A Framework for Teaching Epistemic Insight in Schools

Berry Billingsley,Sharon Fraser,Finley Lawson,Mehdi Nassaji

doi:10.1007/s11165-018-9788-6

Berry Billingsley, Sharon Fraser + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-018-9788-6

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Abstract

This paper gives the rationale and a draft outline for a framework for education to teach epistemic insight into schools in England. The motivation to research and propose a strategy to teach and assess epistemic insight followed research that investigated how students and teachers in primary and secondary schools respond to big questions about the nature of reality and human personhood. The research revealed that there are pressures in schools that dampen students’ expressed curiosity in these types of questions and limit their developing epistemic insight into how science, religion and the wider humanities relate. These findings prompted the construction of a framework for education for students aged 5–16 designed to encourage students’ expressed interest in big questions and develop their understanding of the ways that science interacts with other ways of knowing. The centrepiece of the framework is a sequence of learning objectives for epistemic insight, organised into three categories. The categories are, firstly, the nature of science in real world contexts and multidisciplinary arenas; secondly, ways of knowing and how they interact; and thirdly, the relationships between science and religion. Our current version of the Framework is constructed to respond to the way that teaching is organised in England. The key principles and many of the activities could be adopted and tailored to work in many other countries.

Highlights

Our case that it is important for school education to pay more attention to developing students’ interest in big questions and their understanding of the relationships between science, religion and the wider humanities stems from research in schools
Students are encouraged to ask and address questions within and across subject boundaries such as: BWhat do we mean by evidence?^ and BWhat are the limitations that apply for any given enquiry?^ In some countries, including England, religious education (RE) is taught in schools, and in our current draft framework, we propose that RE would be the subject that oversees teaching about big questions and the relationships between science and religion
The pressures and barriers that we have described in this paper affect young people’s developing understanding of the nature of knowledge in ways that may be hidden from teachers to varying extents

Summary

Introduction

Our case that it is important for school education to pay more attention to developing students’ interest in big questions and their understanding of the relationships between science, religion and the wider humanities stems from research in schools. Opportunities to develop students’ epistemic insight in relation to big questions that bridge science, religion and the wider humanities are squeezed by several pressures including the controversial nature of the questions and by the prioritisation of teaching scientific content knowledge and comparative neglect of students’ epistemological understanding.

Results

Conclusion