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Articles Published in cd-International Journal of Educology (cd-IJE) in Educology and Philosophy of Educology 

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7 Articles


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International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2Practice Makes Practice, or Does It? TheRelationship between Theory and Practicein Teacher Education (An Educology ofTeacher Education)Jerome C. Harste, Indiana University, ChristineLeland, Indiana University, Kristina Schmidt,Indiana University, Vivian Vasquez, AmericanUniversity, Anne Ociepka, Indiana University
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International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2A General Sketch of a SemioticallyUnderstood and Oriented OrganicExperiential Philosophy of Educology forDeveloping Democracies in the WorldJames E. FisherEducology Research AssociatesColumbia, South Carolina
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International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2Teaching Forward,Understanding Backward: In Search ofTheorized PracticeKim Pittman, Aurora University, USA, &Linda O’Neill, Northern Illinois University, USA
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International Journal of Educology2004, Volume 18, Number 1An Introduction to Philosophy of Educology as the Philosophy of the Future in theNew Situation of Life in the World (An Essay in Philosophy of Educology)James E. FisherPresident ERA/USAColumbia, South Carolina, USA
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International Journal of Educology2004, Volume 18, Number 1Toward an Ecologically Oriented Philosophy of Educology to MeetFuture Challenges in the World (A Paper in Philosophy of Educology)James E. FisherPresident ERA/USAColumbia, South Carolina, USA
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International Journal of Educology2004, Volume 18, Number 2The Educative Experience in Developing Democracies in the World(An Essay in Philosophy of Educology)James E. FisherPresident, ERA/USAColumbia, South Carolina, USA
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International Journal of Educology2004, Volume 18, Number 2A Contribution to the First of Three Obligatory Steps Toward Making PhilosophyRelevant to Education (An Essay in Philosophy of Educology)James E. FisherPresident, ERA/USAColumbia, South Carolina, USA
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International Journal of Educology2005, Vol. 19, No. 1CHAPTER 2THE GENESIS OF EDUCOLOGYGeorge Maccia
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International Journal of Educology2005, Vol. 19, No. 2 CHAPTER 4 LOGIC OF EDUCATION AND EDUCATOLOGY: DIMENSIONS OF PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION Elizabeth Steiner
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International Journal of Educology2005, Vol. 19, No. 2 CHAPTER 5 EDUCOLOGY: THIRTEEN YEARS LATER, Elizabeth Steiner
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International Journal of Educology2006, Vol. 20, No. 1 CHAPTER 8 EDUCOLOGY: THE SCIENCE OF EFFECTIVE EDUCATION, John B. Biggs
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International Journal of Educology2006, Vol. 20, No. 1 CHAPTER 9 PRAXIOLOGY OF EDUCATION AS A BRANCH OF EDUCOLOGY, James F. Perry
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International Journal of Educology2006, Vol. 20, No. 2 CHAPTER 10 INSTRUCTIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: THEIR CONTEXT WITHIN EDUCOLOGY AND SOME IDEAS FOR THEIR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT, Charles M. Reigeluth and M. David Merrill
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International Journal of Educology2006, Vol. 20, No. 2 CHAPTER 11 TEACHING FROM ALTERNATIVE FRAMES OF REFERENCE, Diane Buell Hiatt
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International Journal of Educology2006, Vol. 20, No. 2 CHAPTER 12 EDUCOLOGY AS ORGANIZATIONAL CONCEPT FOR SCHOOLS OF TEACHER EDUCATION, COLLEGES OF EDUCATION, AND FACULTIES OF EDUCATION, James E. Christensen and James E. Fisher
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International Journal of Educology2007, Vol. 21, No. 1 CHAPTER 14 EDUCOLOGY AND THE TEACHING OF MATHEMATAICS, James E. Fisher and Marian Reinhart
 
An Article in Educology


International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

116

Practice Makes Practice, or Does It? The

Relationship between Theory and Practice

in Teacher Education (An Educology of

Teacher Education)

Jerome C. Harste
, Indiana University, Christine

Leland, Indiana University, Kristina Schmidt,

Indiana University, Vivian Vasquez, American

University, Anne Ociepka, Indiana University

Abstract

This study examines the role that theory and practice

play in the preparation of new teachers. It presents multilayered

observational, anecdotal and performance data

relating to a group of undergraduate “interns” in an urban

elementary teacher education program. These data lend

support to the hypothesis that the understanding by new

teachers of the relationship between theory and practice

influences (1) the way they position themselves as

professionals, (2) the conceptual stance they take in

developing curriculum and (3) the degree to which they

come to see themselves as change agents who can make a

difference in the lives of children. Observational data are

provided for four interns during their student teaching

experience and two years later when they are teaching on

their own. The authors conclude that education is theory all

the way down and that educologists in teacher education

programs have a particular obligation to address

theoretical issues in their work with future teachers.

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

117

Introduction

One of the problems in re-imagining the educology of

teacher education lies in how we talk about theory and

practice. Often theory and practice are spoken about as if

they are opposites of each other, and sometimes they are-- in

the sense that each has to compete with the other in terms of

time. Even when there is general agreement that both

theory and practice are necessary, someone will inevitably

ask: But really, how important is theory? What contribution

to teacher preparation do field experiences make? If

forced by time constraints to make a choice, how much of

one or the other is enough?

The very discourse we use legitimizes certain

perspectives and conceptually positions us (Gee, 1996; Luke

& Freebody, 1997; Lankshear, 1997). As literacy educators,

i.e. as educologists of literacy, we see curriculum

metaphorically as an opportunity to live the life we want to

live and be the people we want to be (Harste, 1993). In this

paper, we extend the metaphor to the educology of teacher

education and invite readers to consider what sorts of

literate beings they want to have leading classrooms in the

21st Century. The theory-practice debate as it has rhetorically

and historically been cast becomes dysfunctional when

the educology of teacher education is reconceptualized as an

opportunity for future teachers to live the lives they want to

live and be the people they want to be. At stake now are

new visions of what is possible in the name of school reform

and the reform of teacher education as the educology of

teacher education.

Educological studies of student teachers do not paint an

optimistic picture of the ability of new entrants to reform

public education. Britzman’s study (1992) concluded that

practice makes practice. Britzman found that, regardless of

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

118

how innovative the teacher education program was, many

student teachers adopted teaching practices which reflected

those of the mainstream practitioner rather than those

advocated in their educology courses. Goodman (1985,

1986) has argued that part of the problem lies in how we

conceptualize the educology of teacher education:

Even though there is no simple technology of teaching, we have for

a number of years conceptualized teaching as a series of techniques

for management and instruction, and teacher education as the

transmission and practice of these techniques in a supervised setting.

[1986, p. 109]

Compounding the problem, Harste, Leland, and Schmidt

(1997) maintain:

... is the fact that most prospective teachers are not enrolled in a

teacher education program at all, but rather take a hodgepodge of

course work from a hodgepodge of professors having a hodgepodge

of theoretical orientations, and are placed for practicum experiences

in a hodgepodge of settings. The only clear bet is that what student

teachers believe and what their supervising teachers believe about

teaching and learning will differ. [p. 1]

Make no mistake about it -- we are interested in both public

school and teacher education reform, although the very term

reform is problematic in that it has come to mean that

someone from the outside is coming in to correct things that

those on the inside cannot manage to do. Rather than a

quick fix (Harste & Leland, 1998), this study looks at a

particular kind of educational reform, one that involves ongoing

renewal by educators themselves. Building from

insider efforts to envision public education in terms of what

kind of literate beings we wish to create, we re-envision

teacher education in the same terms. Rather than seeing

theory and practice as opposites or as framing devices, we

see them as perspectives that permeate this work.

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

119

Living Practical Theory and Theoretical

Practice in Public and Teacher Education

One daunting implication of this analysis of the current

state-of-practice is the realization that in order to re-envision

teacher education, one much simultaneously re-envision

public education. To study such possibilities we worked

with a group of teachers from the Indianapolis Public

Schools (IPS) who wished to create their own magnet

school. The school opened in 1993 with a curriculum

dedicated to holistic, inquiry-based education within a

multiple ways of knowing framework (Harste, 1993; Short,

Harste, & Burke, 1996). Two years after The Center for

Inquiry (CFI) opened, we added a field-based teacher

education component, and together with the staff, took

responsibility for the preparation of 16 preservice teachers

(interns). This included all of the interns’ professional

educology courses and supervision of their field experiences

and student teaching. Theoretically, both curricula -- the

CFIs and the teacher education program’s -- were the

same. Interns took all of their educological foundations and

methods courses on site at the CFI, and they increased their

time commitment over the course of the program. They

began with two days a week during the first semester, two

and a half days during the second semester, three days

during the third semester, and five days a week during the

fourth.

Undergraduate interns at the CFI lived an inquiry-based

curriculum in their on-site course work and simultaneously

saw how such a model was implemented in the classroom.

While our various visions of what could be played a big role

in the design of both the school and the teacher education

setting, what was not clear was how much of an impact

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

120

these frameworks would have on the thinking and behavior

of the undergraduate interns involved.

Theoretical Foundations

Three conceptual models underpinned the school’s

curriculum and the teacher education program. Figure 1,

Figure 1: Education for Democracy

INQUIRY

Personal

& social

knowing

Disciplines

Sign systems

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

121

Education for Democracy, poses the whole of education as

inquiry (Short, 1993; Short, Harste, & Burke, 1996). This

model is purposefully drawn to challenge some common

assumptions about the role that the disciplines should play

in education. One assumption that we wanted to interrogate

is the pervasive belief that learners are well served by

organizing curriculum around the disciplines.

The model in Figure 1 suggests a new vision of

curriculum that is organized around personal and social

knowing. The basic argument is education is more effective

when curriculum is built upon the inquiry questions of

learners.

The second argument that the model generates relates to

the first, but involves questions like, What knowledge and

whose knowledge is of most worth? Placing the disciplines

in the second ring and not in the center of the model, makes

the argument that disciplines, while important, are valuable

only in so far as they offer perspectives that inquirers might

take as they explore questions of personal and social worth.

The outer ring completes the model and makes another

point. Rather than being language-based, or what Siegel

(1985) has called verbocentric, education should involve all

of the various ways that humans have created to make and

share meaning including art, music, mathematics, drama and

so on. While some of these sign systems also constitute

fields of study or disciplines in their own right, what they

share in common is their tool-like qualities. As tools, they

are used by experts in and across disciplines to create

meaning. Together, then, sign systems constitute a human

meaning potential. Seen semiotically, sign systems are a

literacy tool kit which educators (and educologists) use to

build conceptual models for framing their thinking (Davis,

Sumara, & Luce-Kapler, 2000).

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

122

Although all sign systems are available to all cultures,

not all cultures value all sign systems equally. To some

extent, the respect for individual sign systems in a society

determines whose voice will be heard. Given these realities,

the model highlights the political nature of literacy, and it is

indicative of how literacy policy directly impacts schooling

in a democracy. The model advocates expanding our

notions of literacy to include all of the ways that humans

have created to mean. This allows access to education for all

individuals, not just for those who focus primarily on

language as a meaning-making device. The wedge cutting

through the three rings indicates that both multiple sign

systems and multiple disciplines ought to be readily

available as resources for learners as they pursue inquiry

projects and other forms of focused study that reflect their

interests. Inquiry is the smallest unit of instruction in this

model (Short, Harste, & Burke, 1996).

Figure 2, The Inquiry Cycle, metaphorically casts

learning as a cycle of inquiry by highlighting the key

underlying processes in inquiry (Harste, 1993; for other

frameworks see Henkin, 1998; Wells, 2000; Beach &

Myers, 2000). The cycle suggests that learning begins by

supporting voice, or the articulation of what is currently

known, and ends in reflection, interrogation, and new social

action. It is important to note that voice is seen as a

educology-of-mind construct with educology-of-society

roots. Learners need to be supported in taking a stand and

in speaking their minds while at the same time interrogating

how societies and literacies have positioned them. By

highlighting the underlying processes in inquiry, the model

suggests that curricular engagements should support either

complete cycles of inquiry or in-depth understandings of

key learning processes. More broadly, Figure 2 also

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

123

suggests that curriculum should be anchored in learning and

that the proper goal of education is the creation of learners

who know how to inquire. It is important to notice that the

inquiry cycle begins and ends in the articulation of ones

stance, thereby showing that: (1) teaching and learning are

theoretically based, and (2) educology is theory, from start

to finish. Both teachers and teacher educologists begin by

supporting learners as they attempt to articulate what it is

they know and end by supporting learners in their efforts to

re-articulate and re-position themselves in the world, based

on what they have learned.

Figure 3, Multiple Ways of Knowing, can be read in two

ways. An outward-to-inward reading of the model suggests

that dance, art, music, mathematics, drama, and language

are each alternate ways to make and share meaning. An

inward-to-outward reading of the model implies that every

act of communication involves multiple sign systems. As

literate individuals, we have learned to orchestrate these

various sign systems as we make and share meaning in a

series of multi-modal acts. By this model, education ought

to support the development of each and every citizens

communication potential as well as tap into and capitalize

on alternate ways of knowing. Music does not do what art

does, nor does art do what language does. Together, all of

the sign systems qualitatively contribute to a more in-depth

knowing and understanding. To the extent that different

cultures have different ways of knowing, diversity and

multiple literacies enrich society.

Curriculum

Practically, these models guided the development of the

curriculum that was offered to pupils in the elementary

school and to undergraduate interns in the on-site teacher

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

124

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

125

education program. The curriculum of the elementary

school consisted of four major time blocks. Writers

Workshop provided time for daily uninterrupted writing in

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

126

journals as well as time to compose stories and take them to

published form. In addition, pupils were encouraged to use

writing as a tool for thinking when attempting to

comprehend difficult readings, to understand mathematical

equations and to conduct research on topics of personal and

social interest.

Literature Study consisted of both intensive and

extensive reading. Children were encouraged to read widely

and to collaborate with others in literature discussions.

Storytelling, sketching what students thought stories meant,

daily oral reading of stories, and process drama were

integral parts of the reading program.

Math Time featured the use of several commercial

programs that emphasized problem solving. While correct

answers were important, of more importance was the fact

that children were encouraged to find as many different

solutions to problems as they could. In an effort to make

math relevant, teachers and children also explored math

investigations (Schmidt, 1997) which encouraged children

to pursue topics of personal interest such as How much

would it cost to redecorate my room? What would it cost

for my family to go to Disneyland?

