Number Of Educational Researchers Research Articles

A SELECTION OF METHODS AND TECHNIQUES PROFESSIONAL TEACHERS CAN APPLY TO THEIR OWN LIFELONG LEARNING

A selection of methods and techniques professional teachers can apply to their own lifelong learning.Education is the key to converting knowledge and experience into practical actions, their analysis and application. It plays a key role in the synthesis of new knowledge into research and innovation. Such thoughts on education were expressed in the resolution of the sixth World Education Congress in 2011. Today, when world education forums are widely discussing how schools can better organise the learning process, when ambitious long-term reforms are being implemented in the Latvian education system—the transition to competency-based educational content and teaching methods—it is essential to assess current situation and to bring innovative methods and techniques to our teachers' own learning process. The new knowledge and experience teachers gain through lifelong learning, through their experience and the understanding of how to share it, can be presented and guided by such methods and techniques that enrich a teacher's emotional and intellectual function. My own research has confirmed my belief that for a teacher to be confident and capable enough to help her students discover the joy of learning and gain new knowledge through the process of education, that teacher must herself have the experience of active learning, insight, and personal growth through the learning process.The author has selected a number of methods and techniques for lifelong learning based on the methods and techniques developed by a number of education researchers (Kolb, 1984; Koķe, 1999; Stueck, 2010; Vedins, 2011; Ščurkova, 2016; Robinson, 2013; Amonašvili, 2017), and on her own experience of leading and developing a professional lifelong education programme for teachers. The model of teacher learning presented here has been used in practice since 2012 and has been well-received. Teachers can develop themselves mentally, emotionally and spiritually through the learning process and in doing so increase their professional value.Objective for the Study. To create a model for teaching professional teachers in the context of their own lifelong learning, to assemble a selection of methods and techniques for professional teachers’ lifelong learning, including several designed by the author, and to assess them.

An Introduction to Whitehead’s New View of Learning and Its Relation to Traditional Learning Theories

Alfred North Whitehead, although probably known best for his collaborative work with Bertrand Russell on the Principia Mathematica, also developed an original theory of learning and instruction which has much to offer for our times. His theory will be discussed in this paper. In order to do so, two criteria are first developed which in their combination give rise to five categories: radical behaviorism, cognitivism, and radical constructivism, with the intermediary categories of moderate behaviorism and moderate constructivism. A great number of educational researchers are ascribed to one of these five categories. After discussing the shortcomings of the three major philosophical proponents of these three major educational approaches (Hume, Kant, and Berkeley), the basic assumptions of Whitehead’s philosophy of organism are presented, and his assumptions concerning learning and teaching are discussed in view of it. Finally, it is shown that Whitehead’s organismic philosophy is able to offer a frame for integrating Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism, thereby solving a long standing scandal of education.

The teacher disempowerment debate: historical reflections on “slender autonomy”

A number of education researchers, both in Europe and in North America, have claimed that classroom teachers in state schooling systems have suffered from a process of “de-professionalisation” and/or “de-skilling” over recent decades. This paper argues that these claims are problematic, on at least two grounds. First, for teachers at least, “professional” is basically an ideological concept with little if any descriptive validity. To the extent that being a “professional” connotes individual or group autonomy from outside influences (whether state or societal), surveillance and controls over teacher behaviour have always been an essential component of state schooling systems, whether or not individuals or groups of teachers have attempted to mediate – or even resist – this domination from time to time. Second, while classroom teachers’ work has changed and perhaps intensified over time, it is questioned whether these changes have resulted in significant de-skilling of their work – issues which are explored in the second part of this paper. Finally, as one example of the complex ways in which the state apparatus has worked throughout the history of state schooling (in Canada and the USA at least) to maintain and enhance its control over teachers, a case study is provided describing events in Ontario in the 1940s.

Faring with Facets: Building and Using Databases of Student Misconceptions

A number of educational researchers have developed pedagogical approaches that involve the teacher in discovering and helping to correct misconceptions that students bring to their study of their subject matter. During the last decade, several computer systems have been developed to support teaching and learning using this kind of approach. A central conceptual construct used by these systems is the "facet" of understanding: an atomic diagnosable unit of belief. A formidable challenge to applying such pedagogical approaches to new topic areas is the task of discovering and organizing the facets for the new subject area. This paper presents a taxonomy of misconceptions and a methodology for going about the task of preparing a database of facets. Important issues include the generality and diagnosability of facets, granularity of facets, and their placement on a scale of problematicity. Examples are drawn from the subjects of physics and computer science and in the context of two computer systems: the Diagnoser and INFACT. <strong>Editors: </strong>Patrick McAndrew (Open University, UK). <strong>Reviewers:</strong> Paul Horwitz (Concord Consortium, USA) and Ruth Thomas (Jelsim Partnership, UK).