C Slade

Modeling the development process of dialogical critical thinking in pupils aged 10 to 12 years

This research project investigated manifestations of critical thinking in pupils 10 to 12 years of age during their group discussions held in the context of Philosophy for Children Adapted to Mathematics. The objective of the research project was to examine, through the pupils’ discussions, the development of dialogical critical thinking processes. The research was conducted during an entire school year. The research method was based on the Grounded Theory approach; the material used consisted of transcripts of verbal exchanges among the pupils (at the beginning, middle and end of the school year). Analysis of the transcripts revealed that: (1) critical thinking appears to the extent that a ‘dia-logue’ is established among pupils; (2) on the cognitive level, dialogical critical thinking is comprised of four thinking modes: logical, creative, responsible and meta-cognitive; and (3) on the epistemological level, dialogical critical thinking is only manifested in a context where egocentricity of perspective and relativism of beliefs are transcended.

Seeing Reasons: Visual Argumentation in Advertisements

It is a commonplace of discussion about the impact of visual media, whether visual images in print, televisual images or the images of the internet, to claim that it functions irrationally. This paper argues against that claim. First, the assumptions about the connection between rationality and linear, written, unemotional prose are unjustified. Secondly, using analytic techniques analogous to those used in identifying argumentation in verbal text, is possible to discern arguments in visual text, in particular in image based advertisements.

Reasons to buy: the logic of advertisements

This paper argues that advertisements have been wrongly conceived as appealing to the irrational. Advertisements contain a structure of argumentation, but often far more complex than would initially appear. Advertisements give reasons for consumers to choose products, voters to elect a candidate, or citizens to alter their behavior. The way they do so is to best explained in terms of their argumentative structure.

Civic Integration in the Netherlands

It was in the home of tolerance and multiculturalism, the Netherlands, that new European forms of testing for citizenship first came into prominence. The Dutch case has received a great deal of attention, both scholarly and popular. As one commentator puts it: Dutch integration policy has been well documented and one can safely say that, for a medium-sized country, the Netherlands is one of the most over-studied cases in the international migration literature. (Vink, 2007, 337) This chapter is not yet another study in the field. Rather, it places the Dutch case in context. The Netherlands were so widely regarded as leaders in the field of tests for civic integration that when Australia was considering introducing a test for citizenship in 2006, the Government dispatched Immigration officials to the Hague.1 The Dutch case is particularly informative since the Netherlands were regarded as the European bastion of toleration and multiculturalism through the second half of the twentieth century. The seismic shift became most evident in the years post-9/11. Following the murder of the film maker Theo van Gogh in 2004, there was a rise of suspicion of Islamic minorities in the Netherlands, the murder sending shockwaves through Dutch society.

Shifting Landscapes of Citizenship

What it is to be a citizen is not a simple matter. For an individual to be a citizen is for that person to belong in a particular way to a community, be it a ‘city’ (as in the origins of the term), a nation state or some other broad grouping such as the European Union (EU). That an individual is a citizen of a community is a matter of law. However, the relationship also carries cultural connotations. Being a citizen implies that an individual shares certain beliefs with, and behaves as a member of, the community. The beginning of the twenty-first century has seen a number of nation states impose — or refine — tests to ensure that citizens to whom they grant the formal legal status have appropriate cultural attributes. Not only have the classical countries of immigration, such as Australia, Canada and the United States, strengthened or reintroduced stringent tests for migrants to become citizens, but the countries of Western Europe have, for the first time, also turned to testing regimes. Since the beginning of the century, the Netherlands and Germany have imposed tests of cultural knowledge for new citizens; the Netherlands has developed a civic integration regime which prospective migrants take before arrival; and the United Kingdom has revised its requirements of cultural knowledge and toughened its stance on visas and migration (Chapter 6). In a time of globalisation, it is remarkable that so many nations are insisting on nationally based cultural attributes for would-be citizens.

Media and citizenship: transnational television cultures reshaping political identities in the European Union

The EU-funded project entitled Media and Citizenship: Transnational Television Cultures Reshaping Political Identities in Europe provides the first empirical study of viewing of Arabic language television in Europe. These seven papers report on focus groups in seven EU capitals in which Arabic speakers discuss their citizenship in the light of their media use and their adopted national cultures.

Telenovelas and soap operas : negotiating reality from the periphery

Latin American telenovelas, like the Australasian soap operas, have been globally successful. It is a remarkable feature of this success that it has reversed the flow from the centres of production in Europe and the United States. I argue that we should assess these products from the ‘periphery’ in their own terms, and not through the lens of the industries of the heartland. I lake the Mexican case as a specific example, and turn then to comparisons between the Australasian soap industry and that in Latin America.

From Creativity to Enterprise

Creative industries sustain the economy in multiple ways. The creative economy is a driver of growth globally. It is critical to the success of the South West of the United Kingdom (UK). Creative industries derive from technological innovation combined with the critical and creative skills developed through the humanities. Taking as a case study creative industries in the South West of England, and a small creatively focussed university, this chapter argues that creativity and the humanities have a distinctive role in the entrepreneurial city region. It addresses the way that Bath Spa University aims to bring together cutting-edge technology with training in arts and the humanities.

Small, Regional and Global: Bath Spa University

Internationalisation is a particular challenge for a small, arts-focused university such as Bath Spa University (BSU). The university has no prospect of entering the international rankings, no established partnerships and a boutique offer. In 2011, international students comprised only 1.4 % of the University’s student population, fewer than any other university in the United Kingdom (UK). This chapter describes the strategies the University developed to remedy that situation, including the Global Academy of Liberal Arts (GALA), a network of high-level liberal arts colleges; Bath Spa Global, a joint venture pathway college; and a new international campaign which more than tripled BSU’s international intake in two years.

‘Arabic is important to me’: Making Sense of Media

The survey and television diaries described television channels and genres watched by Arabic speakers in six European capitals. This chapter and the next build on these quantitative results and draw on qualitative data derived from extended focus group work with over 250 Arabic speakers. Six focus groups of six participants were held in each of our six capitals with a further six groups in Nicosia in Cyprus. Focus groups discussed how important media was in their lives, and their use of the media in understanding national and international events.