Inquiry blocks of time throughout the day provided

opportunities to pursue questions of personal interest and to

select topics of study within a whole class theme. Initially,

students were provided inquiry booklets as organizational

devices or tools that helped them gather, structure, present,

and reflect on the information they were acquiring.

Teachers used curricular invitations to develop research

skills, to build background information, to expand interest,

and to support collaboration and independence.

Although Writers Workshop, Literature Study, Math

Time, and Inquiry constituted the bulk of the curriculum,

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

127

CFI teachers and pupils also took part in a national

gardening project that featured problem solving in science.

In an effort to make the community an integral part of the

school, CFI parents and interns offered Discovery Clubs

once a week during the school day. This provided an

opportunity for children to explore an area of interest.

Discovery Clubs featured alternate ways of knowing and

encompassed such diverse topics as karate, karaoke,

camping, cooking, creative dramatics, dancing, gardening,

carpentry and sports.

The on-site teacher education program offered

undergraduate interns the opportunity to explore inquirybased

instruction by experiencing such a curriculum first.

Often, what they tried out in their educology classes for

teachers in preparation (for example, engaging in a literature

discussion), became the focus of their work with students in

the classrooms in which they worked. Because we wished

to re-envision what teacher education and the educology of

teaching ought to be, we assumed responsibility for all

coursework handled by the School of Education. This

included all of the various methods courses like reading and

language arts, science, social studies, mathematics, art,

music, special education, and multicultural education as

well as foundations courses like the history and philosophy

of education and educational psychology. We also took

responsibility for all field experiences, student teaching, and

several research seminars. For purposes of organization we

thought of our new vision of teaching as a new discourse

and saw conversation as a powerful tool through which to

enter this discourse world.

We began our planning by thinking about the

conversations that we wanted these preservice teachers to

have (Applebee, 1997). The conversations we wanted to

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

128

nurture were presented as focused studies in which the

disciplines (traditionally taught through methods courses)

were perspectives embedded in conversations as they

developed. The result was a series of focused studies in

which we explored questions like What does it mean to be literate? and What does a truly integrated focused study

look like in practice? Each focused study provided

instructional engagements in strands that roughly paralleled

the inquiry cycle (see Figure 2):

1. Composing: Exploring your voice and your current

stance.

2. Making Connections: Reading professional

literature in an attempt to understand both your own

position and where others are coming from.

3. Seminar: Hearing the voices of teachers and

educologists who are currently working.

4. Research: Planning and conducting mini-inquiry

projects that can be done in the field while this unit

is being taught.

5. Multiple Sign Systems: Using art, music, math,

process drama, and other sign systems to gain new

perspectives on the topic.

6. Demonstration: Purposefully putting our evolving

personal theories of literacy and literacy learning to

test by focusing on tension.

7. New Curricular Directions: Positioning ourselves

anew in relation to a topic by developing and fieldtesting

new curricular engagements and invitations.

Although both the elementary school faculty and the

teacher education faculty were new to inquiry based

education, each had volunteered to be involved in the

program and had made a personal commitment to actively

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

129

explore what such a model might look like in practice. The

two full-time university faculty and their graduate assistant

were committed to helping teachers develop inquiry-based

curriculum for children in their classrooms and the 6 fulltime

teachers making up the CFI staff were committed to

working side-by-side as co-learners with the undergraduate.

To this end, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, each week,

from 3:30 to 5 were devoted to professional development. It

was here that teachers and interns formed themselves into

study groups to explore topics of interest and worked

together to plan curriculum and to share information on

students, teaching, and classroom management. Several

themes held interest due to particular concerns voiced by the

faculty. Some of these themes became yearlong teacherintern

study group projects:

1. How can teachers create and maintain a sense of

community in an inner-city setting?

2. How can teachers manage and support a multi-age

group of children from kindergarten through grade 5 as

they pursue personal inquiry topics?

3. What are the best ways to organize and manage multiage

classrooms?

4. How should teachers address issues relating to spelling

in process-centered, inquiry-based classrooms?

Physical Context

Because it affects the study that we are reporting here, it is

important that readers understand that the Center for Inquiry

was a school within a school at the time this study was

conducted. Physically, the CFI occupied one wing of

School 92. Enrollment in the CFI was 120 pupils, whereas

enrollment in School 92 was 623. Because central

administration refused to assign a principal to a school of

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

130

fewer than 500 students, the CFI was officially administered

by the building principal. Nonetheless, it is important to

understand that the CFI was, so to speak, in the face of

traditional education on a daily basis, and although CFI

teachers were exempt from some district policies because of

the school’s special status, there was constant pressure to

conform. Undergraduate interns often complained when

CFI teachers appeared to give in to administrative pressures

to skill and drill children for the up-coming Indiana State

Test of Educational Performance (ISTEP) by conducting

daily oral language activities and timed math tests, and by

focusing on test-taking strategies. Reports such as these

indicate that the theoretical match between the school

curriculum and the teacher education curriculum was less

than perfect. However, the match was philosophically much

stronger than any others that we have encountered in the

educological literature on teacher education.

Further, there is evidence that the CFI and the teacher

education program had a great deal of effect on teachers in

School 92. Over a five-year span, all 34 teachers in School

92 at some time participated in inservice programs offered

by University faculty or CFI teachers. In part, this progress

was possible because we used interns as an incentive.

Teachers in School 92 were invited to participate in afterschool

professional development activities to begin to

explore education as inquiry. In exchange for their

participation and involvement, undergraduate interns were

assigned to their classrooms to help them in the

implementation of inquiry-based instruction. The net result

of these placement policies and the way the CFI was

positioned in the larger school meant that undergraduate

interns had two types of field placements. Sometimes they

worked in CFI classrooms where the instruction they were

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

131

seeing paralleled what they were being taught in their

educology of teaching classes, and sometimes they worked

in School 92 classrooms, where instruction often was

diametrically opposed to what was being taught in their

educology program. We were particularly interested in

seeing how the interns negotiated the more traditional

school classrooms during one of their student teaching

experiences. Under these conditions, we can best determine

to what extent practice makes practice and to what

extent practice is mediated by educological theory.

Method: Studying the

Relationship between Theory and Practice

Going into this study, we hypothesized that if preservice

teachers were provided a seamless curriculum of theory and

practice both in their field experiences and in their college

coursework, then they would be more likely to be able to

articulate and implement a coherent educology, i.e. a

coherent theory about the educational process. Given the

experience of a unified teacher education program, we

wished to understand the relationship that exits between a

person’s ability to articulate educological theory and his or

her ability to implement a program of instruction based on

that theory. There were five phases to the research project

reported here. Phases I, II, and III constituted the original

study; phases IV and V were added to address questions

which evolved from the original data.

Phase I involved observations of all interns during

student teaching. Each intern was observed for a half day

on three different occasions by three different researchers.

In-depth field notes were taken during each observation and

some teaching episodes were videotaped. Toward the end

of student teaching, hour-long interviews were conducted

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

132

with selected students. Using these data sources, thick

descriptions of the undergraduates’ instructional behavior

were constructed. Four of these descriptions were

subsequently chosen as examples of the stances identified in

Phase II and are included in this paper. Three of the reports

(the ones for Holly, Janet and Anna) are rather

straightforward summaries of our field notes and interviews.

The fourth report (for Emily) summarizes a single event that

occurred during the course of student teaching.

Phase II involved analyzing Phase I data using

intercontexuality theory as an analytical framework (Beach,

1996). According to intercontexuality theory, people cannot

truly understand the ideologies under-girding their current

positions unless they also understand the counter-positions

that are being denied. Not only do texts reside in context,

but different contexts presuppose different discourses. Said

differently, the tension that exists between alternate

discourses means that the everyday participation in social

events always involves the taking of a stance within an

envisioned set of competing discourse worlds.

As a function of this analysis, we created a taxonomy of

five different discourse worlds that we felt captured the

different stances that undergraduate interns demonstrated in

the teaching episodes we observed. In this analysis we

defined stance as the positioning of oneself within a

particular discourse world for purposes of justifying ones

identity, behavior, and agenda.

Phase III involved interviewing all 16 undergraduate

interns at the end of their third semester and asking them

about what mattered most to them in their teacher education

program. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and

analyzed. Working with the interns’ statements and in light

of our observations of their classroom behaviors, 20

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

133

uniquely different what mattered statements were created.

The research team discussed how the various statements

might be theoretically aligned with the different stances

identified during Phase II, and eventually assigned a

theoretical orientation to each statement. The statements

were then typed on cards, and given to each student as a

stack at the end of the teacher education program. Students

were asked first to select 4 cards (out of the 20) that

represented what they saw as most important, and then to

justify their selection in terms of the three theoretical

models that formed the foundation for the program (see

Figures 1, 2, and 3). Given their selections and our preassignment

of a theoretical orientation to each card, these

data were studied to confirm or disconfirm our identification

of stance during Phase II of data collection.

Phases IV and V address long-term effects. The four

interns that we cite as exemplars in this study were observed

two years later in an effort to answer questions about

whether or not what we found in Phases I, II and III held.

Phase V reports standardized testing data for children at the

Center for Inquiry; this information is provided for

individuals who see such data as the bottom line.

Phase I: Observational Data

Part of the educology of education-as-inquiry is the

contention that teachers need to develop their own personal

educology, i.e. their own personal theories about the

educational process. Although interns were immersed in an

education-as-inquiry educology in CFI classrooms and in

their educology courses in their teacher education program,

they also experienced alternatives to this educology in some

of their field placements, in their work as substitute teachers

in this and other school systems, and in their own

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

134

experiences as students. Although we know there is no oneto-

one correspondence between teaching and learning, we

assumed that by providing preservice teachers with a

consistent educology, they would be stronger in both the

sense of being more cognizant of their beliefs and of

understanding how beliefs affect practice and vice versa.

The four students we describe below represent four

distinct stances we saw repeated across interns as they

positioned themselves as teachers. It is important to

remember that with the exception of Emily, all of the interns

we report on here were student teaching in a traditional (as

opposed to CFI) classroom. These descriptions suggest that

becoming a teacher is a complex event. The novice teacher

must orchestrate the sense she has made of professional and

personal experiences, as well as her personal sense of

agency, in light of the constraints she believes to be

operating in each teaching context.

Holly: “I just went by the curriculum in first grade.”

During the first eight weeks of the semester Holly was

assigned to student teach in a primary classroom in the

traditional wing of the larger school. Holly described the

cooperating teacher's classroom program as consisting of

worksheets: At first everything was worksheets. They'd do

at least eight worksheets a day, and I did it for maybe the

first week just to please her. Even though Holly's

cooperating teacher's program consisted largely of skilldriven

worksheets, Holly was able to make adaptations to

the classroom program as early as the second week of her

student teaching. According to Holly, the initial changes to

the schedule consisted of eliminating most of the worksheets

and integrating reading and writing. By this, Holly meant

that she added daily journals, independent reading, and

listening centers to the language arts program. Later, Holly

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

135

was able to add several free-choice reading periods and to

begin a home reading program. Holly was determined to

have students take books home to read with their parents.

Hollys supervising teacher argued that too many books

would be lost if they allowed them to go home. In the end,

Holly was able to negotiate this issue by getting parents to

agree to pay for any books that might become lost. Since it

only cost five dollars to replace a book, this plan was

acceptable to both the parents and Hollys supervising

teacher.

Holly continued to follow the cooperating teacher's

spelling program and to use the little books that came with

the districts basal reading program as the primary material

for reading instruction. In an exit interview Holly shared

how she was attempting to integrate more literature into the

classroom. What Holly meant by this was that she had

introduced story telling and several free-choice reading

periods. During these free-choice times, children could

select any of the extra books that came with the basal

reading program to read independently. A second freechoice

reading period consisted of silent sustained reading.

Children selected a library book from those that Holly had

collected and read this book by themselves or quietly with

friends. Storytelling was a big hit in the classroom with

both the children and Hollys supervising teacher. Several

of the videotapes we collected show Holly telling stories

with props and actively engaging students in the storytelling

process themselves.

One of the videotapes we made of Holly teaching shows

her working with a small reading group while other groups

worked on reviewing new words that had been presented in

other lessons, listened to a story on tape, and worked with a

chart board to learn this week’s new words. The students

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

136

with whom Holly was working were engaged in round-robin

reading. Holly corrected every error on the spot, and

appeared to be recording the errors in a notebook as well. It

was not clear that these notes were organized in any way or

that she intended to use them for planning future instruction.

When children lost their place, Holly admonished them to

pay attention and follow along. Hollys supervising

teacher was a strong disciplinarian, one who could be heard

raising her voice to children throughout the day. Holly, too,

assumed this Im in control stance by making sure that all

the children were absolutely quiet prior to beginning an

activity and that everyone worked through activities in a

step-by-step fashion. Holly said that one of the things she

had learned from student teaching was the need to make

sure that children saw and respected her authority.

Holly said she thought it was crucial for children to feel

free to share their opinions and interests and that these

would be respected in the classroom. To this end, one of the

first changes she made in the physical environment of the

classroom was to remove all of the supervising teacher’s

Walt Disney posters and replace them with children’s work.

While Holly did not change the focus of instruction in the

room, she did manage to accomplish what the supervising

teacher wanted in a more benign and humane manner.

Holly felt she was able to make these changes because they

did not really alter the districts curriculum:

She [the cooperating teacher] said, these [pointing to the districts

curriculum guide] are the things that will be on the test coming up.

These are the things that they should know. Period. So, I just went

by the curriculum for first grade, and made up my own lessons.

Holly did not attempt to change some program areas.

During our observations, we saw Holly conduct what had

become a ritualistic daily calendar activity in the school.

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

137

This involved identifying the date, the weather, and the

number of days school had been in session. Holly also

continued the cooperating teacher's skill-driven daily oral

math and language activities, which had been mandated by

the principal in preparation for district-wide standardized

testing. Rather than copy sentences and problems from the

board, Holly put these items on a worksheet that she handed

out to the students. In this way she had a record of what the

students had done as well as something to grade.

Holly said she felt she needed to follow the teacher's

math program, but found ways to make the experiences

more concrete for the students through the use of math

manipulatives.

I used the math books, but I didn't always use the worksheets. I put

problems on the board and gave them manipulatives... I did a lot of

invitations with math. I took them to the exploration room and set

up cards [activity centers].

Holly said she felt very constrained when it came to making

changes in the curriculum because of testing:

Because of the testing, I felt that it really wasn't my position to say,

“Well, I want to do this”. Because she's frantic. This is her job on

the line. So I told her, “I'm going to have to go under what you

want to do during the first four weeks of my student teaching.” She

said that this is what they need to know-- this is what they need to

cover.

