Feynman Diagrams, Problem Spaces, and the Kuhnian Revolution to Come in Teacher Education

Abstract

AbstractA blue‐ribbon panel convened by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) concluded in 2010 that teacher education in the United States must be “turned upside down,” with practical experience at its center and academic content woven around the practical. It might seem that the new clinical model based on medical education, which has been adopted by eight states, would be well‐aligned with a Deweyan inquiry‐based pedagogy. Dewey himself recognized a paradox, however: preparation for the combination of rigor and flexibility needed for inquiry‐based pedagogical skills absolutely requires immersion in clinical settings, even as immersion in the teaching environment that prevails in U.S. public schools systematically socializes new teachers to a very different set of skills than those needed for this model of effective pedagogy. Recent scholarship by Kuhnian scholars provides practical guidance for an alternative understanding of how changes in practice occur and may be transmitted to future generations.