An Essay for Educators: Epistemological Realism Really is Common Sense   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

William W. Cobern  Cathleen C. Loving 《Science & Education》2008,17(4):425-447

“What is truth?” Pontius Pilot asked Jesus of Nazareth. For many educators today this question seems quaintly passé. Rejection of “truth” goes hand-in-hand with the rejection of epistemological realism. Educational thought over the last decade has instead been dominated by empiricist, anti-realist, instrumentalist epistemologies of two types: first by psychological constructivism and later by social constructivism. Social constructivism subsequently has been pressed to its logical conclusion in the form of relativistic multiculturalism. Proponents of both psychological constructivism and social constructivism value knowledge for its utility and eschew as irrelevant speculation any notion that knowledge is actually about reality. The arguments are largely grounded in the discourse of science and science education where science is “western” science; neither universal nor about what is really real. The authors defended the notion of science as universal in a previous article. The present purpose is to offer a commonsense argument in defense of critical realism as an epistemology and the epistemically distinguished position of science (rather than privileged) within a framework of epistemological pluralism. The paper begins with a brief cultural survey of events during the thirty-year period from 1960–1990 that brought many educators to break with epistemological realism and concludes with comments on the pedagogical importance of realism. Understanding the cultural milieu of the past forty years is critical to understanding why traditional philosophical attacks on social constructivist ideas have proved impotent defenders of scientific realism.  相似文献   

Impact of project‐based curriculum materials on student learning in science: Results of a randomized controlled trial     

Christopher J. Harris  William R. Penuel  Cynthia M. D'Angelo  Angela Haydel DeBarger  Lawrence P. Gallagher  Cathleen A. Kennedy  Britte Haugen Cheng  Joseph S. Krajcik 《科学教学研究杂志》2015,52(10):1362-1385

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Social Work Practice with Veterans,by Gary L. Dick (Ed.)     

Cathleen A. Lewandowski 《Journal of Teaching in Social Work》2013,33(4):451-452

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An Empirical Examination of the Warfare Metaphor with Respect to Pre-Service Elementary Teachers     

William W. Cobern  Cathleen C. Loving  Edward B. Davis  Jeff Terpstra 《Journal of Science Education and Technology》2013,22(4):488-499

Since its origination in the late nineteenth century, the warfare metaphor has been used to characterize the relationship between science and religion, especially orthodox Christianity. Though thoroughly discredited by historians of science, the ideological descendants of Thomas Huxley, who spoke of science in quasi-religious terms, have kept the warfare metaphor alive. On the other hand, there are substantial numbers of Christians who at least appear to oppose science given their high-profile opposition to the general theory of evolution. The research reported in this paper asked, “Does anti-science sentiment increase with increasing orthodox Christian belief?” Two validated, published instruments were used: The Thinking about Science Survey Instrument and the Christian Fundamentalist Belief Scale. The subjects for the study were 545 preservice elementary teachers. The analysis did not show that anti-science sentiment increases with increasing Christian belief. Subjects with strong Christian beliefs were found to be just as supportive of science, if not more so, than subjects with no Christian beliefs. The study concludes with a caution against projecting attitudes toward science “on the whole” based on attitudes specifically toward evolution when working with preservice elementary teachers. Such a projection could well be counterproductive. The study has implications for other modern countries having highly religious populations such as Turkey.  相似文献   

Creating prop boxes to stimulate dramatic play and literacy development     

Cathleen S. Soundy  Phyllis Wolf Gallagher 《Early Childhood Education Journal》1992,20(2):4-8

The sign says OPEN and five excited preschoolers are at play in a thematically based dramatic center. Their teacher has transformed a corner of the room into a shoe store, complete with materials designed to support the children's early literacy development.Cathleen S. Soundy is with the College of Education, Temple University, and Phyllis Wolf Gallagher is with the Education Department, Holy Name College, Philadelphia, PA.  相似文献   

Making death,compassion and partnership ‘part of life’ in school communities     

Carla Jane Kennedy  Mary Keeffe  Fiona Gardner  Cathleen Farrelly 《Pastoral Care in Education》2017,35(2):111-123