When asked what she had learned from her experience

as a student teacher, Holly said she had learned that testing

can be stressful and a powerful deterrent to learning. She

said she felt that if teachers had to prepare students for

standardized testing, it would be better to do practice

worksheets throughout the school year rather than to cram

everything in at the last minute.

Janet: “I wish I had pushed myself more during student

teaching.” Janet selected a primary classroom in School 92

as the site in which to do her student teaching. She knew

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

138

this teacher and had worked in this classroom during her

initial field experience. In her interview she shared how

excited she was

It was real easy with her because we got along well when I was in

here in the first of the year. It was real easy. I could talk with her

about anything at all. That's why I'm so glad I was able to get in

here because I don't think I could have asked for a better student

teaching experience.

Janet described her cooperating teacher as caring about

kids and as open to new things. To support her argument

she cited the fact that her cooperating teacher had spent a lot

of time visiting classrooms in the CFI and in other ways had

expressed an interest in trying inquiry-based instruction.

During classroom visitations we had the opportunity to

observe Janet conducting a daily calendar lesson very

similar to Holly's, a spelling lesson, a basal reading lesson, a

creative writing lesson, and an invitational session in which

children used the arts to extend reading, math, and science

activities. For the most part, Janet tried to set up activities

in which children had choice. Her demeanor was quiet and

respectful of the children in the room. Janet worked long

hours each day getting materials ready for instruction; she

spent time creating a pleasant and attractive classroom

environment. Bulletin boards were teacher-created but

contained books children had written following a

predictable pattern. A number of tradebooks stood upright

on the tops of the bookcases that lined one wall. Although

not well marked, Janet had created a theater area, a writing

center, and a library reading area in the classroom. Children

had no trouble talking about any of these areas and what

went on in them. Children’s desks were arranged in groups

of 4 to form workspaces.

One of the basal reading lessons which we observed

consisted of the students reading a play aloud as a whole

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

139

group. When the students pronounced a word incorrectly,

Janet asked them to go back and reread the word correctly.

There were times in the lesson when Janet interrupted

students to ask about the meaning of particular words. At

the end of the lesson, Janet invited students to vote for the

culminating activity they wanted to do. The students elected

to do a play with puppets and act out the parts themselves.

When we later asked Janet how the play activity went, she

responded:

Oh, they loved it because we videotaped it. We played it

back and they could have watched that thing fifty million

times. They thought it was soooo wonderful. They

wanted to share this tape with everybody.

During our interview, Janet explained the reading

program she had in place. Each Monday she sent home a

list of vocabulary words taken from the basal reading story

that would be the focus of reading instruction for the week.

Janet expected students to work on this story each day as

well as complete a comprehension activity she took directly

from the teachers guide. On Fridays, students did

something creative with the story like a group choral

reading. In addition they often completed a comprehension

activity that involved writing. On one of the days we

visited, students wrote descriptions of the setting, each

character in the story, and drew pictures showing what they

thought their favorite character looked like. Often this work

was displayed in the room. By the end of the semester,

Janet was using every opportunity she had to integrate the

arts into the basal reading program. For example, on one

occasion she had students create piñatas in response to a

story.

The spelling lesson which we observed Janet teaching

involved the 'ou' sound. After introducing the sound and its

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

140

spelling, Janet shared the list of spelling words that students

were to learn. After having the students read through the list

of words, Janet asked them to use each word in a sentence

and draw an accompanying picture. When we asked Janet

how she selected the spelling words she responded:

She [the supervising teacher] has a book and I just go through and

pick different sounds. Well, actually, at the beginning she gave me

all the different sounds she wanted me to cover, and I just did them.

Janet followed a similar practice in making decisions

about what to teach for language arts. Once again she

reported that her supervising teacher had a language

workbook which covered topics like sentence order and

word tense (was, were, is, are, have, had, etc.). Curriculum

decision making was a matter of covering each skill in the

order they were presented in this guide.

For math, Janet followed district’s guidelines, covering

those concepts that were outlined in the math textbook that

had been adopted by the district. Rather than use the

workbook pages, Janet tried to enhance lessons by reading

books, using manipulatives, and playing games that

reinforced the skill being taught.

Despite the cooperating teachers need to have grades

(one reason Janet gave for why her cooperating teacher had

not radically changed her program), Janet was able to make

significant changes to the on-going curriculum by squeezing

in free-choice reading time:

Sometimes we get some free-choice reading time squeezed in. I

bring in a crate of library books every week. That was something

new I asked if I could do. They took to it real well. They would

buddy up, or just go anywhere in the room... I'm really surprised

what they'd pick up in there.

By the end of the semester Janet was able to create what

she called group time and work it into the schedule. During

this period, students could write stories of their own

choosing and explore different centers in the classroom that

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

141

focused on topics like science, math, social studies and

health through music, art, and drama. Janet said that both

she and her supervising teacher had a strong interest in using

the arts to enhance and support learning. She maintained

that her supervising teacher’s interest in the arts had been

initially triggered by visits to CFI classrooms.

During our interview, Janet shared how problematic it

was to be teaching in a traditional classroom. The setting

itself seemed to provide excuses for not doing more:

It was easy to get sucked in by the traditional way. How do I plan

for all of those subjects? I don't have time to make everything

inquiry-oriented because I don't have that much time to plan for all

these subjects every single day.

At one point, we talked with Janet about how she might

envision her classroom next year. At no time during this

conversation did Janet mention textbook materials or skilldriven

worksheets. Instead, she described a creative writing

program and an exploration center where children could

follow their own interests in science, social studies and

health. Janet concluded that above all else, she didn't want

learning to feel like it was doing school. After describing

the program she envisioned for next year she asked:

Can I really pull this off? It's all up here [pointing to her head] and

it's trying to get it. It seems like you should be able to do that --

making sure kids have the skills and are prepared for the tes t-- and

still do it the way we want to do It — in a multiple-ways-of-knowing,

inquiry-based fashion -- without having to do the drill and kill.

Our final interview ended in a conversation in which

Janet discussed all of the various ways teachers might

encourage students to read and write, how skills might be

integrated into a holistic curriculum, and how the arts might

be used to enhance the overall program. This line of

thinking must have put Janet in a reflective mood as she

concluded by saying, I wished I had pushed myself more

during student teaching.

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

142

Anna: “Stand firm in your beliefs and fight for them.

Anna selected a kindergarten in School 92 for her first

student teaching assignment. She said that she liked this

classroom because it reflected an environment where

students' questions were valued and reflected in the

classroom curriculum. Originally, Anna was to be placed in

another kindergarten, but she lobbied for this classroom

because of earlier visits.

I was in here in the very beginning… I love this classroom. When

she started the year, it was bees -- their whole thematic unit. She

wanted to teach them bees so they wouldn't be afraid of the bees

that were in the room. Then, a lot of the pictures and videos were a

lot to do with apples and how bees help apples. So, they went into

apples.

Because of administrative pressure on teachers to do

well on the district’s standardized tests, Anna found that the

curriculum had changed drastically when she arrive in

January to start her student teaching. The classroom now

included worksheets for developing letter recognition, flash

cards, a teacher-generated word list, and a teacher-generated

daily message – all carefully orchestrated around a letter of

the week:

In the beginning [of the semester] it was this, this, and this. I was

told I had letter "O". I had winter projects. I had snowmen

projects. I had Martin Luther King projects. I mean it was just a

whole list of everything, and it was like there was no way I could get

to all these different themes I was supposed to be covering.

Annas only hope, at that time, was that the cooperating

teacher told her that she was open to learn new things, and if

Anna had a better way to do things, then she should let her

know. Anna took these comments as invitations to make

changes. Worksheets were eliminated from the daily group

time and instead assigned as homework. Anna combined

the letter of the week with the theme of the week so that

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143

there was more time in the day to include engagements of

her choosing. She also selected weekly themes that both

reflected student interest and met the letter of the week

requirement. For example, when Letter P Week came

around, Anna saw that children were already involved in

puppets and so selected puppetry as the theme. Word lists

became student-generated rather than teacher-generated. A

word wall and games were introduced as a way to handle

flash card drills. During one of our observations, we saw

several students using the word wall as they wrote in their

journals, another innovation Anna added to the classroom.

Other changes we observed included group time. Here

students cycled through exploration centers. During the

theme, Markets and Nutrition (Letter M and Letter N Weeks)

-- students were working in a supermarket exploration

center, a nurse’s station, and running a classroom mail

center. During Letter R Week, Anna created a classroom

restaurant that was so popular, the 5th graders who visited

the room for Buddy Reading gave up reading together to

play restaurant.

Anna began each morning and afternoon by telling a

story or reading a book which she enacted using simple

props. Children were highly engaged and seemed to have

internalized reading as inquiry in that they often interrupted

the reading to ask questions and discuss what was

happening. Often Anna complimented the children by

saying that what they had asked was a very good question:

The very thing good readers do constantly, she told one

student. During group time, the props for various books

were made available as an invitation for the children to

choose. By the end of the semester Anna was well on her

way to owning her own collection of childrens books.

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

144

Over the course of the semester, Anna managed to

integrate all of the curriculum areas. Exploration time

included opportunities to conduct science experiences,

explore nature and learn about the community. Children

moved from one activity to another in an almost seamless

fashion. Being highly organized, Anna developed a system

whereby each curricular invitation had its own plastic box in

which artifacts, books, and manipulatives could be stored

for easy access. When we asked Anna how she was able to

make changes in the classroom program she responded:

I think I pretty much just told her my reasoning behind the things I

did. She's been very open to it. She'd always ask for clarification or

more about it, or if I had a book about it, she'd ask me to bring it in.

And I've always tried
to start conversations by saying things like

"Well, when we did this"... "I've seen this"... "When I've seen this

done. That's always how I'd start ou.t

Anna claimed that as the semester progressed, not only

her cooperating teacher, but also the other kindergarten

teachers became more open to new ideas. Whenever we

met Anna's cooperating teacher in the hallway, she always

commented on how much she enjoyed having Anna in her

classroom and how much she was learning from Anna. On

one occasion, the school principal shared how Anna had

taken on a leadership role at one of the staff meetings by

suggesting that teachers invite parents to become inquirers

with them in helping their children learn.

At the end of student teaching, Anna identified as one of

her values the necessity of taking a critical stance towards

teaching and what is being taught in schools. Anna’s advice

to others: Stand firm in your beliefs and fight for them.

Emily: The Nappy Hair Incident. Emily’s first student

teaching assignment was in Joe Turner’s multiage

fourth/fifth grade classroom. Joe is a veteran CFI teacher

who can tolerate a good deal of chaos. He believes in

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

145

regular town meetings run by students and feels that if the

meetings don’t go well, then that’s a learning opportunity.

He also has been known to criticize other teachers on the

staff for their lack of imagination. For example, when the

issue of how to improve students’ spelling came up at a joint

staff meeting of CFI and School 92 teachers, he came back

from the meeting shaking his head.

Mrs. So-and-so thinks all we have to do is put more pressure on kids

and emphasize spelling tests. Can you believe it
? Like more spelling

is what these kids need! Their whole life is coming apart here in the

inner city, and all we can think about is spelling and doing more of

what didnt work in the first place! Some teachers are just never

going to change with the times.

Joe’s room was interesting in that he had a group of

African-American girls (Emily called them a clique) that

clearly ran the show. They were outspoken. They

interrupted classmates to make points. They worked like

beavers on inquiry projects that interested them, but did so

in their own noisy fashion. Joe didnt mind. Emily did.

Things came to a head when Emily took over the town

meetings. Like Joe, she opened the town meeting by

reading a book. Unlike Joe, she was bothered by the fact

that the African-American girls fixed each other’s hair as

she read. I find it disrespectful, she said to us. They disturb

the others and Im not having it! I’m not letting these girls

turn this classroom into a glorified beauty parlor! When

she brought this issue up at the town meeting, students

siding with her were interrupted before they got to make

their case. Emily responded by saying, Fine, if you are

going to be disrespectful and not listen to each other, then

Im leaving. You can just run this town meeting on your

own! With this, she left the classroom. When she came

back, the class was furious. Even the group of girls

involved in fixing their hair thought she had a responsibility

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

146

to stay and keep order. We didn’t get anything settled, and

you don’t have a right to just walk out! they complained.

Over the next several weeks the dispute raged on.

Several of the African-American girls brought in articles

they found on Internet to defend their right to fix each

other’s hair during town meetings. Holding a quote by

Maya Angelou, one of the girls stated, Black women have a

special relationship with their hair, dont you know? It

says so right here. To Emily’s credit, this incident caused

her to rethink her position. Community-school relations

became the urgent topic of her next personal inquiry project.

She was particularly interested in learning about how

community mores, which differed from school mores, were

honored or ignored in other educational settings.

At the end of eight weeks, Emily was reassigned to

another classroom to finish her student teaching, and Rita,

another intern, took Emily’s place. Having heard about the

hair problem from Emily, she found the book Nappy Hair

(Herron, 1997) and brought it in to read at her first town

meeting. Nappy Hair is the story of an extended African-

American family’s picnic. A new baby makes her debut at

the picnic and is declared by family members to have the

nappiest hair in the world. The text consists of what

members of the family said about the baby to each other at

the backyard picnic. Each statement, Brenda, you sure do

got some nappy hair on your head, is followed by the

refrain, Ain’t it the truth? Don’t cha know! The book was a

true hit. Two of the girls worked it up as a reader’s theater

and took their production to several of the other classrooms

in the CFI. The videotape of their reading shows not only

their adroitness with black English, but the audience’s rapt

attention -- including two white girls in the front row fixing

their hair.

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

147

When we visited the classroom two weeks into Rita’s

student teaching, Kiera, one of the African American girls

involved, whispered, Psssst, Dr. Harste, come here. When

Jerry responded Yes, what can I do for you? Kiera stated

that she had a bone to pick with him for moving Emily to

another classroom. In disbelief, Jerry asked, After you

fought with her for the last 8 weeks, you now want her

back? Kiera replied coolly that they had never been fighting

with Emily, but had simply been helping her become a

teacher.

Phase II: Stance

Figure 4 is a chart outlining the five different stances we

found interns to have taken according to our analyses of

field data, any available videotapes and exit interviews. We

began this analysis by looking through our field notes and

listing for each student what we did and did not see

happening in terms of change. We then attempted to

develop a rationale, based on what interns had said, as to

why these changes were or were not made. For example,

we noted that Holly had changed her cooperating teacher’s

schedule after the first week by eliminating most of the

worksheets and attempting to integrate reading and writing.

