When I was working on my master of arts in education two decades ago, my mentors introduced me to qualitative research methods, especially interviewing. One of the lessons I learned early in that work was that the term and concepts we usually apply to the quality of quantitative data do not accurately describe the expectation Read More
Category: Theory
Knowledge Building
Scarmelia and Bereiter (2006) contrasted 20th century instruction that as supported by ICT (in which ICT was assumed to be equivalent to print-based information) to knowledge building. For Scarmelia and Bereiter, ICT can support knowledge building as a social endeavor in which ideas are improved, and the community comes to more clear understanding of ideas Read More
Humans are a Social Species
Many species live in social groups and interaction within those groups is well-known. In humans, however, social life takes on a level of complexity and sophistication that far exceeds what is observed in other social species. Michael Gazzaniga (2008), a noted neuroscientist who has studied human brains for decades, concluded “the shift to becoming highly Read More
Diversity of Learning Theories
The learning science is a relatively new field of study. The major journals in the field began publishing in the early 1990’s and the first conferences recognizing this field also date to that time. Learning science emerged out of the cognitive sciences as field dedicated to the problem of designing classroom and other learning spaces Read More
Technology Transfer
Most technologies are local creations. Members of a population will identify a need, find naturally occurring phenomena that can be controlled and applied to meet that need, and then design a new hard or soft technology based on the phenomena or they will exapt an existing technology to meet a need. Different populations, even those Read More
Epistemology is Not a “Four-Lettered” Word 5: Innateness of Learning
A final epistemological assumption that affects who teachers approach their work with students is the innateness of learning. Clearly, there are individuals who have different abilities to learn, and those are grounded in physical and developmental aspects of the learner as well as social aspects of the learners’ experience. Some extend these differences to the Read More
Epistemology is Not a “Four-Lettered” Word 4: Speed of Learning
Continuing to examine the effects of epistemology on how teachers approach their craft, this post considers the speed at which learning is assumed to occur. For some, once information has been been transferred to a brain, we can assume the person in whom that brain exists has “learned” the information and can use it in Read More
Epistemology is Not a “Four-Lettered” Word 3: Authority
This thread in my blog addresses epistemology, the branch of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge. I maintain that educators avoid epistemology like it is a vulgar word, but the reality is that every decision they make, and every activity they plan can be interpreted in terms of epistemology and it defines in many Read More
Epistemology is Not a “Four-Lettered” Word 2: Simplicity
Here is my second post on the theme “epistemology is not a four-lettered word.” In this series, I am considering the philosophy of knowledge and the assumptions about the nature of what is known. My rationale is grounded in my belief that educators should recognize the role of epistemology in the design of their classrooms Read More
Epistemology is Not a “Four-Lettered” Word #1: Certainty of Knowledge
I found a draft of an essay I wrote a few years ago that still seems relevant… the essay never made it off my hard drive… until now and it is going to be a series of blog posts. Epistemology is a branch of philosophy in which we consider the nature of knowledge. What is Read More