Abstracts - Earli

Plastic general abilities: The conception that bridges the gap between the new goals and oldpractices of educationBenő Csapó, Szeged University, HungaryActing successfully in an ever-changing, knowledge-rich environment requires a new kind ofadaptivity of the knowledge that individuals master at school. Although generally the new missionof schooling has been identified, educational systems still are far form implementing it.Frameworks that provide theoretical background for designing the educational processes aresystematically avoiding the conception of intelligence, or general abilities. A model will bepresented which integrates three aspects of curriculum development: (1) psychological aspects; (2)the cultural aspects; and (3) the disciplinary aspects. To master long-lasting broadly applicableadaptive knowledge, in each teaching and learning processes all three aspects should be taken intoaccount. This model will highlight some shortcomings of the present mainstream educationalthinking. Some international or national frameworks (e.g. PISA frameworks, the DESECOproject) will be reviewed with respect to how they deal with the mission of education in aknowledge-based society. These frameworks usually propose general goals compatible with therequirements of the adaptivity of knowledge but when they turn to the specific aims and/ormethods to fulfill these goals, the content of learning is often over-emphasized at the expense ofgeneral abilities. An unbalanced use of some conceptions (e.g. expertise, novice-expertdifferences, and conceptual change) does not help. Without the conception of general cognitiveabilities the adaptivity of knowledge will not be improved. Some theoretical orientations (e.g.problem solving as application of knowledge in new context, transfer as preparation for futurelearning) will be reviewed that may provide a basis for the enhancement of general abilities withinthe school curricula. Some practical content-based program (e.g. CASE) will be used to illustratethe integrated approaches. Without a thorough design of the teaching-learning processes somepopular methods (e.g. problem based learning) may fail.O 1001 September 2007 08:30 - 10:30Room: 0.81 OrtvaySymposiumLearning with dynamic visualisations (Part I): when and why dynamicvisualisations helpChair: Mireille Betrancourt, University of Geneva, SwitzerlandOrganiser: Mireille Betrancourt, University of Geneva, SwitzerlandOrganiser: Katharina Scheiter, University of Tübingen, GermanyOrganiser: Huib Tabbers, Erasmus University Rotterdam, NetherlandsDiscussant: Katharina Scheiter, University of Tübingen, GermanyWith recent technology advances, computers now offer animated graphic devices, which seemattractive and efficient to designers of instructional materials. However, the research carried out sofar failed to establish clear and systematic advantages of using animated graphics over static oneson learning. This symposium presents experimental studies that address the issue of when dynamicvisualisations are better than static visualisations and why. First Moreno & Marley replicate themultimedia principle, showing that both animated and static visualisations improved– 793 –