Axiology in Learning Design

Abstract

Communities often disagree, debate, and even battle about the values that should be taught in schools. However, the field of learning sciences has not adequately theorized how values are learned, nor have we substantially drawn on axiology (the philosophical study of values) in our analytical frameworks. This chapter challenges researchers and designers of learning environments to systematically attend to the axiological realm, which includes both ethics and aesthetics. 3 axiological properties of learning environments are presented as guiding frameworks for design research: 1) Axiological Ubiquity – values are omnipresent in learning environments; 2) Axiological Plurality – there are tradeoffs insofar as every design decision potentially affords the cultivation of certain values while constrains the cultivation of others; and 3) Axiological Historicity – the values reproduced within a learning environment are socially constructed over historical time. These properties are discussed in the context of a historical case study: Old Order Amish communities of the rural midwestern United States seeking exemption from mainstream American public schools, whose values conflicted with their lifestyle. The Amish fight for educational autonomy offers implications for the importance of centering value pluralism as an integral philosophical framework to guide the research and design of learning environments.