https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136262 2026-04-09T08:34:07Z 2026-04-09T08:34:07Z Pisani, Keith https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136266 2025-06-09T05:50:52Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Ethical self-understanding as a dimension of personal autonomy Authors: Pisani, Keith Abstract: Over the course of his career, Jürgen Habermas has developed several conceptions of autonomy, most notably moral, private, and public autonomy.. Despite this interest, he has never engaged methodically with the idea of personal autonomy. Notwithstanding this absence, his work contains some ideas that are suggestive of the idea of personal autonomy and that can be developed into a coherent and comprehensive theory. As I state below, his underdeveloped idea of a conscious conduct of life (bewuβte Lebensführung) approximates significantly contemporary conceptions of personal autonomy. A close reading of his work suggests that the idea of a consciously lived life is composed of three interrelated ideas: ethical self-understanding, strong evaluation, and the recognition of participants in communication as competent communicative agents who are expected to speak for themselves. The idea of a conscious conduct of life can be developed into a multidimensional theory of personal autonomy, with each of the three constitutive ideas developed into specific dimensions.; In this article, I will develop Habermas’s idea of ethical self-understanding, understood as a dimension of a Habermas-inspired theory of personal autonomy as a conscious conduct of life. I will start by first situating the idea of a conscious conduct of life within Habermas’s framework of practical reason and briefly explain the above-proposed three dimensions of a conscious conduct of life. Following this, I will then explain what Habermas understands by ethical self-understanding, and by drawing from the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, whom Habermas cites in one of his brief explications of ethical self-understanding, I will then develop the idea of ethical self-understanding in more detail. Finally, by drawing from the work of Rahel Jaeggi, I will develop two conceptions of two defective modes of ethical self-understanding that tend to close off the possibility of leading a conscious conduct of life.

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Azzopardi, Marthese Camilleri, Liberato https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136265 2025-06-09T05:47:25Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Examining the cognitive demands in biology and physics practical advanced level examinations in Malta Authors: Azzopardi, Marthese; Camilleri, Liberato Abstract: Cognitive learning is shown as a six-level hierarchy by Bloom’s Taxonomy, where each level up demands more mental processing. Although educators have been using it since 1956, Anderson and Krathwohl improved it in 2001. This research is based on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, which consists of three lower-order cognitive skills (LOCS): remembering, understanding, and applying, and three higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) - analysing, evaluating, and creating. The aim of this study is to investigate the cognitive profile of the Advanced Matriculation practical examination papers in Biology and Physics, local high-stakes examinations that determine whether students meet the entry requirements for the University of Malta. Data was gathered over a 20-year period from 72 papers and the cognitive objective level of 394 Biology and 467 Physics questions was determined based on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. According to the results, Biology had a higher mean percentage of HOCS questions (70.7%) than Physics (10.5%), which indicates that Biology is a more cognitively demanding subject. There was a positive correlation between the percentage of HOCS and marks, indicating that the more cognitively demanding the subject is, the higher the marks rewarded to the HOCS category. The number of cognitive objectives differed between Biology and Physics. The Biology examination covered all six levels of the cognitive objectives however the creating objective was lacking in Physics. This research suggests that careful design of the Physics examination questions utilising various quantifiable verbs might be more helpful in supporting the development of higher-level cognitive skills in formal examinations.

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Xerri, Daniel https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136264 2025-06-09T05:42:05Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: AI in education : challenges and opportunities Authors: Xerri, Daniel Abstract: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming education, offering both opportunities and challenges. This commentary explores AI’s role in personalised learning, the evolving function of teachers, ethical concerns, and the risks of over-reliance. While AI enhances adaptive learning, it struggles with personalisation and pedagogical depth. Teachers remain essential, advocating for AI as a collaborative tool rather than a replacement. Ethical concerns include data privacy, bias, and academic integrity. To address these challenges, educators must promote critical AI literacy and responsible integration, ensuring AI serves as a transformative tool that enhances, rather than replaces, human teaching and learning experiences.

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z