We also noted that she appeared to be modeling these

changes on what she saw going on in CFI classrooms but

that she offered no theoretical explanation for making the

changes. Holly did not have problems teaching the skill

sequences that her supervising teacher had laid out for her

other than she thought there were more fun ways to teach

than what she had seen her supervising teacher using. She

also said that she knew we wanted to see children working

together and their work up in classrooms and that she

therefore tried to include more collaboration and student

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

148

voices. When we analyzed Holly’s data in terms of why

she had not made more changes, we found that Holly

perceived her cooperating teacher to be under a good deal of

pressure by the principal to have her students do well on the

state standardized test. Because of this situation, Holly felt

that she could not change things very much. At no time did

she question the implicit assumption that was being made by

both the teacher and the principal that the function of

schooling was to do well on these tests. When questioned as

to why she did not make more changes in the reading

program, Holly indicated that a lack of books and materials

had stopped her as well as her perception that the teacher

did not trust the kids to be responsible.

Figure 4: Stances

<----Wannabee

Wannabee---

>

Stances

by

Dimension

Benevolent

Skills

Selective

Chameleon

House

Decorator

Inquirer

Budding

Social

Reformer

Theoretica

l

Sees inquiry

as a new

way of

teaching

skills and

making

learning fun

Willing to

explore inquiry

as an occasional

curricular activity

within a

discipline

Sees inquiry as a

methodology

that applies to

some curricular

area and not

others

Uses inquiry

as a vehicle

for learning

(both self

and

children)

Is

exploring

how to use

inquiry to

make

institutiona

l change

Reflective

Practitioner

Is reluctant

to submit

own beliefs

about

schooling to

critical

reflection

Reflects

narrowly. More

interested in how

they look than in

children’s

learning

Some evidence

of using

reflection as a

tool for

professional

growth and

educational

critique

Reflects on

student

learning as a

vehicle for

understandin

g, generating

and

evaluating

practice

Uses

reflection

for

purposes of

rethinking

schooling

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

149

Curricular

Makes

curricular

decisions on

the basis of

pragmatics

rather than

theory

Sees some

theoretical

differences

between alternate

conceptions of

curriculum but is

confused about

what these

differences mean

for practice

Sees what is

good about

inquiry but

cannot envision

a workable

structure outside

of the

disciplines

Uses

focused

studies and

children’s

questions as

the starting

points for

instruction

they initiate

Sets up

environmen

ts for

inquiry

despite

obvious

constraints

including

administrati

ve

mandates

and how

the current

curriculum

has been

organized

Social

Uses groups

as a

variation in

routine. Is

governed by

the

expectation

of others.

Wants to be

seen as an

authority

figure

Uses groups

cooperatively to

more effectively

reach objectives.

Changes position

depending on

who is asking.

Issues of

management and

control determine

choices

Thinks that both

cooperative

learning and

collaborative

learning are the

same. Is very

concerned about

expectation of

authority figures

Uses others

to outgrow

self. Values

collaboratio

n for

students and

for self

Sees new

possibilitie

s for how

various

stakeholder

s might

work

together to

improve

education

World

View

Thinks

about

instructional

methodolog

y as either

working or

notworking.

Uses the

arts as a

variation in

routine and

for

decoration

Selects

methodology

according to

context but

doesn’t see how

something done

in someone else’s

classroom might

be applicable

here. Uses the

arts as

enrichment.

Selects

methodology

according to

discipline but

doesn’t see how

something done

in reading might

be applicable to

science. Uses

the arts as ways

to support

learning

Sees a

variety of

methodologi

es as

instances of

an inquiry

curriculum.

Uses the arts

to help

learners gain

new

perspectives

Sees

education

as inquiry

as a

philosophic

al stance

that

permeates

everything

that is

done. See

the arts as

alternate

literacies

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

150

By working with the data in this way, we discovered that

interns held very different opinions about things even on the

same subject. We determined, for example, that Holly saw

inquiry as a new way of teaching skills and making learning

fun, while Emily used inquiry as a vehicle for learning for

both herself and her children. Figure 4 lays out five

dimensions along which we found interns differing:

1. Theoretical orientation: The role inquiry plays in

educational reform.

2. Understanding the teacher as a reflective

practitioner: The role reflection plays in teaching.

3. Understanding curriculum: The relationship of

theory and practice in curricular planning.

4. Understanding the social nature of learning: How

social factors affect learning.

5. World View: The extent of their gaze or worldview.

In analyzing the data further, we found that various

positions entailed alignment on several factors. For

example, interns who saw inquiry as a new way of teaching skills and making learning fun also were unwilling to submit

their own beliefs about schooling to any critical reflection.

Not surprisingly, these interns were also confused about

what these [theory to practice] differences mean, were

reluctant to share own beliefs, and selected curricular

activities in terms of what makes me look good. Figure 4

shows other such alignments.

Although four interns were deemed to be Inquirers by

this analysis, what was surprising to us was the range of

positions that interns took, given their many common

experiences. From what we could tell, two interns failed to

change any of their basic beliefs about schooling. For them,

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

151

inquiry was a more benevolent way to teach a skill

curriculum, while making them look savvy and

educologically up-to-date. In sharp contrast to these two

interns were two other interns who in a sense not only took

on an inquiry perspective, but went beyond the thinking of

both the university and school faculty in terms of what an

inquiry model of schooling might change. We named this

set of interns Budding School Reformers and literally stood

back in amazement as they pushed administrators and

seasoned teachers into rethinking their notions of schooling.

We named 8 of the interns Wannabees in the sense that they

had internalized parts of an education-as-inquiry educology,

but were unable to get their act together completely.

Overall, what these data suggest is that 14 out of the 16

interns in this program were able, at least on occasion and in

some curricular areas, to think and operate theoretically

when it came to classroom instruction. Eight interns could

only do this for the reading and writing portion of their

curriculum, and then sometimes only on occasion, though

they did seem to have the ability to make their rooms appear

as if they were doing inquiry-based instruction in other areas

of the curriculum as well. At one point in this study we

characterized 4 of these 8 interns, House Decorators and the

additional 4 Chameleons, given their selective ability to say

what they thought listeners wanted to hear. In the end we

decided to combine these two categories into one category

which we characterized as Wannabees, as this name seemed

to capture the true state of things and focused on the positive

progress interns were making in terms of implementing and

managing an inquiry-based curriculum. Six of the 16

interns were able to operate in a theoretically consistent

manner across all curriculum areas. Two of the 6 (the

Budding School Reformer category) began to use inquiry as

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

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a perspective for addressing aspects of schooling we had

never managed to reform ourselves, like school-community

relations and parent involvement.

Phase III: What Mattered

At a debriefing conference at the end of the third

semester, interns were asked individually what they thought

really mattered most about being in this program. Several

interns asked if we wanted them to respond in terms of their

work in schools or in terms of the teacher education

program itself. Although we had anticipated using only one

response per student, we abandoned this idea and allowed

interns to list as many high priority reasons as they wished.

Their responses were taped, transcribed, and analyzed for

patterns. Figure 5 shows the interns’ responses in order of

frequency by names we thought captured the essence of

what they were saying.

Figure 5: Categories of Intern What-Matters Statements

Learning how to conduct inquiry-based education (N=9)

Being part of a progressive educational community (N=6)

Feeling current and connected to the profession (N=4)

Being field-based and actively involved in classrooms (N=4)

Being treated as a professional (N=3)

Having the kinds of opportunities that I think make me

a better teacher (N=3)

Learning how to set up environments that support literacy (N=3)

Learning how to work with diversity and special learners (N=2)

Experiencing first-hand what collaboration means (N=2)

Having the opportunity to build meaningful relationships (N=2)

A surface reading of Figure 5 would suggest that what

mattered most to students was learning practical techniques

related to implementing inquiry-based instruction. What is

not self-evident, however, is that interns have already

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

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educologically had to conceptualize education as inquiry in

order for this to be their concern. This is probably more

obvious when one envisions the what-matters categories

that seem practically oriented as questions instead of

categories. In this case, a question such as How do you

conduct inquiry-based education? presupposes that

education is best conceived educologically as a process of as

inquiry (for further clarification of this point see Langer,

1980).

Another way to read Figure 5 is to look at how

categories fall out in terms of size. Learning how to conduct

inquiry-based education is the largest category, having 9

what-matters statements attached to it. The second largest

category is being part of a progressive educational

community with 6 statements. The third largest category is a

tie, with both feeling current and connected to the profession and being field-based and actively involved in

classrooms each having 4 statements. This pattern

continues, suggesting that it mattered to interns that they

were part of something bigger, namely, an educologically

re-envisioning of both the theory and practice of public

schools and teacher education (57 percent as opposed to 43

percent).

One of the things we noticed in working with intern

statements on what mattered was that often there were

subtle theoretical differences between statements, even

when they dealt with the same topic. Using the range of

intern responses as our cue, we developed 20 revised

statements that we thought captured the theoretical

differences we noted between statements as well as how

various interns holding various stances perceived these

differences. Needless to say, this process was fairly

arbitrary, but important, as it forced us to explicate our own

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

154

beliefs as well as put them to the test. Figure 6 displays our

predictions of how various theoretical statements align

themselves with the 5 different stances that we initially

identified interns as taking during Phase II research.

Figure 6: Aligning Theoretical Statements by Stance

Budding Social Reformer

Learning to take a critical stance towards teaching and what is being

taught in schools.

Learning to work with others in an effort to create social change.

Being able to read, discuss, and become part of a progressive

educational community.

Being in a school setting where a multiple ways of knowing curriculum

is being advocated as supporting diversity and improving access for

students not previously well served by schools.

Inquirer

Learning to build curriculum from children.

Being in a program that allows kids to explore their own research

questions.

Being encouraged to reflect on a daily basis for purposes of developing

personal theories of learning and improving classroom practice.

Experiencing collaboration as a way of learning for our students and us.

Home Decorator

Being able to experiment with the inquiry process during Friday groups

and other times.

Experiencing a program where children’s literature is used to

supplement the curriculum.

Exploring multiple ways of knowing as tools for enriching the school

program.

Being in a variety of classrooms where different organizational

structures are modeled so that we can pick ones we like.

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155

Selective Chameleon

Exploring what math, science, social studies and other curricular areas

might look like when taught differently than when I was in school.

Being in a setting where you were allowed to try out ideas from a wide

variety of sources (e.g. Instructor magazine, fellow students, college

professors, workshops, etc.)

Learning to use choice to open-up options within a prescribed

curriculum.

Having the opportunity to take new ideas and work with them until they

work.

Benevolent Skills

Learning to set up and make curricula more acceptable by giving

children choice.

Developing new ways to teach skills while making learning enjoyable.

Learning how to manage a classroom, maintain effective discipline, and

keep order.

Learning how to include the arts (storytelling, art, music, drama, and

movement) within the expected curriculum.

These statements were typed on 3x5 cards and put into a

packet that was given to interns at the end of their second

student teaching experience. Interns were asked to look

through these cards and identify 4 which they felt best

represented what they saw as important about the program

from their own perspective. Figure 7 lists in order of

frequency of selection those statements that were the most

often chosen.

What these data show is that on the whole, interns

selected theoretical statements from the Inquirer stance

more frequently than they did other stances. This set of data

then reconfirms the conclusions that we reached in Phase II

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156

research that 16 out of the 18 interns had adopted (at least in

part) an inquiry perspective.

Figure 7:

Frequently Selected Theoretical Statements by Stance

Being encouraged to reflect on a daily basis for

purposes of developing personal theories of

learning and improving classroom practice

(N=12).

Inquirer

Learning to build curriculum from children

(N=10).

Inquirer

Experiencing collaboration as a way of learning

for our students and us (N=8).

Inquirer

Being in a program that allows kids to explore

their own research questions (N=6).

Inquirer

Experiencing a program where childrens

literature is used to supplement the curriculum

(N=6).

Wannabee

(Home Decorator)

Exploring multiple ways of knowing as tools for

enriching the school program (N=6).

Wannabee (Home

Decorator)

To further explore these data, Figure 8 lays out the

frequency of theoretical statements selected by stance

against what we predicted given our identification of

interns’ stances in Phase II. If these data fell out as we

predicted, we should expect that those interns we identified

as Budding Social Reformers would choose theoretical

statements we identified with this category, interns we

identified as Inquirers would choose theoretical statements

we identified with that category and so on. Figure 8

compares predictions of this nature against what really

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

157

happened when interns were asked to identify which

statements they saw as particularly important.

Figure 8:

Selection of Theoretical Statements (Prediction vs. Reality)

Stance (Number

of interns we

identified

holding this

stance during

Phase II

Research)

Total number of

predicted hits in

each category

against actual

number of hits.

(64=total number

of statements)

% of statements

which should

have been

selected given our

prediction from

Phase II research

results

% of

statements

which

actually fell

in these cells

% of miss

Budding

Social

Reformer (N=2)

8 predicted

12 actual

12.5

19.0

Plus 6.5

Inquirer (N=4)

16 predicted

27 actual

25.0

41.0

Plus 16.0

Home

Decorator (N=4)

16 predicted

10 actual

25.0

16.0

Minus 9.0

Selective (N=4)

Chameleon

16 predicted

8 actual

25.0

13.0

Minus 12.0

Benevolent

Skills (N=2)

8 predicted

7 actual

12.5

11.0

Plus 1.5

Because we identified 4 interns as holding the Inquirer

stance during Phase II research, we predicted that 16 inquiry

statements would show up (4 interns × 4 inquiry statements

= 16). In reality, 27 inquiry statements were selected,

suggesting that overall, interns understood the rhetoric of

inquiry even if they were not able to convince us that they

could practice it when we observed them in the classroom.

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158

If one were to predict an intern’s stance on the basis of

the data in Figure 8, one would assume that by far the most

frequent stance interns would have assumed in their student

teaching would have been that of Inquirer. The second most

frequent set of statements selected were those of Budding

Social Reformer. Given Phase II observations of interns’

behavior in classrooms, these predictions did not turn out to

be accurate. Yet, to the extent that articulation precedes

action, these results have to be read positively. While they

do not match the reality of the moment, they bode well for

the future. When read as a set of ideals, these statements

can be seen as an image towards which interns can grow and

against which they can self-correct.

