Exploratory Considerations in Chemistry Education—Didactic Modelling for Complexity in Students’ Discussions

Research has shown the importance of dealing with real-life issues and of enabling student encounters with complexity in chemistry education in order to increase student participation. Therefore, this study aims to analyse how complexity evolves in students’ discussions and how this complexity relates to aspects of tentativeness in chemistry. In the study, we analyse how a previously developed didactic model can be refined from the students’ considerations evolving from the present context. The study was conducted as an in situ study in one upper-secondary school. Students’ discussions were recorded on video. The recordings were transcribed and analysed using deliberative educational questions. Two different kinds of considerations emerged in the students’ discussions: factual and exploratory considerations. While factual considerations are an important element of chemistry education, students also need to encounter exploratory considerations. The study proposes a didactic model useful for teachers in didactic analysis and design of activities aiming to support students to unfold complexity through exploratory considerations. One implication is to base activities on real-life issues in order to invite the unpredictability needed for experiencing complexity and the exploratory nature of chemistry. These issues enable students to experience aspects of tentativeness in chemistry and thereby increase their understanding of NOS and chemistry as a knowledge building practice. Furthermore, this might also increase student participation in chemistry education.

Integrate

The projects selected for this publication show a range of approaches to making energy, carbon emissions, and their underpinning principles explicit in studio design work. We hope the selection not only inspires and stimulates, but also encourages both novice and expert in their search for future-proof architectures. Without a doubt, we are convinced that now is the time to challenge conventional norms and explore the potentials of such principles, not only to elevate design quality in building practice, but to benefit global society as a whole. Für dieses Buch wurden Arbeiten ausgewählt, die unterschiedliche Ansätze in der Umsetzung der Themen Energie, CO2-Emissionen und den dahinter liegenden Prinzipien im Entwurfsprozess thematisieren. Wir hoffen, dass die Arbeiten sowohl AnfängerInnen und ExpertInnen bei der Suche nach zukunftsfähigen Architekturen anregen und ermutigen. Zweifellos ist es an der Zeit, bestehende Ansätze zu hinterfragen und neue Prinzipien zu testen, die unter Berücksichtigung der gestalterischen Qualität das Potenzial haben, unserer Gesellschaft als Ganzes zugutezukommen.

Making Modern Knowledge of Traditional Carpentry in China and Japan: Myth, Reality and Transmission

Carpentry skills were among the most important elements of building practice in premodern China and Japan, and traditional carpentry skills continue in use in both countries to the present day. Although their importance has been greatly marginalised in building practice, in both countries some master carpenters have gained public recognition. This paper compares the modernisation of traditional building knowledge in China and Japan, and the fate of carpentry knowledge as the building industry and the formal discipline of architecture evolved. It distinguishes three phases in this historical trajectory: the period during the introduction of Western architecture as a discipline, when traditional knowledge was rejected or used selectively in the construction of national histories of building; the period when modern technology took over the main building industry and traditional craftsmen had to confront the realities of new technologies of production; and the period, still unfolding today, where heritage movements are promoting the recuperation and development of traditional craft knowledge. For each country, the paper traces how the nation’s history of building was selectively fashioned into an orthodox narrative; explores the content of key early technical works (for China, the official handbook Yingzao fashi [Building standards] and the craftsman’s manual Lu Ban jing [Carpenters’ Canon], and for Japan kikujutsu [literally, “compass and ruler techniques”] books); and shows how a talented master carpenter succeeded in creating a niche for himself within the contemporary heritage culture. It concludes that differences in the cultural respect accorded to carpentry knowledge in the two countries are rooted in the contrasting status of craftsmen in the premodern era.

