Appropriate Proper Reasonable 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 Read More
Category: Theory
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
Evidence and Design
When I was studying biology as an undergraduate, a students asked the physiology about Daltons, the unit used to measure the size of large molecules such as proteins. The professor was so used to using the term, he had to look up the definition so he could explain it to the 250 or so students Read More
On #Data and the Quality of Data
Appropriate Proper Reasonable As an undergraduate science major, I came to understand quantitative data; we measured what we observed in the laboratory and in the field and we summarized and evaluated it to draw conclusions about the world as we saw it. Patterns in numbers were our window into the systems we studied. As a Read More
Vygotsky and the Zone of Proximal Development
70: Vygotsky and the Zone of Proximal Development Lev Vygotsky was a Russia psychologist who worked in the early part of the 20th century before he died at 38. Many educators who adopt methods that are commonly called constructivist ground their pedagogy in ideas he developed. One that is particularly useful in designing all curriculum Read More
Why Theory Matters in Education
81: Why Theory Matters in Education In many educational communities, existing practice exerts strong influence on the practices deemed acceptable, so attempts to define new goals are met with strong resistance. In this situation, many educators adopt a stance that Paulo Friere, the Brazilian educational philosopher, suggested resembled Aristotle’s concept of doxa, which is practice Read More