Constructivism

Multiculturalism and reification of culture: A constructivist-postmodern view

by Marco Gemignani

Counseling and psychotherapy in Italy: A profession in constant change

by Marco Gemignani

Il Costruttivismo ed il linguaggio, la tecnica di analisi dei testi autobiografici

by Marco Gemignani

Between Researcher and Researched: An Introduction to Countertransference in Qualitative Inquiry

by Marco Gemignani

Effects of Guide Materials Based on 5E Model on Students' Conceptual Change and Their Attitudes towards Physics: A Case for 'Work, Power and Energy'Unit

by Necati Hırça

5E Modeline Göre Geliştirilen Materyallerin Öğrencilerin Kavramsal Değişimine ve Fizik Dersine Karşı Tutumlarına Etkisi:iş, Güç ve Enerji Ünitesi Örneği

by Necati Hırça

Learning Discernment: The Psychology of Situated Learning in Social Media

by Christina Freeman

Through examining the methods and importance placed on social media by different age groups, a theory on the effects... more Through examining the methods and importance placed on social media by different age groups, a theory on the effects of learning through social media can begin to be established. This challenges the thoughts that the informal methods of education that are being established through social media outlets are inefficient in providing any substantial forms of learning. What is instead discovered is that humanity is using the autonomy and choice provided by social media outlets to form substancial connections to others by defining the methods and forms of media they share. As people adjust their uses for social media, the types of interactions evolve to represent the quality of information the user considers to be most pertinent to their learning and social interests.

Towards Advancing e-Learning through Digital Storytelling

by Dr Eva Dakich

Najat Smeda, Eva Dakich, Nalin Sharda

Accepted for submission to:
International Journal of Computer Information Systems and Industrial Management Applications.

Digital Storytelling is an innovative pedagogical approach that has the potential to engage learners in... more Digital Storytelling is an innovative pedagogical approach that has the potential to engage learners in student-centered learning, and improve the learning outcomes across the curriculum. It enhances learners motivation, provides learners with a learning environment conducive for communication, reflection, construction, and collaboration. It is a pedagogical approach that intends to provide students with the opportunities to explore, create, and evaluate their ideas both individually and collaboratively. When it is used with the latest technologies effective and efficient e-learning systems may be developed. This responds to the needs of the new generation of students, who are very familiar with the digital world. Despite the fact that many educationists have recognized the potential of digital storytelling, a well-designed framework for the same is still required.

This paper introduces a framework for advancing e-Learning systems through digital storytelling. It gives an overview of digital storytelling and the level of contemporary research and literature on the pedagogical benefits of digital storytelling. It describes the storytelling types as well as the current models of digital storytelling. Then, it explains the proposed e-Learning digital storytelling framework. It concludes with an overview of the research that needs to be conducted to test the efficacy of the proposed e-Learning digital storytelling framework on several dimensions.

Developing a framework for advancing e-learning through digital storytelling

by Dr Eva Dakich

By Smeda Najat, Eva Dakich and Nalin Sharda (2010). Developing a framework for advancing e-learning through digital storytelling, in IADIS International Conference e-learning 2010, Ed. Miguel Baptista Nunes and Maggie McPherson. IADIS International Conference, e-Learning 2010 Freiburg, Germany, 26 - 29 July 2010, 169-176.

Digital Storytelling is an innovative pedagogical approach that has the potential to engage learners in... more Digital Storytelling is an innovative pedagogical approach that has the potential to engage learners in student-centered learning, and enhance learning outcomes across the curriculum. This paper describes how to develop a framework for advancing e-Learning systems through digital storytelling. It starts with an overview of digital storytelling and the learning environments, also describes some current models of digital storytelling. Furthermore, the paper discusses the benefits of digital storytelling in the classroom, and concludes with an overview of the research that needs to be conducted to test the efficacy of the proposed e-Learning Digital Storytelling framework on several dimensions.

Stockholm Syndrome as Vernacular Resource

by Tony Christensen

Forthcoming in "The Sociological Quarterly." Co-authored with Michael Adorjan, Benjamin Kelly and Dorothy Pawluch.

First coined in 1973 to describe a pathological response on the part of individuals involved in kidnapping or... more First coined in 1973 to describe a pathological response on the part of individuals involved in kidnapping or hostage-taking situations, the label “Stockholm syndrome” has since been used in a much broader range of contexts including with reference to wife battering and human trafficking, and in debates about gender and race politics as well as international relations. Tracing the domain expansion of Stockholm syndrome since the 1970s, we examine how the label offers claims-makers a device for neutralizing the arguments of those with opposing points of view, and in so doing reinforces collective narratives and “formula stories” of victimization.

Die ‚grandiose Relativität‘ – Zur Deutung des Todes der Charite (Apul. met. 8,1-14)

by Matthias Stern

Paper from a seminar on Apuleius' "Metamorphoses" held by Dr. Marcus Beck at the Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg in 2010.

Following the research on the tale about Charite‘s death in Apul. met. 8,1-14, one is able to find many and very... more Following the research on the tale about Charite‘s death in Apul. met. 8,1-14, one is able to find many and very different interpretations of its message.