We were also interested in finding out how well interns

were able to articulate their choice of statements in terms of

the educological models which provided the foundation for

both the teacher education and CFI programs. In order to

keep this component of the study manageable, one student

was identified for each stance and the rationales for each of

the 4 statements selected by these representative interns

were compiled. To judge which rationale statements were

the most articulate, we enlisted the help of 10 university

instructors who were exploring an inquiry-based approach

to teacher education in their own teaching. Specifically we

asked raters to identify the most articulate rationale

statements and, conversely, the least articulate rationale

statements on the list. Six (of the 16) rationale statements

were identified as being highly articulate; each received 8 or

more votes. Parenthetical notations after the statements

identify which theoretical model the student was talking

about in the rationale as well as the stance of the student

relative to findings in Phase II of the study.

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1. Democracy and diversity are respected when we

value each childs personal inquiry questions and

we use a variety of disciplines and sign systems to

gain perspective and to question who benefits by

what we believe
(Figure 1, Education as

Democracy; Budding Social Reformer).

2. It is important to take a critical stance; to critique

what is included in the curriculum in terms of

relevance and who benefits. Stand firm for your

beliefs and fight for them. Questioning and

investigating are focal points in inquiry.
(Figure 1,

Education as Democracy; Budding Social

Reformer).

3. Each child comes to school with a vast amount of

knowledge. It is the teachers responsibility to

respect and to build from this knowledge base. If a

teacher can find a childs interests, then he or she

can use these interests to excite the child and in this

fashion support growth, learning, self-esteem,

understanding, and the asking of new questions

(Figure 2, The Inquiry Cycle; Inquirer).

4. The learning process is endless when children

develop their own research questions. The cycle

represents endless learning to me. When children

are really interested in, or immersed in, a particular

research question they take ownership of it. New

questions surface which allow for further learning

and investigating (Figure 2, The Inquiry Cycle;

Inquirer).

5. Multiple ways of knowing are not extras. They are

an integral part and basis of the curriculum.

Multiple ways of knowing are crucial to being able

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160

to support and facilitate all studentslearning

(Figure 3, Multiple Ways of Knowing; Inquirer)

6. Bringing out different meanings from other ways of

knowing such as music, art, dance, and process

drama expands ones knowledge and provides

opportunities which enhance learning.
(Figure 3,

Multiple Ways of Knowing; Budding Social

Reformer).

Inquirers and/or Budding Social Reformers made all 6 of the

statements identified as articulate by the raters. Although it

was optional, 6 of the 10 raters identified these three

statements as least articulate:

1. Kids making the decisions increases interest and learning by a multitude. (Figure 2, The Inquiry

Cycle; Selective Chameleon)

2. Both teachers and students are valuable resources. It is silly not to use them! (Figure 2, The Inquiry

Cycle; Benevolent Skills)

3. I like the option of being able to experiment and not

just stick to a single textbook or a single way of

presenting information.
(Figure 3, Multiple Ways of

Knowing; House Decorator).

It is important to note that Budding Social Reformers

and Inquirers made all 6 of the most articulate statements,

and interns in other categories made all 3 of the least

articulate rationale statements. These data lend support to

the hypothesis that interns who were able to articulate what

they were doing educologically had also been identified as

demonstrating more educologically consistent ways of

interacting with children in classrooms.

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

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Discussion: What Phases I, II, and III

Contribute To Our Understanding of the

Relationship between Theory and Practice in

Teacher Education

We found stance to be a powerful way of looking at how

our students have both been positioned and have positioned

ourselves within the fund of knowledge of educology and

within the processes of education and literacy. Unlike most

concepts, stance is a concept that speaks to relationships.

Just as one cannot understand teaching without understanding

learning, so too, one cannot understand identity

without understanding the tension that exists between

discourse worlds. What follows is a series of statements we

think we can conclude as a result of this study and are

reasons for reaching these conclusions.

Teachers who can educologically justify their practice

are much more likely to accomplish change. While several

phases of this research directly address this issue, Phase III

data make it clear that interns who were the most successful

in making change in their classrooms were also the most

articulate about why this change was educologically

important. Anna is a clear case. Living within the

constraints of flash cards, Letter-A day routines and a

prescribed set of topics, she was able to build curriculum

from the inquiry questions of learners and offer students real

choices. She was also able to make learning active,

highlight reading, writing, and other ways of knowing, and

help the teachers with whom she was working to become

more educologically consistent in their own practice.

The greater the understanding of the relationship

between educological theory and educational practice, the

more seamless the curriculum. One of the significant

differences between Anna and Janet, for example, was that

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Anna was able to organize curriculum around themes as

opposed to disciplines. Under the umbrella of a theme,

Anna’s classroom flowed from activity to activity whereas

Janet’s was forever stopping and starting. Anna’s children

moved within an overarching theme; Janet’s children move

from subject to subject. The corollary of this conclusion

was stated by Janet, and that was that the less the

understanding, the more likely one is to get sucked into

doing school as it has always been done. Both Janet and

Holly seem to be clear examples.

What may not be so obvious is that this tenet is as true

for teachers as it is teacher educators. With new

understanding such as this study provides, the teacher

education program reported on here continues to grow. As

a result of this study we are experimenting with ways to

support the development of a critical, multiple ways of

knowing, inquiry-based curriculum (Leland, Harste,

Ociepka, Lewison, & Vasquez, 1999; Leland & Harste,

1999; Harste, Vasquez, Lewison, Breau, Leland, & Ociepka,

2000). We already have a new cohort of interns student

teaching over two semesters.

Educological theory serves both as a vision and as a

self-correcting device in the educational process. Interns

who were effective change agents used educological theory

as a vision of what might be. It was this vision that drove

them to find ways to align educational practice. Other

interns either let the matter of permission stop them or did

not seek permission because of their lack of educological

vision. Janet said that experiencing first-hand what a

multiple ways of knowing curriculum could do for children

caused her to wish that she had done more. Suddenly, she

could educologically envision a different educational world.

Janet, then, shows how educological theory, or one’s

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educological envisioning of what educationally might be,

can serve as a self-correcting device in the educational

process. Comparing what is to what might be creates a new

agenda.

While Holly did make some changes in her supervising

teacher’s classroom, many of the changes were superficial.

Her explanation that she took down the supervising

teacher’s Walt Disney posters to put up children’s work

because she knew this is what we, her instructors, would

like to see, is professionally unacceptable as she is neither

taking educological nor personal responsibility for her

teaching decisions. While Holly has rhetoric for why she

does things, it is not anchored in an educological

understanding of the relationship between educological

theory and educational practice, but in political pragmatics,

where instructors, as a general rule, hold arbitrary power

over undergraduates. Without an educological rationale for

what she is doing, Holly is extremely vulnerable to the next

expert or next new idea, no matter how misguided either

might be.

Tensions between educological theory and educational

practice drive the learning process. Two of the newest

insights in the educology of language education are the

notions that there is not a single literacy but multiple

literacies (Street, 1995) and that we are socially constructed

as particular types of literate beings (Luke & Freebody,

1997). These data show that few of the interns studied took

on a critical literacy perspective or went as far as we would

have liked them to go in terms of analyzing the systems of

meaning that exist in society to position them as literate

adults. (For more on the relationship between critical

perspectives and these interns, see Leland, Harste, &

Youssef, 1997). Not surprisingly, we found few if any

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

164

examples in this data of interns working to help students

understand how literacy is positioning them. Such a

curricular focus is not so much a matter of front-loading the

curriculum as it is having a critical perspective and using

what opportunities naturally arise in the classroom to

support the interrogation of beliefs and the taking of new

social action (Vasquez, 1999, 2000).

The Nappy Hair Incident is representative of how the

concept of stance and the taking of a critical perspective

might advance a new vision of teacher education. There are,

we believe, three lessons to be learned about the relationship

of educological theory and educational practice in teacher

education from this incident. First, educological theory and

educational practice are constantly evolving. Even when

our educological models of the educational process

represent the best that we currently know, there is more to

be learned and more that we need to address. For this

reason our models of education should be both open and

constantly under review. Critical literacy does not make

invalid an inquiry-based model of education, but rather

highlights an aspect of the learning cycle that has not

received the attention it must receive if we are to understand

learning in its most powerful sense. Whatever educological

conceptions of education we use to anchor our programs of

teacher education, they need to be open to change over time.

Models, like education, are always in the making. Second,

learning is signaled by a change in one’s educological

conception of educational models as well as in one’s

educational practice in the teaching and learning process.

Although Emily began in one place, the evidence indicates

that she grew and began to think about classroom

management in a new way. Practically, as her educological

conceptual model changed so did her educational practice.

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She became less confrontational and began to position

herself as a learner. Third, Emily’s positioning of herself as

an inquirer allowed her a self-correction strategy. Through

inquiry, she began to demonstrate to the students that she,

too, was a learner. The problem with this example, from a

critical literacy standpoint, is that it doesn’t go far enough --

which bring us to several other important conclusions that

bear on this event.

Time seriously constrains the development of srong

relationships between sound educological theory and sound

educational practice. Part of what is problematic with

teacher education is our inability to be as flexible with time

as we need to be. If Emily had been given more time in

Joe’s classroom, she probably would have been able to

engage the children in a very different conversation.

Moving to a new placement for the second half of student

teaching meant that she did not have an opportunity to do

this. The result is that the grounding for a critical literacy

agenda was set, but not enacted. No social action was taken.

In terms of theory-practice relationships, what we are left

with is educological theory but no educational practice; the

result is a less satisfactory educative experience than might

have been.

One can only guess how more time would have affected

Janet. Although she was still thinking about curriculum in

terms of disciplines and still seeing the arts more as

enrichment than as an integral part of the learning process,

both she and her cooperating teacher were beginning to

move. Like young children learning literacy (Harste,

Woodward, & Burke, 1984), Janet and her cooperating

teacher were just beginning to take the risk of exploring the

world of possibilities that an expanded definition of literacy

affords.

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166

Practical concerns like management and control are also

artifacts of time and relationships. Underlying the interns’

ongoing concerns about implementing an inquiry-based

curriculum were the twin issues of management and control.

What these data suggest are that in order for interns to

accept fully an educological model of education-as-inquiry,

they needed to be able to envision educologically how such

a model might be implemented by them in a classroom

complete with whatever nightmarish non-support they might

encounter. Over and over again, it became clear that for

interns who did not see classroom behavior as negotiated,

notions of success rested on whether or not students

behaved in a manner that was acceptable to them and to

what they thought significant others, like supervising

teachers and the school principal, expected. At the core of

this egotism was the matter of control. Whereas an

education-as-inquiry model of education is built on the

premise that children ought to be in charge of their own

learning and that education ought to build off the inquiry

questions of learners, the model assumes that teachers will

be willing to negotiate curriculum. Interns identified as

holding the Benevolent Skills, Selective Chameleon and

Home Decorator stances did not understand this

educological theory and educational practice relationship.

In their own mind’s eye, their identity rested on their ability

to maintain order, not on their ability to create an

educational environment which supported learners taking

charge of their own learning. Again, it was political

pragmatics over educological theoretical conceptions of

what might be. Their focus was on themselves rather than

on relationships between teaching and learning and

educological theory and educational practice.

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

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The issue of management and control is another artifact,

then, of time and relationship. Not having enough time to

develop informed and meaningful relationships with either

their cooperating teachers or with the students in the class

means that issues of management and control cannot be

negotiated. This, too, in part is Emily’s problem. Despite

our best efforts at educologically re-envisioning teacher

education, we didn’t go far enough. By concentrating two

student teaching placements in one semester, we did not

create an environment within which interns could develop

the kind of relationships that could truly change things. As

it stands right now, interns experience only a mild dose of

relationship building. Using the metaphor of a literacy tool

kit, management is really a matter of deciding which

organizational tools work best from context to context.

How well these tools work depends on how their use has

been negotiated, and this in large part relies on the kinds of

relationships that have been constructed.

The number of constraints which interns found

theoretically problematic acted as barometers of their

understanding of the relationship between educological

theory and educational practice. To a large degree, interns

in this study faced many of the same constraints. They all

worked in a building where the principal wanted teachers to

skill and drill kids in preparation for the upcoming

standardized state test. They all worked with supervising

teachers who were positioned to understand that their

children’s test scores would be seen as an evaluation of

themselves and their teaching competency. They all had to

acknowledge the district-wide basal curriculum in reading,

mathematics, spelling, and the English language arts. But in

spite of the many constraints they shared, they ended up

doing very different things. In analyzing these data, one

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pattern we identified was that when practices educologically

bothered any of the interns, they managed to make change.

This finding was true for all interns, with the pattern holding

across all stances, from Budding Social Reformers to

Benevolent Skills. What separated Benevolent Skills from

Budding Social Reformers was the number of things that did

not educologically bother them.

The more constraints interns saw as to why they could

not make changes, the less likely they were to have an

understanding of relationships between educological theory

and educational practice. Anna, you will recall, was

bothered by almost all of the decisions that had been

implemented since her last visit to this classroom. Holly on

the other hand had many of the same things happening in

her classroom but was not educologically bothered by them.

Rather than use educology as a point of critique, she turned

to pragmatics and justified not making any real changes

because of the physical constraints like a demanding

principal, a reluctant supervising teacher, and district policy.

Janet, too, felt constrained in her attempts to implement an

inquiry-based program by the number of disciplines she had

to include. Her perception of a set of disciplines as a

constraint indicates that she was still putting disciplines at

the center of curriculum. By identifying constraints, we

have a window on what aspect Janet did not understand of

the relationship between educological theory and

educational practice.

Because the educational process is theory driven all the

way down, educators, and especially educators of

educology, have a particular obligation to make their

educological theories explicit. This study lends credence to

the notion that teachers are more effective when their

classroom practices match the educological theories which

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169

they hold on literacy, learning, curriculum and schooling. It

further lends credence to the notion that it is the

responsibility of educologists within teacher education

programs to support teachers-in-preparation in developing

internally consistent educological models of theory for

guiding sound educational practice.

Many teacher educators might question whether we

ought to be giving teachers educological theories or whether

it is the responsibility of each professional teacher to

develop his or her own educology. They might argue that in

teacher education, we ought to expose teachers to as many

educological theories as possible and let each prospective

teacher decide for him or herself which aspects of

educology to espouse. While these are different perspectives

on the issue of educological theory in teacher education, it is

important to note that each of these views assume that

educological theory is important. Our earlier research on

the teaching of reading (Harste & Burke, 1977; DeFord,

1978) has shown that teachers consistently operate out of an

educological theory of reading whether they are conscious

of it or not. We suspect the same holds for teaching more

generally and that what is true for teachers is also true for

teacher educators.

