This book explores the contributions, actual and potential, of complexity thinking to educational research and practice. While its focus is on the theoretical premises and the methodology, not specific applications, the aim is pragmatic--to present complexity thinking as an important and appropriate
Complexity and Education: Inquiries Into Learning, Teaching, and Research
β Scribed by Brent Davis, Dennis J. Sumara
- Publisher
- Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
- Year
- 2006
- Tongue
- English
- Leaves
- 215
- Category
- Library
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
β¦ Synopsis
This book explores the contributions, actual and potential, of complexity thinking to educational research and practice. While its focus is on the theoretical premises and the methodology, not specific applications, the aim is pragmatic--to present complexity thinking as an important and appropriate attitude for educators and educational researchers. Part I is concerned with global issues around complexity thinking, as read through an educational lens. Part II cites a diversity of practices and studies that are either explicitly informed by or that might be aligned with complexity research, and offers focused and practiced advice for structuring projects in ways that are consistent with complexity thinking. Complexity thinking offers a powerful alternative to the linear, reductionist approaches to inquiry that have dominated the sciences for hundreds of years and educational research for more than a century. It has captured the attention of many researchers whose studies reach across traditional disciplinary boundaries to investigate phenomena such as: How does the brain work? What is consciousness? What is intelligence? What is the role of emergent technologies in shaping personalities and possibilities? How do social collectives work? What is knowledge? Complexity research posits that a deep similarity among these phenomena is that each points toward some sort of system that learns. The authorsβ intent is not to offer a complete account of the relevance of complexity thinking to education, not to prescribe and delimit, but to challenge readers to examine their own assumptions and theoretical commitments--whether anchored by commonsense, classical thought or any of the posts (such as postmodernism, poststructuralism, postcolonialism, postpositivism, postformalism, postepistemology) that mark the edges of current discursive possibility. Complexity and Education is THE introduction to the emerging field of complexity thinking for the education community. It is specifically relevant for educational researchers, graduate students, and inquiry-oriented teacher practitioners.
β¦ Table of Contents
Front cover......Page 1
CONTENTS......Page 6
DEDICATION......Page 8
PREFACE......Page 10
PART ONE: COMPLEXITY THINKING......Page 14
CHAPTER ONE. WHAT IS "COMPLEXITY"?......Page 16
CHAPTER TWO. WHAT IS "SCIENCE"?......Page 30
CHAPTER THREE. THE SHAPE OF COMPLEXITY......Page 50
CHAPTER FOUR. THE NETWORK OF COMPLEXITY......Page 70
PART TWO: COMPLEXITY THINKING, EDUCATION, AND EDUCATIONAL INQUIRY......Page 90
CHAPTER FIVE. Descriptive Complexity Research: QUALITIES OF LEARNING SYSTEMS......Page 92
CHAPTER SIX. Descriptive Complexity Research: LEVEL-JUMPING......Page 120
CHAPTER SEVEN. Pragmatic Complexity Research: CONDITIONS OF EMERGENCE......Page 142
CHAPTER EIGHT. Pragmatic Complexity Research: VITAL SIMULTANEITIES......Page 166
ENDNOTES......Page 184
REFERENCES......Page 198
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 206
NAME INDEX......Page 208
SUBJECT INDEX......Page 212
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