scholarly journals Mathematical Literacy as a school subject: Failing the progressive vision?

Pythagoras ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 0 (64) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iben Maj Christiansen
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Reflective Knowledge ◽  
Mathematical Literacy ◽  
School Subject ◽  
New School ◽  
Know How ◽  
Progressive Agenda

The National Curriculum Statement (NCS) for Mathematical Literacy (ML) is part of a progressive agenda for increased democracy and social justice. It claims that the new school subject Mathematical Literacy will provide learners with awareness and understanding of the role that mathematics plays in the modern world. However, the analysis developed in this paper indicates that the superficial engagement with complex applications of mathematics implied by the ML NCS is not likely to live up to its claim. In addition, we do not understand enough about the connections between mathematical, technological and reflective knowledge/knowing/competencies to know how to facilitate the awareness and understanding that is part of the vision of the ML NCS.

scholarly journals The geotectonic evolution of Olympus Mt and its mythological analogue

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 574
Author(s):  
I.D. Mariolakos ◽  
Ε. Manoutsoglou
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Evolution ◽  
Modern World ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Know How ◽  
Tectonic Processes ◽  
Of Greece

Mt Olympus is the highest mountain of Greece (2918 m.) and one of the most important and well known locations of the modern world. This is related to its great cultural significance, since the ancient Greeks considered this mountain as the habitat of their Gods, ever since Zeus became the dominant figure of the ancient Greek religion and consequently the protagonist of the cultural regime. Before the generation of Zeus, Olympus was inhabited by the generation of Cronus. In this paper we shall refer to a lesser known mythological reference which, in our opinion, presents similarities to the geotectonic evolution of the wider area of Olympus. According to Apollodorus and other great authors, the God Poseidon and Iphimedia had twin sons, the Aloades, namely Otus and Ephialtes, who showed a tendency to gigantism. When they reached the age of nine, they were about 16 m. tall and 4.5 m. wide. Having then realized their powers, because of their gigantic proportions, they decided to climb Olympus and fight the Gods, exile Zeus and the others, and wed two Goddesses. Otus was to marry Hera and Ephialtes Artemis. But they did not know how to climb such a high mountain, so they decided to construct a “ladder”, by putting mount Ossa on top of mount Olympus and mount Pelion on top of Ossa. This description coincides with the geological and tectonic evolution of the wider Olympus area. But, these complex tectonic processes were completed about 8 – 10 m.a., i.e. millions of years before the appearance of humans, therefore it is impossible that these morphotectonic processes were witnessed by man, so the similarities between the myth of Aloades and the tectonic evolution of the area must be purely coincidental. But are they, or is there more here?

Disrupting the paradigm: “Children need to learn how to learn”

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 6-20
Author(s):  
Beverley Clark ◽  
Hilda Hughson
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Early Childhood Teachers ◽  
Know How ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Children And Childhood ◽  
Te Whāriki

The views that early childhood teachers have of children and childhood are informed by the rhetoric and theories of early childhood, their cultures, life stories, philosophies, and ongoing practices as teachers. In Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Whāriki, the legislated national curriculum for early childhood education, further guides early childhood teachers’ practice and frames teachers’ image of the young child. This article confronts and critiques a short phrase that is an addition to the revised Te Whāriki curriculum document, specifically the phrase that children “need to learn how to learn”. This phrase implies that young children do not know how to learn. The implication in this utterance belies the intense drive that children have to learn, to play, to explore, and to understand as they grow in strength in their sense of self within their whānau and communities. We care about the image that this presents to student teachers, to teachers. We challenge whether the notion that children need to learn how to learn is the image that early childhood teachers hold, or want to hold, of children. We argue that this phrase and image of the child as needing to learn how to learn is a loose thread in the whāriki that potentially undermines and is counter to the more dominant concept within Te Whāriki of the competent child.

TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY - A NEW SCHOOL SUBJECT MEETS REALITY

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rune Graabaek ◽  
Morten Larsen ◽  
Natasja Simone Jakobsen ◽  
Janni Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Technological Literacy ◽  
School Subject ◽  
New School

scholarly journals Perchance to Dream: Pathology, Pharmacology, and Politics in a 24-Hour Economy

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-305
Author(s):  
IAIN BRASSINGTON
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The Other ◽  
Share Price ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Health It ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Lack Of Sleep

Abstract:The lack of sleep is a significant problem in the modern world. The structure of the economy means that 24 hour working is required from some of us, sometimes because we are expected to be able to respond to share-price fluctuations on the other side of the planet, sometimes because we are expected to serve kebabs to people leaving nightclubs, and sometimes because lives depend on it. The immediate effect is that we feel groggy; but there may be much more sinister long-term effects of persistent sleep deprivation and disruption, the evidence for which is significant, and worth taking seriously. If sleeplessness has a serious impact on health, it represents a notable public health problem. In this article, I sketch that problem, and look at how exploiting the pharmacopoeia (or a possible future pharmacopoeia) might allow us to tackle it. I also suggest that using drugs to mitigate or militate against sleeplessness is potentially morally and politically fraught, with implications for social justice. Hence, whatever reasons we have to use drugs to deal with the problems of sleeplessness, we ought to be careful.

Social Justice

2019 ◽  
pp. 18-34
Author(s):  
Roy E. Gane
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Power ◽  
World View ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Fair Representation ◽  
Distribution Of Resources ◽  
Resident Aliens

This chapter surveys biblical laws relevant to social power and the distribution of resources and addresses challenges of assessing the legislation and finding potential for the application of its principles within the modern world. The goal of social justice in biblical law is not to overturn the existing social order but to preserve pre-existing privileges of individuals within their respective socioeconomic statuses. Thus, laws protect and aid persons who are socially, legally, and/or economically vulnerable (e.g. poor, widows, fatherless, and resident aliens), and remedy problems of those who are already suffering from loss of their status (e.g. debt slaves). Biblical law fosters a society in which people enjoy fair representation and have access to resources with which to independently support themselves. Social justice is based on ethical values that must be taught, encouraged, and accepted as part of the collective world view; it is not enough to legislate and enforce them.

scholarly journals Against the Modern World

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-110
Author(s):  
Ali Hassan Zaidi
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
North America ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Modern World ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Perennial Philosophy ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Muslims In Europe ◽  
Muslim Scholars

One effect of 9/11 has been that Muslim voices, which until then had beenmostly ignored, are increasingly reaching a wider audience of other Muslimsand non-Muslims. In Europe and North America, this has meant that selfidentified“progressive” Muslim scholars who emphasize social justice, aswell as “traditional” Muslims who emphasize Islam’s spiritual or esotericdimension, have been contributing in a much more vocal manner to the contemporaryinterpretation of what it means to be Muslim. Since most of theleading figures presented herein are Sufi Muslims of a particular strand ofesoteric Islam, this book helps fill an important lacuna concerning the developmentof the traditionalist position – a position that has been voiced bysuch Muslim scholars as Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Martin Lings.Sedgwick promotes the book as a biography of René Guénon (1886-1951) and an intellectual history of the traditionalist movement that heinaugurated in the early twentieth century. Guénon’s movement combineselements of perennial philosophy, which holds that certain perennial problemsrecur in humanity’s philosophical concerns, and that this perennialwisdom is now only found in the traditional forms of the world religions ...

scholarly journals Engaging with ‘Caste’: Curriculum, Pedagogy and Reception

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-110
Author(s):  
Devika Mittal
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Education System ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
The Social ◽  
Curriculum Framework

Caste has been a persisting form of stratification that continues to evade equality and social justice in Indian society. Among the routes to tackle the menace of caste has been the education system. In this regard, the National Curriculum Framework 2005 came with a resolute to engage the students with different issues, including that of caste with a critical and empathic eye. This paper locates the challenges to this curriculum by focusing on the pedagogy and reception of the curriculum. In doing so, it argues that the challenges emanate from the social identities and lived realities of the students and the teachers.

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