The real issue is how explicit we want to make our

educological theories. This study supports the notion that

teacher educators, and especially teachers of educology

within teacher education programs, ought to be explicit

about their educological theories of literacy, learning,

curriculum, and schooling as well as provide settings in their

teacher education classrooms and in the public schools

where prospective teachers can see and experience such

educological theories guiding educational action.

International Journal of Educology, 2002, Vol 16, No 2

170

Some would see this approach to teacher education as

biased, yet as professionals, we would argue that

educological theories and educational practices we advocate

represent the best of what is currently known. As

responsible teacher educators and teachers of educology, we

are asking prospective teachers to do what we do; namely,

to plan instruction in light of the best information available.

To see teaching and teacher education as inquiry is to

understand that in addition to taking an educological stance,

one also has to assume that some part of one’s current

educological theory is wrong. The trick is to find out which

one it is. Education, some wag once said, is like constantly

rebuilding your ship while sailing the high seas.

This study demonstrates the pervasive and powerful role

that educological theory plays in teacher education. To the

degree that prospective teachers were cognizant of the

differences between what they believed about teaching and

learning and what actually took place during their or their

supervising teacher’s instruction, practice did not generate

practice. In fact, there is ample evidence that for teachers

aware of the difference between educological theory and

educational practice, educological theory served as an

anchor, a self-renewing strategy, and a point of reflection.

Aligning Educational Practice with

Educological Theory is Never Easy,

But Worthwhile Nevertheless.

This study shows that aligning educational practice with

educological theory in teacher education, while worth the

effort, is not easy. Not only did we have to create our own

public school, but we had to create our own teacher

education program. Further, what may not be self-evident is

that three of us devoted two full days to this program each

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week, teaching college classes on site as well as supervising

students in public school classrooms. Needless to say, this

calls for a level of dedication and commitment to teacher

education not typical of faculties in schools of education

(i.e. schools of educology) at major universities. Probably

one of the reasons schools of education have trouble

preparing quality teachers is not that there are not faculty

willing to put forth this effort, but rather that the university

neither values nor takes the job of teacher education very

seriously.

Beyond long-term, serious commitments between

university and school, other things in this study inhibited the

alignment of educological theory and educational practice.

As is evident in the case study reports, students often found

the instructional materials they were given to work with less

than ideal. Instructional materials, whether in reading or

science, were educologically at odds with what prospective

teachers had come to believe about language and learning.

Classroom schedules were also an issue. Interns constantly

complained that they were not given the time to develop the

lessons they wanted to teach in the manner in which they

wished to teach them because of time constraints imposed

on them by classroom schedules and district mandates.

Then too, as is evident in this data, district wide testing not

only limited what could be done at certain times during the

year, but violated what students had been taught about

quality programs of assessment and evaluation. We came to

see these inhibitors as social and political constraints in that

school policies beyond the classroom and our program

affected our work as teacher educators and teachers of

educology.

Other inhibitors were psychological, but just as real.

Positioning teachers and prospective teachers as co-learners

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proved difficult. Try as we might, old models of how

classroom teachers and teachers in training were to work

together prevailed. Interns were as bad at positioning

themselves as were the classroom teachers. Both groups

were prone to position the classroom teacher in a super

ordinate position and the intern in a subordinate position,

when it was exactly this hierarchal arrangement that the

education-as-inquiry model of education was attempting to

disrupt.

As is evident in the case study of Emily, interns’

perceptions of schooling, of community, and of culture

affect what behaviors are and are not valued. In this regard,

it is interesting to note Kiera’s comment to me that she was

not fighting with Emily, but rather helping her become a

teacher. Kiera, too, has an educological theory about

education and specifically her role in the preparation of

teachers. While her stance is not one that has often been

considered in the literature on teacher education, it is clear

that it should be if we wish to understand the complexity of

teacher preparation. While it may not be so evident in the

data we have presented, over and over again interns were

positioned by the perception children had of teachers. The

fact that students wanted things done the way their regular

teacher did them is a constraint unless you envision a

classroom in which such decisions are not arbitrary but

negotiable.

Phase IV: Two Year Follow-Up

In presenting this study at various research conferences

(Harste, Leland & Schmidt, 1997, 1999), the one question

audiences invariably ask is, Have you gone to visit the

graduates of your program to see if what you found still

holds?

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Phase IV, while not part of our original design, was a

two-year follow-up. Specifically, the 4 interns used as

exemplars in this paper during the reporting of Phase I of

the study were located and observed teaching 2 years later.

Although only one classroom observation was made for

each teacher, the data collected begin to address this

question of sustainability. As was done during Phase I, a

thick description of each former intern’s teaching was made

after an observation and interview by one of the authors.

Notes were condensed and summarized to provide a portrait

of the classroom, and summaries were returned to the

teachers for comment and correction. As a research team,

we studied this set of data to see to what degree we might

answer the question as to whether or not the effects reported

in Phases I, II, and III held over time.

Holly: Three Years Later. Since graduating from our

teacher education program in 1996, Holly has taught in two

private Christian schools. Her first position (1-year) was

teaching 5th grade on a half-day schedule. Her current

position is as a 2nd grade teacher. During the interview,

Holly discussed her current teaching position and some of

her concerns as a teacher in this school. Her biggest

complaint was that the required curriculum (textbooks) and

the philosophy of the principal did not support her ideas and

desires “to teach with a whole language method” as she had

learned to do in her undergraduate program. The principal

really expects us to use the phonics book and the kids must

know their sounds
,” she said. This really frustrates me. I

can’t use the whole language method the way I would like to

because I need to use the required materials. She also

mentioned that her instructional assistant was much harder

on the children than she would be and that this was often a

problem as they worked in the room together.

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Holly had 14 second graders (all African-American) in a

very large and airy classroom. The desks were placed side

by side in pairs, allowing lots of space for the students to

move around. There was a gathering area by the calendar in

the front of the room and a large crescent-shaped table used

for reading groups. The room was quite colorful with charts

to designate helpers and track behavior, a word wall, cursive

alphabet letters, and a number of posters. However, there

was a noticeable lack of children’s work on display. When

we asked Holly about this, she replied that she had forgotten

about putting up student work and would get around to

displaying their papers soon.

As soon as the children had put away their lunch boxes

and jackets; Holly instructed them to prepare for D.E.A.R.

time. The children scrambled around finding their reading

materials and then looked for suitable places to sit and read.

Some chose to read with partners; others were reading

alone. Once they were settled, Holly and her assistant each

took one child aside and began to have these children read

from the Dolch word list. While each child identified the

words on the list, the teachers kept track of words that were

known and unknown. We found out later that all primary

students in this school are required by the principal to know

all the words on this list. Proficiency with the Dolch words

was how Holly determined the make-up of the three reading

groups that were currently operating in her classroom. Later

on in our discussion of her reading program, Holly asked me

if we thought the child she was testing that day might be

dyslexic because she was misplacing vowel letters (e.g.

smell for small). We suggested it might just be the child’s

dialect, and Holly agreed that that was possible and that she

would look for more evidence regarding the child’s dialect.

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As soon as Holly had finished testing the child with the

Dolch word list, she got up and began to go around the room

asking individual children about what they were reading that

day. After about 20 minutes, the students were asked to

return to their desks. At this point the children were invited

to share anything that they had read with the whole group.

Three of the boys gave a vivid account of the snake they had

read about and two of the girls read a short poem that they

had found. During the entire D.E.A.R. time and sharing

experience, the students were very engaged and respectful

of the quiet reading time and the ideas that were shared.

After the students had put away their self-selected books

from D.E.A.R. time, Holly called Tonya’s group, which

consisted of 3 girls and 1 boy, to the reading table while the

rest of the class went to the calendar area with the

instructional assistant. While the instructional assistant

discussed the days and dates on the calendar and then did a

math activity regarding the use of coins, Holly led the

reading group in a round robin reading of a story from the

basal text. During this oral reading activity, the children

were asked to read a page aloud, discuss what they read, and

identify specific vocabulary words. Holly demonstrated

how to use a dictionary to help the group define a word that

was new to them. At the end of the group session, Holly

gave each child a sheet of drawing paper and asked the

students to retell the story in sequence by drawing eight

pictures and writing sentences to match. This work was to

be done individually at their desks or for homework.

During the next 10 minutes Holly talked about the two other

reading groups that she had worked with in the morning.

She said that each group was using a different text, but all

the groups operated in the same way as the group we

observed.

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Janet: Two Years Later. Janet now teaches first grade

at a public elementary school in Indianapolis. Her school is

a Title 1, urban, inner-city school housing a student

population consisting of largely African-American children

(92 percent). Because of her interest, Janet had volunteered

to take the low reading group, which was made up of 13

children from all three of the first grades in the school.

There were four distinct instructional segments in the

lesson we observed. When we arrived, Janet was sitting

with the children in the carpeted area playing the

harpsichord. While Janet provided the accompaniment, her

teaching assistant held up a book with the lyrics to Down by

the Bay, and the children gathered around singing the song.

As the children sang along, they used visual clues in the

book to predict which animal would be the next one to stop

Down by the Bay.

Following the singing, students participated in the word

identification game. Once the boys’ team had correctly

identified ten flashcard words in a row, the girls took their

turn. Although no dialectical pronunciations of words were

allowed (Say it correctly!), children were completely

engaged in the competition and helped each other identify

words quickly and correctly.

The third phase of the lesson involved oral reading of a

basal story. Children were asked to use the table of contents

to find the page number of the 5-page chapter story they

were to read orally and in unison during this session. After

all of the children had found the correct page (You’ll be

ready to read when your book is open and your finger is on

the first word), Janet led the children in the reading, making

sure that everyone put some vocal inflection into their

voices. When they reached the end of the chapter, the books

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were passed back to Janet without any discussion of the

content or meaning they made of the text.

As soon as the books were collected, Janet stood up and

moved a small easel into place facing the group still seated

at the carpet. Attached to the easel was a large sheet of

paper with three columns on it. Children were to place three

strips of paper containing sentences from the story they just

read in correct order. They were to identify which part

belonged at the beginning, middle, or end of the story.

When students finished this activity, they were sent back to

their homerooms. As students left Janet commented, This is

the first time we’ve talked about beginning-middle-end, but

we’ll be talking much more about it.

Throughout the lesson, behavior was a challenge. In

preparation for the word identification activity, two children

were dismissed from the group for walking around rather

than sitting in place and waiting patiently on the carpet.

Although they were asked to rejoin the group later, three

other children were told to take their seats during the

beginning-middle-end sequencing activity.

Anna: Two Years Later. We found Anna teaching first

grade at the same public elementary school where she had

done her teacher education with us. At the time of the

observation, she had 19 children in her class, 16 of whom

were African-Americans. During her interview Anna said:

The most important thing I learned in the cohort program was to

view myself as a life-long learner. I continually access my

philosophies, successes, failures, and future goals. I always ask

myself, What went well? What needs to be changed? I try to

provide every learner with what they need to be successful. I teach

my children to use several cueing systems when confronting an

unfamiliar word. Trade books, phonics, shared reading, guided

reading, journaling, literature and author studies all have a place in

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my classroom. Every child is unique and it is my duty to include

many different strategies to accommodate all types of learners.

During the period of observation, Anna worked with two

small groups and then with the entire class on reading. Her

instruction was peppered with questions: Who has a

discovery about this word? What did you discover about

this character? What are you still wondering about?

While meeting with small groups of children to talk

about the trade books they were reading, Anna encouraged

children to rely on their own resources for figuring out new

words. She consistently refocused any and all what-is-thisword

questions in terms of what strategies they might use to

figure it out. Students moved easily from one strategy to

another. When sounding out a word did not work for one

child, she skipped it and read on, and then went back and

filled in the missing word. Did you guys notice what

Tequila just did? Anna stopped and invited the group to

analyze a child’s successful attempt to figure out a word.

When someone suggested she looked at the pictures to

figure out the word, Anna responded, Good observation, she

used that picture to help her predict what would be on the

page. That strategy worked for her, didn’t it?

As part of her instruction, Anna included work on

phonics as well as on the syntactic and semantic cueing

systems of language. One group worked with word builder

tiles, on the daily message, a cloze activity that required the

children to use their knowledge of semantics and syntax to

figure out a missing word in this sentence: We will take

another ________ today.

At another point during the observation, children were

invited to meet with Anna for literature discussions. While

some groups were reading the same book, others each had a

different book from a text set that Anna had created around

topics of interest. Anna began each literature discussion

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with an invitation to talk about your book. Later children

took turns reading their favorite part aloud. Anna collected

assessment data throughout her literacy period. She took

continuous notes as children built words with tiles, read

aloud, and talked about their stories. At various points

throughout the lesson, Anna encouraged children to reflect

upon how well they had done and whether they needed to

choose a more or less difficult book next time.

Emily: Two Years Later. At the time of our follow up,

Emily was teaching sixth grade social studies at a public

middle school in an Indianapolis suburb. She worked with a

team of three other teachers who were responsible for

mathematics, science, and language arts. Emily taught four

periods each day to a largely Caucasian population (20

percent African-American). Over the course of any given

day, she worked with over 100 students. At the time of our

observation, Emily was teaching a unit on Mexico. As

students entered the classroom they looked to the overhead

where Emily had written the following directions:

1. Find a KWL chart in your basket. [KWL standing for What

I Already Know; What I Want to Know; What I Learned].

2. List 10 things you know about Mexico in column 1.

3. We will share in five minutes.

Students knew to look up at the overhead as they came

into class and needed no further directions to get to work.

As they conferred with each other and recorded ideas on

their individual KWL charts, Emily took attendance. After

five minutes Emily asked students to share what they

already knew about Mexico. During a post interview Emily

explained why so little direction was needed:

With [content areas, like] social studies, they’re so used to reading

the chapter and then answering the questions at the end of the

chapter that it is hard to break them of the habit. This time we did a

mural project where I gave them the textbook and asked them to

pick out interesting pictures. I hoped that as they did this they

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would read. That way, today they had a starting point. They were

already interested in the topic.

Emily said she chose the development of a mural as an

initiating activity for this unit because so many of the

students in her class have artistic talent, and they are

particularly interested in images and their meanings. While

the social studies text did not provide a particularly in-depth

portrait of Mexico, it did address, Emily said, broad topics

of Mexican economy, the geography of Mexico, and its

people and culture.

After sharing what they knew about Mexico, students

were asked to brainstorm questions about Mexico they were

interested in pursuing as research projects. Emily asked

them to think about what makes a good research question,

jot their ideas down in column two of their KWL charts, and

later, to circle the one question that most interested them.