In this paper I made use of a rather constructivist approach in interpreting Apuleius and developed the thesis that the author deliberately confuses his audience and thoroughly refuses to present a message of his tale. Apuleius does so by:
- purposefully loosing the tale‘s connection the rest of the novel,
- s y s t e m a t i c a l l y  establishing discordant or even contradicting pictures of his figures in intra-, extra-, and intertextual ways,
- and also by wittingly undermining the sub-narrator‘s authority.

So, if one is allowed to modify a statement of Fuhrmann‘s about Tacitus, one can allude to the story of Charite‘s death as a tale of ‚profuse relativity‘.

Institutions Are What Actors Make of Them: The Changing Construction of Firm-Level Employment Relations in Spain

by Marco Hauptmeier

British Journal of Industrial Relations. Forthcoming. 2012

This article analyses the variation and change in firm-level employment relations in Spain between the transition to... more This article analyses the variation and change in firm-level employment relations in Spain between the transition to democracy and the global financial crisis. Using three auto companies as case studies, I address a crucial puzzle in the institutional literature on comparative employment relations: How do employment relations change and vary, even when national employment relations institutions do not? This article argues that differences in actor ideologies shape the construction of national institutions at the firm level, which explains change and variation of employment relations over time and across cases. The study identifies four drivers of ideological change—generational change, leadership change, identity work and diffusion — that impact the variation and change in employment relations at the firm level.

Primordialism, Constructivism, Instrumentalism and Rwanda

by Naomi Weir

Saving identity from postmodernism? The normalization of constructivism in International Relations

by Nik Hynek

co-authored with Andrea Teti, published in "Contemporary Political Theory", Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 171-199. ISSN 1470-8914

Lost in translation – A methodological critique of constructivist norm research

by Matthias Hofferberth

Paper presented at the ISA Annual Convention 2012, 1-4 April, in San Diego, co-Authored with Christian Weber. Please do not quote without the permission of the authors – Comments are most welcome!

Under the headline of “explaining change”, scholars in the 1990s rediscovered the importance of “non-material factors”... more Under the headline of “explaining change”, scholars in the 1990s rediscovered the importance of “non-material factors” in International Relations. Questions about the creation, the evolution, and the impact of norms obtained a prominent place in constructivist theorizing. Norm research seemed to offer the most promising alternative to the rationalist mainstream. We argue, however, that constructivist norm research entailed major conceptual and methodological problems which have not yet been spelled out comprehensively. Although norms were introduced as the product of social interaction, empirical studies defined them as expressions of a “given identity” with specifiable “regulative effects”. The insight that norms are potentially contested and thus constantly renegotiated through creative action has been lost in translation. Most authors adopted a structuralist framework explaining how norms caused a certain “behavior”, putting norm research at odds with the epistemological assumptions of previous constructivist works. By reconstructing the conceptual and methodological decisions of constructivist norm research, we show how the metatheoretical challenge to rationalism has been narrowed down to a neo-positivist research agenda. We propose to re-conceptualize the connection between norms and action from a relationalist perspective and outline an interpretive methodology that allows to deliver on the ambitious promise to explain processes of normative change in international politics.

The Normativity of Belief and Self-Fulfilling Normative Beliefs

by Nishi Shah

Argues that the proposition ‘There is at least one true normative proposition,’ like the proposition ‘Someone is... more Argues that the proposition ‘There is at least one true normative proposition,’ like the proposition ‘Someone is thinking,’ is true anytime anyone believes it, and, in an important sense, it is made true by someone’s believing it. Although this claim may appear to express the anti-realist position that normative facts are constructed out of our attitudes or judgments, I argue that the key premise from which it is derived is inconsistent with a fully general constructivist position about normative facts. The paper concludes by rehearsing the argument for this premise (originally presented in ‘How Truth Governs Belief’) and defending the argument against two types of objections that recently have been leveled against it.

Leaf Map: Environmental Art Museum Program

by Stacey Marie Garcia

Dynamiques d'intégration et de désintégration dans une communauté de sécurité : la projection européenne et transatlantique de l'Espagne

by Niels Lachmann

PhD dissertation (in French), defended 30 November 2007 at Sciences Po Bordeaux

The dissertation analyses the European and North Atlantic dimensions of Spain's external action after democratisation... more The dissertation analyses the European and North Atlantic dimensions of Spain's external action after democratisation started in the mid-1970s. It makes an argument for considering changes through a constructivist perspective, namely the integration in a security community, but also points out that such communities are not harmonious, to which the Spanish case provides a striking example.

Graphic Language and Constructivism: a direct relation

by Janayna Velozo de Souza

At 17º N Design (17th National Meeting of Design Students) – Florianópolis, Brazil

This article presents a study of graphic language used on school’s environment, through the analysis of the materials... more This article presents a study of graphic language used on school’s environment, through the analysis of the materials used on the public municipal schools. This analysis will be done throught two analytic models: Twyman (1979), Ashwin (1979), Bertin (1967) e Goldsmith (1984), and based on the pedagogic line followed by the school, the constritivism. For this purpose some images of the 2nd grade geography book used by the teaches of Henfil School were chosen, as well as some wall maps. The aim of this analysis is to understand how different kinds of graphic languages are being used and organized in the academic environment, and if their elements are aligned with the pedagogic plan followed by the school.

[Full Article in Portuguese]

world society social differentiation and time

by Oliver Kessler