Death can be considered a social taboo, a common source of fear and public avoidance. School communities are not immune to this, as the topic of death is constantly avoided. It is vital to understand how we can socially and culturally cultivate a positive regard for death, dying and bereavement in our school communities. Community members need to discuss these difficult issues and use strategies to enhance compassion, connectedness and support. In this literature review we reason that death is specifically not ‘part of life’ in school communities. Due to the dearth of school community-based literature on this issue and the progressive literature residing in palliative care, we aim to coalesce palliative care and school-based research, evaluate it and highlight compassion and partnership as a way forward for school communities. Essentially, our societal attitudes about death and dying have been profoundly altered and our community ownership of these normal life events has largely disappeared. This is demonstrated for example, by palliative care moving from the social grass roots ‘modern hospice movement’ formed in the 1960s and being reintegrated into the mainstream health care system by the end of the 1990s, resulting in an overall medicalised morphing of death, dying and bereavement issues. Therefore, we recommend that further research be conducted in how to develop compassionate schools to inform us how death may be continually made ‘part of life’ in school communities, for the benefit of students, teachers and families alike.  相似文献   

Analyzing Dynamic Pendulum Motion in an Interactive Online Environment Using Flash     

Mariotti Ezrailson  Cathy  Donald Allen  G.  Loving  Cathleen C. 《Science & Education》2004,13(4-5):437-457

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Invoking Thomas Kuhn: What Citation Analysis Reveals about Science Education     

Loving  Cathleen C.  Cobern  William W. 《Science & Education》2000,9(1-2):187-206

This paper analyzes how Thomas Kuhn's writings are used by others, especially science education researchers. Previous research in citation analysis is used to frame questions related to who cites Kuhn, in what manner and why. Research questions first focus on the variety of disciplines invoking Kuhn and to what extent Structure of Scientific Revolutions (SSR) is cited. The Web of Science database provides material from 1982 for this analysis. The science education literature is analyzed using back issues from 1985 of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and Science Education. An article analysis reveals trends in terms of what Kuhnian ideas are most frequently invoked. Results indicate a wide array of disciplines from beekeeping to law cite Kuhn – especially generic citations to SSR. The science education journal analysis reveals pervasive use of the term paradigm, although use is quite varied. The two areas of research in science education most impacted by Kuhn appear to be conceptual change theory and constructivist epistemologies. Additional uses of Kuhn are discussed. The degree to which Kuhn is invoked in ways supporting the theoretical framework of citation analysis, whether his work is misappropriated, and the impact of Kuhn are discussed.  相似文献   

Custodians of silences? School principal perspectives on the incidence and nature of homophobic bullying in primary schools in Ireland     

Gerard Farrelly  Michael O’Leary 《Irish Educational Studies》2017,36(2):151-167

The research reported in this paper sought to determine the level of awareness among school principals in primary schools in Ireland where homophobic bullying is concerned. International research has previously shown that school leaders as animators of school climate are often lacking in their responses to this type of bullying [Walton, G. 2004. “Bullying and Homophobia in Canadian Schools: The Politics of Policies, Programs, and Educational Leadership.” Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education 1 (4): 23–36; Pizmony-Levy, O., and J. G. Kosciw. 2016. “School Climate and the Experience of LGBT Students: A Comparison of the United States and Israel.” Journal of LGBT Youth 13 (1–2): 46–66; Taylor, C. G., E. J. Meyer, T. Peter, J. Ristock, D. Short, and C. Campbell. 2016. “Gaps Between Beliefs, Perceptions, and Practices: The Every Teacher Project on LGBTQ-Inclusive Education in Canadian Schools.” Journal of LGBT Youth 13 (1–2): 112–140]. We sought to ascertain whether school principals in Ireland have had experience of dealing with this type of bullying, whether they believe it is a significant issue and what they perceive their role to be in relation to addressing homophobic bullying. The research focused on the views of school principals because of the critical role they play in policy implementation and school organisation. The research revealed that one in every two school principals had responded to homophobic bullying and that these same principals did not always consider the use of homophobic pejoratives to constitute homophobic bullying. The paper points to the need for further education and training for school leaders on the topic of homophobic bullying otherwise their perspectives will contribute to the many silences that surround this topic in primary schools in Ireland.  相似文献   

Concept reading: A process for re-engineering processes     

Cathleen Smith Hutchison 《Performance Improvement》1995,34(9):12-22

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