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Thoughts on curriculum reform the contribution of pedagogical research

Thoughts on curriculum reform the contribution of pedagogical research. Dr. Laura Colucci-Gray School of Education 17 April 2008. What do we see ?. (picture by Neil and Liz Curtis – presentation to the steering group, January 2008)). The nature of knowledge. We need to reflect on

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Thoughts on curriculum reform the contribution of pedagogical research

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  1. Thoughts on curriculum reformthe contribution of pedagogical research Dr. Laura Colucci-Gray School of Education 17 April 2008

  2. What do we see? (picture by Neil and Liz Curtis – presentation to the steering group, January 2008))

  3. The nature of knowledge We need to reflect on • the role that graduates play in the current global society • how we know within the University • the role and purposes of education within the academic institution.

  4. Current issues • A tension exists between humanitarian concerns versus utilitarian, pragmatic concerns: enhancing the individual or providing skills for performing specific activities (i.e. jobs)? • A challenge exists for building new bridges between University and Society which can create new avenues for human life. • A need for a reflection of how we produce knowledge… … considering the values underpinning and shaping the what and the how of our university…

  5. Students’ beliefs of science and knowledge • Evidence from many studies suggests that students hold naïve views of science (objective, neutral, certain, fixed) • and expert-dominated views of knowledge School students, graduates (from all disciplines!) but also teachers in school.

  6. How are beliefs formed? • Implicit curriculum: selection of content, assessment, teaching strategies, epistemological posture of the teacher, learning environment, relationships • the shortage of time and the amount of new data is such that scientific knowledge is increasingly presented as the knowledge of ‘something’, rather than a kind of knowledge which is socially constructed and negotiated. Implications: • increasingly specialised university education, with universities turning into schools of transmission of consolidated knowledge. • implicit divisions between who knows and who does not know, expert/non-expert, perpetuated at all levels, from schools to society.

  7. The role of the University within a knowledge enterprise in transformation • Complex problems, fast changes, facts are disputed, values are in conflict, decisions are urgent, responsibilities for all. • Necessity to recover mutliple rationalities • Involvement of the extended peer-community New criteria for knowledge production: • Recovering dialogue; • Reconsidering how knowledge is validated and legitimated (this includes looking at criteria for inclusion and participation).

  8. From transmission to dialogue and breaking of the viciouscycle • To revise the ways in which we teach (product and process; interdisciplinarity, epistemic awareness, awareness of time and space scales etc…) but also • To look at the nature and quality of the relationships between teachers and students

  9. Some ideas from interdisciplinary research To contextualize, both historically and epistemologically AT4512 Material Culture and Museums EL40BL Frankenstein to Einstein: literature and science in the 19th century

  10. Some ideas from trans-disciplinary research pedagogy, language, biology, art, anthropologyIRIS at Aberdeen 2008 Interpretation of a vignette 1. Give a title and explain the meaning of the vignette. 2. Make a list of Life Sciences subjects and issues you connect to the scene

  11. Aberdeen 2008 Description Interpretation / reflection Opinion / Judgement Two real life situations are illustrated: a fisherman while fishing, and a man buying some food at the supermarket The vignette aims to explain the relationship between the activity of fishing and the production chain that leads to offer the same product on a supermarket shelf The fisherman in a poor country while caching the fish that we then find in the supermarket. Economic power and multinationals control the process and become rich. From fresh to freeze Some RESULTS: a) a variety of views North South inter-dependence Your shopping bag can unbalance ecological equilibrium Technology influences human activities at various scales

  12. Aberdeen 2008 Some RESULTS: b) a variety of Life Science subjects In the plenary session, the role of technology in opening ecological boundaries was discussed

  13. Some examples and possibilities for action • Interdisciplinary dialogues between specialists (i.e. IRIS at Turin University) • Revisioning academic training (post-doctoral students, at Turin University; Teacher training, at Turin University and Aberdeen University) • Valuing and legitimising pedagogical research • Adopting some of the techniques derived from pedagogicla research to undertake a form of self-training and reflection on one’s discipline and one’s way of knowing.

  14. “When we use a kaleidoscope, we can’t only focus on the beautiful configuration of colours and patterns, but we also need to consider the eye that is looking and the hand which is acting” (Ravetz, 1998).

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