Before giving the go-ahead to start researching, Emily took

time to introduce the students to various resources in the

classroom, including the encyclopedia, various social

studies textbooks, a collection of trade books she had

borrowed from the library, and a set of magazines she had

collected containing articles on Mexico.

After this, students immediately went to work while

Emily circulated around the room asking students what they

were researching and offering whatever information she had

on the topic herself as well as other resources or research

strategies they might use. One student, for example,

wondered if there was as much school violence in Mexico as

there is in the United States. That study may be too current

for these books. Do you have an Internet account? Emily

asked. Since this student’s inquiry question was one that

obviously would have to be researched outside the

classroom, Emily suggested that, for today, he might want to

conduct a survey of what his classmates thought. The

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implication was that in light of what he eventually found

out, such data would provide an interesting starting point for

presenting the study later on.

Throughout the observation, it was obvious that students

in Emily’s class felt a sense of community. They not only

freely shared ideas, but readily helped each other as

problems or questions arose. Further, students demonstrated

through words and actions that they understood what to do

and what was expected of them in the classroom. The

placement of resources and materials allowed students to

access what they needed without a lot of interruption or

movement. Emily used a red, green, and yellow stop sign

image on the overhead to regulate noise and to make

students aware of how in-class time was important for the

work they had to do.

What Phase IV Contributes to Our

Understanding of the Relationship between

Theory and Practice in Teacher Education?

Although the data collected in Phase IV is based on only

one classroom observation, what seems clear is that teachers

who understood the relationship between educological

theory and educational practice during their preparation

program (Anna & Emily) still understand and use that

relationship to guide their teaching. Teachers, on the other

hand, who had a fuzzy understanding of educological theory

and educational practice relationships during their

preparation program (Janet & Holly) still do not understand.

Their approaches seem eclectic at best, if not traditional in

the sense of reflecting district mandates and common-sense

approaches to instruction (Mayer & Boomer, 1990). On the

positive side, it is clear that all four of these teachers take

teaching very seriously. Beyond that, however, differences

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abound, with teachers who were more educological as

interns far outshining those who were not.

Anna wants children to see reading first and foremost as

a meaning-centered activity. In addition, she wants children

to have a repertoire of strategies at their disposal for

unlocking unknown words they encounter in print. Anna’s

teaching behaviors speak to the fact that she believes that

children who are consciously aware of the reading process

and who know what options are available to readers in terms

of unlocking unknown items in print, have more control

over the reading process. Trade books and literature

discussions are a central component of her reading program.

All of these notions were clearly part of the educological

framework which guided Anna’s teacher preparation

program.

Emily’s teaching is almost the personification of inquirybased

instruction. While some may say that this is due to

the subject matter she was asked to teach, this argument

does not seem very compelling in light of how social studies

is typically taught. Note particularly that Emily said she had

a lot of work to do in getting students over the notion that

social studies was simply a matter of reading the text book

and answering questions. While there is no evidence that

Mexico as a topic of study came from students’ interests,

Emily managed to open the study up so that students could

pursue their own inquiry questions. The KWL framework

she used with her students was one introduced in her

undergraduate preparation program as a simplified version

of focused studies based upon the inquiry cycle. In her

interview, Emily was concerned about her ability to see all

of the work going on in small groups, arguing that there was

just too much administrative work to do during each class

period: I am disappointed with my role in terms of

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participation. In the beginning of class, I have to do

attendance, I have to write passes, I have to do this, I have

to do that. I think that’s something I can work on.

Emily said she has been working hard to get routines in

place, and from her assessment, things seem to be working:

I think the students feel that I know what we’re going to do.

It’s not like they come in here thinking we’re not going to do

anything today so let’s go crazy. I think the structures
[I

have put in place] have helped.

While Janet uses what she understands about a multiple

ways of knowing (something she learned in her preservice

program, see Figure 3) to integrate reading and music in her

teaching, this educology is not carried through effectively.

From what we can tell, Janet sees music as a motivator

rather than as an expanded form of literacy and the focus of

a good language arts program. The summary statement we

wrote of her teaching reads, This all too brief integration of

music and literacy was followed by the reading

lesson. Rather than explore reading as inquiry with her

children, Janet focuses her reading lesson on phonics,

vocabulary building, and sequencing. Her practice is

characteristic of a skill-based model of reading.

In contrast to Anna and Emily, Janet’s teaching seems

less child-centered. Either students performed at the level

she expected and acted in the way she expected or they were

dismissed from instruction. Unlike Emily, who seems to be

constantly reflecting on her teaching in terms of how best to

serve students, Janet demands conformity to her standards

of behavior and language.

In many ways it is hard to believe that Janet was part of

the program under study. As is evident in this report, there

is little evidence that the educology undergirding her

undergraduate teacher preparation had an effect on her

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current teaching. When one looks across all four phases of

this study, it is clear that by not having understood how

educology ought to guide practice and vice versa, Janet has

become vulnerable to the immediate pressures and mandates

of the system in which she teaches. When we attempted to

place a new intern in her classroom this past year, thinking

that we needed to continue to support her development as a

teacher, Janet reportedly told the student, Well, you can

come and work in my classroom, but the theories you learn

in the program simply don’t work with the children here.

While a statement such as this is disappointing, it is

important to understand that it was and is Janet’s lack of

understanding of the relationships between educological

theory and educational practice that has led her to this

conclusion and made her feel vulnerable to the

administrative mandates of the district in which she teaches.

What is important to note is that Anna is under the same

constraints. Both teachers work in a setting where there is

pressure both from central administration and the principal’s

office to raise test scores.

Phase V: Give Us the Bottom Line

Another question which constantly gets raised is whether

the specific educological frameworks we used made any

difference on pupil learning in the schools. While we have

lots of anecdotal evidence that it did, this does not seem to

satisfy everyone. There are also questions about our

position that we are not advocating a particular educological

framework so much as exploring what a common

educological framework (within and across a teacher

education program and its practicum sites) has to say about

the quality of teachers that get produced. These questions

have some merit as it should be clear to anyone reading this

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185

report that none of the investigators believe that all

educological models of literacy, learning, curriculum or

schooling are equal. Without a doubt, we began this project,

and continue in it, hoping to reform both teacher and public

school education.

Since we did not request test score data on pupils over

the course of this study, answering this question is

somewhat difficult. For the most part what we have are

official school by school comparisons and official

statements from the district office. In 1996, the Office of

Research, Evaluation, and Assessment within IPS released a

report showing the percentage of students falling below the

Indiana State Test of Educational Performance (ISTEP)

School 92, within which the Center for Inquiry was located,

was reported as having 45 percent of its 3rd grade population

not meeting this expectation in English and language arts

and 61 percent of its 3rd grade population not meeting this

expectation in mathematics (IPS Report 7.31.96).

Three years later, in 1999, the Center for Inquiry

received the International Reading Association Award for

the Exemplary Reading Program in Indiana. Only one

award per state was made. As part of the documentation

process for this award, standardized test scores were

requested. Although we do not know mean scores or

standardized deviations, the following conclusions were

reported: On the Fall, 1999 ISTEP, 87% of CFI 6th graders

received a passing score as compared to 36% of 6th graders

district-wide. Despite the fact that CFI is an urban school

with a high (85%) minority population, CFI students also

outscored students in schools making up the first ring of

suburbs surrounding Indianapolis. Lawrence Township was

reported as having 65% of it students receive a passing

grade; Perry Township, 65%; Franklin Township, 68%; and

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Decatur Township, 54%. According to the Spring, 1999

Terra Nova [a version of the California Test of Basic Skills]

results, CFI first graders scored at the second grade level

(2.0), 2nd graders scored at the 3.4 level, 3rd graders at the

5.1 level, 4th graders at the 6.6 level, 5th graders at the 8.4

level, and 6th graders at the 8.1 level (State Exemplary

Reading Program Submission, 1999).

Although equivalent data on the Terra Nova is not

available for other schools in the district or in the state, both

the ISTEP and the Terra Nova data reported suggest that on

traditional measures of achievement, CFI students are doing

much better than can be expected given other schools in the

district.

Given the amount of pressure most schools are under to

raise test scores, these data suggest that the addition of a

teacher preparation program on-site in the school did not set

back student performance. If anything, we have evidence

that students did better. While we can make no claims that

the educological framework of our school or our teacher

education program made these differences, we can argue

that they did not automatically lower standardized measures

of student achievement. There are, of course, lots of

questions that cannot be answered by standardized test

scores reported in this fashion. What remains to be sorted

out is how much socio-economic status and parental choice

accounts for these increases in test scores. Last fall, the IPS

School Board voted to give the Center for Inquiry its own

building in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. With this

change has come an influx of students as well as a changing

demographic population. Given our experience in

conducting and presenting this study, we have asked for and

received permission to study standardized test scores more

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closely. It will be interesting, for example, to know the

kinds of items on which students are or are not performing.

In addition to standardized test results, other outside

measures of program achievement exist. In 1995, the

Teaching to Learn/Learning to Teach program at Indiana

University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI) was

named a Promising New Program by the Association of

Teacher Educators. In 1999, the core campus Indiana

University teacher education program was selected as one of

8 exemplary programs by the National Commission on

Excellence in Elementary Teacher Preparation for Reading

Instruction (Keating, 1999).

Concluding Thoughts

Just as one must first be a philosopher to be a scientist,

so too it is necessary that teachers imagine what could be if

they wish to change what is. While teacher education is a

complex business, what this study suggests is that how we

conceptualize problems affects the discourse we use and

hence our approach to finding solutions. In our efforts to reimagine

schools and teacher education, we can no longer

position ourselves as guests in the schools. This study

demonstrates that when teachers and university faculty work

together to re-envision the kind of people we want to be and

the kind of profession we want to become, good things can

happen.

Carolyn Burke (as quoted in Harste, 1993) says that the

function of curriculum is to give perspective. One of the

problems with re-envisioning curriculum in teacher

education is our starting point. Practice makes practice, this

study suggests, only if and when relationships between

educological theory and educational practice are not

understood. That this may be the general case only speaks

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to how far away from curriculum most current programs of

teacher education are. When the study and the program

reported here are seen as a practical instance of what might

be, and this vision is used to elevate expectations, see

problems as possibilities, and as Maxine Greene (2000) says

e -envision the possible, then we will have made progress.

And, we can take to heart from one of the lessons these

interns taught us. While it is true that our rhetoric may be

ahead of our practice, this phenomenon is both a harbinger

of greater things to come and an artifact of a deeper

understanding of the relationship between educological

theory and educational practice in teacher education.

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School Talk, 5:4, 2-4.


An Article in Philosophy of Educology


International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

1

A General Sketch of a Semiotically

Understood and Oriented Organic

Experiential Philosophy of Educology for

Developing Democracies in the World

James E. Fisher

Educology Research Associates

Columbia, South Carolina

Abstract

The argument is developed to support the philosophy

that inquirers in and about educology must seek and teach

knowledge about the semiositally understood and oriented

organic connection of education and experience. It follows

the philosophy that knowledge is the resolution of the

uncertainty about something and John Dewey’s assumption

in regard to uncertainity about, i.e. in regard to the lack of

knowledge about, the connection between experience and

education, when he says that:

I assume that amid all uncertainity there is one permanent

frame of reference: namely, the organic connection

between education and personal experience. . . . (1)

Structure of Beliefs

Underlying the Argument

Firstly, from the perspective of democracy as a way of

life, the argument is set in the structure of historical belief

that the USA is a developing, and not a completed,

democracy in the World.

Secondly, the general structure of philosophical belief is

that provided by the work in early 20
th century Western

World oriented philosophy by Charles Peirce and John

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

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Dewey and in later 20
th century by Umberto Eco.

Essentially, the structure of philosophical belief is that of

including the importance of meaning as the cultural unit of a

semantical fact, understood by Peirce and Eco, as involved

in and produced by the semiosical process and studied in

semiotics, wherein the semiosical process significantly

orients the organic connection of education and experience,

implicating educology, particularly implicated as knowledge

about how to conduct reflective thinking experience as the

means to continuous and worthwhile growth of humans, as

individuals and as members of a group, i.e. as members in

associated living situations. Part I is sketched within this

general structure.

Thirdly, the specific structure of philosophical belief is

that provided by the author’s work in
Pedagogika, 51, 2001,

published by Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas,

Lithuania, titled “An Outlined Introduction to the Universal

and Unifying Experiential Research Methodology in the

Domain of Educology;” and by Ronald McLaren’s work in

Solving Moral Problems, published by Mayfield Publishing

Company, California, USA. Part II is sketched within this

specific structure.

Part I: Democracy

Democracy as a Form of Government.
The meaning

of the word ‘democracy’, as found in the statements in the

theme, is used to reference two basic forms of government

in which the supreme power is vested in an association of

individual humans, as a group of people, by which: (1) the

supreme power is exercised directly by the people’s vote on

issues affecting themselves, through their own vote under a

free electoral system; and (2) the supreme power is

exercised indirectly by the people’s vote on issues affecting

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

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themselves, through their elected representatives under a

free electoral system. The latter form is properly referred to

by the meaning of the word ‘republic’, however, for the

purpose of this paper the meaning of the word ‘democracy’

will be used to reference both forms of government.

Democracy as a Way of Life. There is another and

penetrating meaning of the word ‘democracy’ that is also

used referentially, for as Dewey states:

A democracy is more than a form of government; it is

primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint

communicated experience. (2)

The meaning of the phrase “democracy as a way of life,”

then, from the structure of beliefs underpinning the theme,

refers to a mode of associated life that involves conjointly

communicative experiences.

As implied by the meaning of the statements in the

theme and Dewey’s statement, there are two questions to be

answered, in this paper. They are as follows:

Question 1. “How is democracy, as a way of life,

conducted as a mode of associated living, involving conjointly

communicated experiences?”

Question 2. “How is the democratically experienced and

conducted way of life related to the educative experience?”

Democracy, as a Way of Life, and Communication.

From the conceptual stance that those who conduct

philosophical inquiry within and/or about educology, i.e. the

conduct of philosophers of educology, as participants in

democracy as a way of life, must seek and teach semiotical

knowledge, i.e. knowledge about the semiotically

understood and oriented organic connection of education

and experience, Question 1 asks for an answer, first. Before

this question can be answered, however, the reference of the

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

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meaning of the phrase “semiotically understood and

oriented organic connection of education and experience,”

must be made significant.

