Cognitive achievements

The purpose of the present work is to provide a new taxonomy for cognitive
enhancement, the practical worth of which is demonstrated in the course of
an evaluation of four cognitively affecting activities, with reference to
wellbeing. As such, there are three main sections: Section II, wherein the
novel taxonomy is presented and justified in opposition primarily to the
prominent ‘therapeutic’ framework used in cognitive enhancement
literature; Section III, wherein, to clarify the conception of wellbeing which
is used in later evaluations, two prominent theories of wellbeing (Hedonism
and Desire-Fulfilment Theory (DFT)) are compared and a case is made for
using a version of DFT which I have augmented (DFT+); and finally
Section IV, wherein the new taxonomy is employed along with the DFT+ to
evaluate four cognitively affecting activities, two real (diet and education)
and two fictional interventions devised for this paper (a drug ‘Hythlosite’
and an implant ‘Cognito’). It is concluded that, by using the taxonomy and DFT+, rudimentary methods of enhancing cognition are preferable to more sophisticated ones.

Flipped classroom has been considered an innovative movement in education. Therefore, the aim of the current research paper was to investigate its impact on students’ academic achievement based on the 6th levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The study context was higher education students in the Faculty of Education at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia during the course of e-Learning (ETEC331). The current study implemented a quasi-experimental design to answer the research questions. In this approach, students were divided into two groups. The first group studied using lecture-based approach (n=33), while the other one implemented the flipped classroom strategy (n=29). Using Independent Samples t-Test, the results indicated that the flipped classroom has significantly impacted the students’ high-order thinking skills, which are applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. No significant correlations were established in terms of low-order thinking skills that are remembering, and understanding. Based on these findings, the current study suggests embracing the flipped classroom approach by faculty members and teachers can enhance the higher education students’ high-order thinking skills. Further, future studies and directions are proposed.
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يعد الصف المقلوب Flipped Classroom أحد أبرز التوجهات الحديثة في مجال تكنولوجيا التعليم. لذا هدفت الدراسة الحالية إلى التعرف على أثر هذه الاستراتيجية على مستوى تحصيل عينة من طلاب كلية التربية حسب تصنيف بلوم Bloom للمهارات المعرفية (التذكر، الفهم، التطبيق، التحليل، التركيب، التقويم) بجامعة الملك عبدالعزيز في إطار مقرر التعليم الالكتروني. ولتحقيق هذا الهدف استخدمت الدراسة الحالية المنهج شبه التجريبي، حيث تم تقسيم عينة الدراسة إلى مجموعتين أحدهما ضابطه تم تدريسها باستخدام أسلوب المحاضرة التقليدي إضافة إلى تزويد الطلاب بمصادر الكترونية للتعلم بعد المحاضرة الرسمية، والأخرى تجريبية، تم تطبيق استراتيجية الصف المقلوب عليها باستخدام مقاطع الفيديو التعليمي الذي يتم تزويد الطلاب به قبل وقت كاف من المحاضرة الرسمية، وجعل وقت المحاضرة الرسمي للنقاش وتفاعل الطلاب حول موضوع المحاضرة الرئيس. وباستخدام اختبارات للمجموعات المستقلة، أشارت النتائج إلى أنه لا يوجد أثر لتوظيف استراتيجية الصف المقلوب على مستوى تحصيل الطلاب عند مستويي التذكر والفهم (المستويات المعرفية الدنيا). بينما كان لهذه الاستراتيجية أثر على مستوى تحصيل الطلاب عند المستويات المعرفية العليا (التطبيق، والتحليل، والتركيب، والتقويم). وبناء هذه النتائج، توصي الدراسة الحالية باستخدام استراتيجية الصف المقلوب التي قد تساعد الطلاب وخاصة في المراحل التعليمية المتقدمة، كالجامعية والدراسات العليا، على تطوير مهارات معرفية عليا، حيث يبدوا أن استخدام هذه الاستراتيجية قد يتيح للطلاب قضاء المزيد من الوقت في التعلم والتحضير المسبق للمحاضرات والدروس عن طريق مشاهدة مقاطع الفيديو المسجلة والتي تم تزويدهم بها مسبقا. هذا بدوره قد يعطي وقت المحاضرة الأصلي مزيدا من الثراء والنقاش واستخدام مهارات التفكير العليا لحل المشكلات المرتبطة بالموضوع بفاعلية أكبر من الطريقة التقليدية.

A sample of 120 Senior Secondary school Class Three Biology students from four randomly selected schools in Ekiti State ,Nigeria was divided into two – experimental and control groups. Teaching package from two chapters in College Biology were used in teaching the experimental group by a laboratory method while the control group was taught by the lecture method. Data was collected using an Achievement Test for Nutrition and Ecology (ATNE) designed by the researcher. Means, standard deviation and t-test statistics were used in analysing the results. The two methods were effective in teaching biology, the experimental group performed better than their counterparts in the control group. The study also revealed that male students prefer lecture method to laboratory method when compared with their female counterparts. On the other hand, the females in the control group performed better than males of the same group.

According to robust versions of virtue epistemology, the reason why knowledge is incompatible with certain kinds of luck is that justified true beliefs must be achieved by the agent (Sosa 2007, 2009, 2011; Greco 2007, 2010, 2012). In a recent set of papers, Duncan Pritchard (2010a, 2010b, 2012, Forthcoming) has challenged these sorts of views, advancing different arguments against them. I confront one of them here, which is constructed upon scenarios affected by environmental luck, such as the fake barn cases. My objection to Pritchard differs from those offered until now by Carter (2011, 2014), Jarvis (2013) or Littlejohn (2014) in that it is based on the claim that cognitive performances may not be properly considered as achievements beyond the scope of the agent’s intentional action—an idea that confers more explanatory power on my argument, and contributes to stregthening links between knowledge and agency.

Duncan Pritchard (2008, 2009, 2010, forthcoming) has argued for an elegant solution to what have been called the value problems for knowledge at the forefront of recent literature on epistemic value. As Pritchard sees it, these problems dissolve once it is recognized that that it is understanding-why, not knowledge, that bears the distinctive epistemic value often (mistakenly) attributed to knowledge. A key element of Pritchard’s revisionist argument is the claim that understanding-why always involves what he calls strong cognitive achievement—viz., cognitive achievement that consists always in either (i) the overcoming of a significant obstacle or  (ii) the exercise of a significant level of cognitive ability. After outlining Pritchard’s argument, we show (contra Pritchard) that understanding-why does not essentially involve strong cognitive achievement. Interestingly, in the cases in which understanding-why is distinctively valuable, it is (we argue) only because there is sufficiently rich objectual understanding in the background. If that’s right, then a plausible revisionist solution to the value problems must be sensitive to different kinds of understanding and what makes them valuable, respectively.