheritance worked together and caused the race-based exclusion of cultural minorities. The author holds that the development of Eugenics in democratic countries is more important for the understanding of Eugenics as a science, for the close connection between psychiatry and Eugenics and for the present development of biological thinking. Beyond all social and political differences though, ideas of social “normality” and strategies of scientific legitimation are discernible that show that the eugenic measures implemented by the Nazi regime found a positive echo until the 1930s in most countries. As a matter of fact eugenic ideas garnered extensive support and Switzerland by no means was just a “Mitläufer” (a collaborator). The Swiss Civil Code of 1912 (Zivilgesetzbuch ZGB) already contained an article forbidding marriages of the so-called “feeble-minded”, at the famous Hygiene Exhibition at Dresden in 1911 Switzerland presented the section on sterilisation. Auguste Forel was one of the supporters if not inventors of the technique. However, the country did not implement policies based on Eugenics on a federal level or as part of a political programme: when the Federal Penal Law was introduced in 1942, any regulation of sterilisation was deliberately avoided for fear that this might lead to the downfall of the law. Even on the cantonal level, eugenic legislation was scarce: the 1928 Law on Sterilisation of the Canton of Vaud remained the only one and eugenic provisions in the Naturalisation Law as they existed in the Canton of Basel-Stadt were an exception. Nevertheless, the ideology of eugenics, based on the most varied objectives and motives, pervaded the concepts and imagination of federal and local authorities, political decision-makers and the medical profession. The article sets out to show how – despite the lack of a deliberate and national policies – eugenic measures were implemented in Switzerland. Its focus is on sterilisation and naturalisation procedures. The author’s thesis is that eugenic measures were able to gain such a wide and general acceptance in a democratic system like Switzerland and could even be forced on individuals because of three main reasons: – as a natural science Eugenics became widely accepted and could claim objective authority over politics; – it added to the authority of psychiatry as a science able to prevent mental disease and moral disorder; – eugenic measures showed a specific gender bias: because they not only applied to the minority groups of the “feeble-minded”, “morally deviant”, or “unfit” but also to the traditional “others”– women,that is – “othering-practices” thus becoming part of the process of setting up a national moral and gender order. These implications make eugenics not only an important field for historical research but as well in respect to present and future scientific and social development. Full article