Assessing cooling energy of insulated building built in tropical country

Global warming is a huge issue and has become a global concern lately. The global warming issue is gaining more attention on reducing fossil energy since fossil energy has significantly exacerbated global warming. Since housing sectors are consuming significant fossil fuel energy, reducing housing energy consumption is necessary. One option discussed in this paper is to reduce the load on the air conditioner (AC) by applying insulation to the building. Reducing the AC energy will reduce the total energy consumption in the buildings. Building practice in a mild climate has shown that good insulation can reduce heating or cooling energy in the building. But using insulation in housing is not a common practice in Indonesia’s construction sectors. Simulating the use of insulation in housing will show how much energy reduction will be obtained, especially for air conditioning energy. The analysis in this study found that thermal comfort is related to air temperature and relative humidity in the room. This article will study the reliability of using insulation in buildings to reduce energy consumption and provide thermal comfort for the occupant.

Heat flow metering in building practice - A critical field study for a large industrial building complex

Increasingly complex concepts for the heating and cooling supply of buildings require both intelligent and transparent operational management strategies. One way of sequencing and coordinating different generator components is to include information about heat flows on the consumption side. In addition to heat meters, modern pumps also provide heat flow detection. The present study compares the heat flow detection via heat meters and pumps for multiple hydraulic circuits in the operating phase of a large industrial demonstration object. In particular, the influence of typical errors in the installation of the temperature measurement and their elimination are quantified.

Students’ Perception towards Green Building Practices

Green building practice has been gaining its popularity nowadays due to its significant benefits in protecting environment from threat caused by construction activities. It appears that there is a poor perception among construction players about green building in Indonesia. The students also play an important role in the development of construction especially green building in the future. This study aims to analyze the students’ perceptions of civil engineering and architecture students of University of Sriwijaya towards green building practices. The questionnaires were used for data collection which covered the basic understandings, criteria, benefits, and challenges of green building. There were about 240 respondents consisting of 153 from civil engineering and 87 respondents from architecture. The validity and reliability tests were conducted. The results showed that there is a positive impact on the perceptions among students towards green building adoption. Based on the analysis, the major benefit perceived by students was to reduce construction waste with a mean value of 4.67. Therefore, the reduction of construction waste will minimize the environmental damage and conserve natural resources. It was also found that the lack of knowledge from project team members about green building became the most significant challenge towards green building practices based on students’ perception. This study could offer valuable information related to benefits and challenges towards green building implementation among university students so that university could improve teaching materials and methods by applying the current issues in the construction sector.

Pedagogical Transformation and Teacher Learning for Knowledge Building: Turning COVID-19 Challenges into Opportunities

This paper reports on the continual effort of the Knowledge Building Community (KBC) connecting teachers within and across schools for knowledge creation and community building during the COVID-19 disruptions. During this crisis, schools around the world are challenged with the issues of implementing online learning. Three areas of misalignment were identified: disjoint in learning with home-school separation, piecemeal technologies to mimic physical teaching, and disconnect between teacher professional development and classroom practices and we discussed emerging realignment efforts for transformative learning. Through analyzing the three case examples of how teachers responded to COVID-19 challenges in inter-related areas of curriculum, pedagogy, technology and community, we identified several themes on emerging alignments conducive for transformative pedagogy and technology through community advancement. These themes include: innovating practice around the centrality of ideas; perceiving knowledge building as pervasive; transformative use of technology, and symmetrical advancement of knowledge. These case examples show that in these disruptive times, the teachers were more actively building new practices supported by community dynamics and systemic processes of the KBC. Consequently, the interactions between stakeholders shifted from disjointed relations in different hierarchical levels to a networked community of people, ideas, and resources, and teachers continually advancing their knowledge-building practice in these challenging times.

Russian engineers – builders of banks in Manchuria

The article tells us about Russian engineers of different specializations, who worked in the north-east of China, in Manchuria, in the first half of the 20th century, and whose professional activities were related to building banking institutions. It provides brief information about V.I. Baby, S.A. Vensan, G.V. Golovanov, P. L. Egorov, V.I. Kalabanovsky, Yu.K. KeroOr, I.I. Korablev, V.V. Koryagin, S.I. Maslenikov, S.N. Peshkov, V.A. Rassushin, P. S. Safaryants, D.V. Uskov, B.A. Chernyavsky and P.A. Shchelkov. The article highlights the impact of their activities on the development of architecture of financial institutions, as well as on introduction of engineering innovations into the building practice in Manchuria.