To identify this significance, it is imperative, first, to

understand that the meaning of the word ‘semiosis’, as it

refers to the process known in semiotics, and as developed

by Peirce in
Pragmatism in Retrospect: A Last Formulation,

found as a chapter in Justus Buchler’s edition of

Philosophical Writings of Peirce, refers to two humanly

conducted processes that exist as modes of associated living

so that conjointly communicative experiences can be

understood and participated in. The two semiosical

processes, as known in semiotics, are (1) the significative

process and (2) the informative process, the difference

between which is made by Eco in Section 1.4. “Information.

communication, signification,” in his book
A Theory of

Semiotics.

For a conjointly communicated experience to be

conducted in a humanly associated way of life, referred to

by the meaning of the word ‘democracy’, then, in accord

with, Peirce’s and Eco’s perspective semiotics, i.e.

knowledge about the semiosical process, both the

significative and informative aspects of the communicative

experience must be understood and oriented by involved

humans.

The meaning of the word ‘democracy’, used to refer to a

way of life, by its very existence, according to Dewey, is

related to the communicated experience, however,

especially, according to Eco, the reference of the meaning of

the word ‘communication’ must not include that of the

informative aspect of the semiosical process, at the

exclusion of the significative aspect of the semiosical

process. Effective orientation in a communicative process,

especially as humanly conducted in a democracy as a way of

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

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life, necessarily involves an obligation of citizens, including,

especially educologists, to semotically understand the

difference between, and the orientation of, the significative

and informative semiosical aspects in communication.

The Significative and Informative Semiosical Aspects

of Communication.
According to semiotics, semiosis

relates meaning, in the significative aspects, and data, in the

informative aspects, as they both are understood and

oriented in the communicative process.

Meaning, as involved in the significative aspect, and

data, as involved in the informative aspect, can begin to be

semiotically discerned and understood when the distinction

between the meanings of the words ‘sign’ and ‘signal’ is

considered as made by understanding the difference

between a sign
standing-for meaning being transacted in an

association and that of a signal stimulating or giving rise to

data being transmitted in an association. This difference is

demonstrated in the following account of an information

process transmitting data in an association between two

mechanical devices, and of a signification process

transacting meaning in an association between a mechanical

device and a human being. In making this account, Eco

says:

When a floating buoy signals to the control panel of an automobile

the level reached by the gasoline, this process occurs entirely by

means of a mechanical chain of causes and effects.

Nevertheless, according to the principles of information theory,

there is an ‘informational’ process that is in some way considered a

communicational process too. Our example does not consider what

happens once the signal (from the buoy) reaches the control panel

and is converted into a visible measuring device (a red moving line

or an oscillating arm): this is an undoubted case of sign-process in

which the position of the arm stands for the level of the gasoline

…. (3)

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

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Eco’s account provides for a semiotical demonstration of:

(1) the association between mechanical devices and (2) the

association between a mechanical device and a human

being, in the process of semiosis.

In regard to the association between the mechanical

devices, the association is that of the physical device of a

floating buoy in a gasoline tank of an automobile and the

physical device of a red moving line or oscillating arm on

the control panel of that automobile. The account of this

association demonstrates the fact that according to

contemporary information theory, it is appropriate to use the

meaning of the word ‘signal’, which shall be extended to the

words ‘signal-process’, to refer to the set of stimulusresponse

events that occur as data transmitted from one

mechanical device to another.

In regard to the association between the mechanical

device and a human being, the association is that between

the red moving line or oscillating arm, as physical devices

on the control panel of an automobile, and the physiological

organs of the eyes of a human being looking at, i.e.

observing, the control panel, wherein, it is a matter of fact

that the signal-process of a series of stimulus and response

events, as data, is transmitted to the control panel, it is also a

matter of fact that the signal-process is, as Eco says,

“converted into a visible measuring device (a red moving

line or an oscillating arm)” wherein, the conversion is an

undoubted case of a sign-process in which the position of

the oscillating arm or red moving line stands-for the level of

the gasoline in the tank.

A Semiotic Demonstration of the Two Semiosical

Aspects and the Two Types of Association in

Communication.
Eco’s account provides for a semiotic demonstration of the physical fact of a stimulus-response

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

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type of association, involving a signal-process in the

informative aspect of communication by the transmission of

data between mechanical devices, and of the semantical fact

of a standing-for type of association, involving a signprocess

in the significative aspect of communication by the

transaction of meaning between mechanical devices and

human beings.

In regard to the physical fact, a buoy in the gasoline tank

of a car and an oscillating arm or red moving line on the

control panel of that car are examples of mechanical

devices, as physical existents, that are in communication

with each other through a stimulus-response type of

association. Also, a keyboard of a computer and a monitor

of a computer are physical existents, where computers are

commonly referred to by the meaning of the words

‘electronic devices’, in contrast to being referenced by the

meaning of the words ‘mechanical devices’. A computer

keyboard and monitor are in communication with each other

through a stimulus-response type of association resulting in

a blinking bar or light. The physical existents of mechanical

and electronic devices, then, can and do communicate

within themselves, and with each other, through a stimulusresponse

type of association.

Further, the physical facts, with the development of

understanding of the nervous system of animals, including

human beings, the organs of human bodies, for example, can

be referred to by the meaning of the words ‘organic devices’

to contrast them with the kind of physical existent

referenced by the meanings of the words ‘mechanical

devices’ and ‘electronic devices’. This understanding

provides the meaning of the words ‘organic devices’ to refer

to the organs of sensations, i.e. the eyes, ears, nose, skin,

and tongue, as they are in a stimulus-response type of

association with the organic device of the brain resulting in

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

8

impulse events between neurons in the nervous system of

the human body.

So, mechanical devices, like buoys in gasoline tanks in

cars and oscillating arms or red moving lines on control

panels of cars; electronic devices, like keyboards of

computers and blinking bars and lights on monitors of

computers; and organic devices, like eyes, ears, noses, skin,

tongues, and brains of humans and impulse connections

between neurons in the nervous system of humans; all, are

physical existents that communicate within themselves, and

with other physical existents, by means of a stimulusresponse

type of association, through data transmission in

the informative aspect of semiosis in the communication

process.

In regard to the semantical fact, it is worthwhile, here,

for meaning interpretation, to return to Eco’s consideration

of the informative and significative aspects of semiosis,

where he alludes to what is puzzling for semiotic theory, i.e.

to what is puzzling for the kind of theory intended to

constitute knowledge about both aspects of semiosis in the

communication process.

In regard to the moment that the human being looks at

the mechanical device of the oscillating arm or red moving

line on the control panel of the car, as a pointer, Eco says:

. . .what is puzzling for a semiotic theory is the process which takes

place before a human being looks at the pointer: although at the

moment when he does so the pointer is the starting point of a

signification process, before that moment it is only the final result of

a preceding communication process. During this process we cannot

say that the position of the buoy stands for the movement of the

pointer: instead of ‘standing-for’, the buoy stimulates, provides,

causes, gives rise to the movement of the pointer. (4)

The meaning to be interpreted, from this consideration of

Eco’s, is that of the word ‘pointer’. As used in the quote,

the meaning of the word ‘pointer’ refers to the mechanical

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

9

device of the oscillating arm or red moving line on the

control panel of the car, thusly, establishing a semantical

fact. A mechanical device, in this case as a result of the

physical fact of a stimulus-response type of association,

involving the signal-process in a transmission of data, by

referencing it with the meaning of the word ‘pointer’,

becomes
endowed with meaning and thereby establishing a

semantical fact functioning for the conduct of transactions

involving the sign-process in a standing-for type of

association.

The Importance of the Standing-For Type of

Association in Communication:
It is the standing-for type

of association in a transaction of meaning that is important

in its necessity for the semiotical understanding of the

experiental orientation toward the informative and

significative semiosical aspects of the communicative

experience within and between humans and physical

existents, like mechanical, electrical, and organic devices,

and within and between humans.

This necessity, i.e. the necessity for a standing-for type

of association, involving transacted meaning in the

semiotical understanding of the experiential orientation

toward the significative and informative aspects of the

communicated experience, is one that mechanical,

electronic, and organic devices, and their stimulus-response

type of association, involving data transmissions within and

among themselves, as-and-only-as physical existents, in the

informative aspect of communication, can and do meet.

Though transacted meaning, as a semantical fact, can

and is endowed on the physical existence of their devices,

as, and involving, the data of information, their physical

existence, as involved in only the stimulus-response type of

association, is limited to-and-only-to, that type of

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

10

association. They, in their existence, and in their existence

only, exist without transacted meaning endowed on them,

i.e. they exist meaninglessly. They, in themselves, stand-for

nothing, though they, in themselves, can and do stimulate

responses.

The mechanical device, of the buoy in the gasoline tank

of the car, as-and-only-as a physical existent, stimulates

responses that result, as the data of information, in the form

of an oscillating arm or red moving line on the control panel

of the car. However, without the existence of meaning, as

expressed, for example, by the word
‘pointer’, used to refer

to its function as an indicator of the quantity of gasoline in

the gasoline tank, hence, endowing it with meaning, the

existence of the mechanical device as-and-only-as an

oscillating arm or red moving line, itself, though being

actual, i.e. existing in physical actuality, would be

meaningless, i.e. would exist without meaning, hence,

standing-for nothing, though stimulating responses.

Such an existence, as-and-only-as a physical existent, is

one that is semiosically related by the stimulus-response

type of association, and not the standing-for type of

association, in communication.

Also, the electronic device of a keyboard of a computer

stimulates responses that result as the data of information in

the form of a blinking bar or light on the monitor of the

computer. However, without the existence of transacted

meaning, as expressed, for example, by the word ‘cursor’

used to refer to its function as an indicator of a location from

which to begin word processing, hence, endowing it with

meaning, it, the blinking bar or light, would not be endowed

with meaning, hence, it would exist in-and-only-in physical

actuality, but, without meaning, therefore, standing-for

nothing, though actually stimulating responses.

And, again, such an existence, as-and-only-as a physical

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

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existent, is one that is semiosically related by the stimulusresponse

type of association, and not the standing-for type

of association, in communication.

Further, the organic devices of the eyes, ears, nose, skin,

tongue, and brain of humans stimulate responses that result

as the data of information in the form of impulse events

between neurons of the human nervous system. However,

without the existence of the transacted meaning, as

expressed, for example, by the word
‘synapse’ used to refer

to its function as an indicator of a connection between

neurons, hence, endowing it with meaning, it, the physical

impulse event, would not be endowed with meaning,

therefore, it would exist in-and-only-in physical actuality,

without meaning, and again, standing-for nothing, though

stimulating responses.

And, once again, such an existence, as-and-only-as a

physical existent, is one that is semiosically related by the

stimulus-response type of association, and not the standingfor

type of association, in communication.

The data of mechanical, electronic, and organic

communicative devices, as-and-only-as physical existents,

then, respectively, can be referred to by transacted meaning,

endowing them with it, and, therefore, transforming them, or

as Eco says, converting them, from signals, in the signalprocess

of data transmissions in the stimulus-response type

of association, to signs, in the sign-process of meaning

transactions in the standing-for type of association.

Through this transformation of signals, in the signalprocess

of transmitting data, to signs, in the sign-process of

transacting meaning, the data of mechanical, electronic, and

organic communicative devices, being referred to by the use

of meaning, e.g. the meanings of the words ‘pointer’,

‘cursor’, and ‘synapse’, exist differently, then, not as-andonly-

as physical existents, but as physical existents endowed

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

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with and enveloped by meaning, hence, existing as

semiosically encompassed physical existents. And, existing

as semiosically encompassed physical existents, they can be

semiotically understood, for experiential orientation toward

them, to function in both the stimulus-response and

standing-for types of semiosical associations in

communication. This difference of existence, i.e. existing

not-as-only physical existents, but also existing as physical

existents endowed with and enveloped and encompassed by

meaning, is a difference that makes a difference.

The difference, that makes a difference, is that physical

existents become signalized transmitted data enveloped by

signified transactive meaning causing them to both stimulate

responses and stand-for something, making mechanical,

electronic, and organic physical existence significant, hence,

important. The existence of the encompassing meaning, that

envelopes them, causes them to stand-for something, and

their existence as physical data causes them to stimulate a

response of something.

The physical devices of mechanical, electronic, and

human organic existence, then, associate within and

between themselves, by the stimulus-response of physical

data in the informative aspect of semiosis, and, also, they

associate by standing-for meaning in the significative aspect

of semiosis, making communication within and between

humans possible, hence, the importance of the standing-for

type of association in communication.

The use of transacted meaning to reference the physical

data of mechanical, electronic, and organic existents, though

successful at the endowment, envelopment, and

encompassment of physical data with meaning, it is not

successful at the endowment, envelopment and

encompassment
and the penetration and impregnation of

physical data with meaning.

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

13

The physical data: of the mechanical devices of cars, for

example; of the electronic devices of computers, for

example; and of the organic devices of humans, for

example; can be semiosically understood to be

experientially oriented toward being enveloped and

encompassed by meaning and therefore, be caused to standfor

meaning. However, the physical data of these physical

devices
can not be semiosically understood to be

experientially oriented toward being penetrated and

impregnated with meaning,
and, therefore, be caused to stand-for meaning and to understand the meaning being

stood-for.

The Stimulus-Response and the Standing-For Two

Types and the Understanding of the Meaning Being

Stood-For, as the Third Type of Semiosical Association

in Communication
: A buoy in the gasoline tank of a car

and the oscillating arm or red moving arm on the control

panel of the car, along with the stimulus-response data of

information involved in their association, all can be

semiotically understood for experiential orientation toward

their being referentially endowed with meaning that

envelopes and encompasses them, therefore, being in

communication with humans by the two standing-for and

stimulus-response types of association in semiosis.

However, because they are mechanical physical

existents, and not organic physical existents, they
can not be

semiosically understood for experiential orientation toward

them by their being referentially endowed with meaning that

envelopes and encompasses
and that penetrates and

impregnates them with meaning, therefore, being associated

by
both the stimulus-response type and the standing-for type of association in semiosis, and also by the understanding of

the meaning being stood-for third type of association in

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

14

semiosis. Mechanical devices of cars, though, they can

communicate with each other through the stimulus-response

type of association and with humans through the stimulusresponse

type and the standing-for type of associations, they

can not communicate with each other or humans through

their understanding of the meaning being stood-for type of

association.

Cars
can not semiotically understand the meaning that

cars, as physical existents, stand-for, nor the meaning that

the word ‘cars’ stands-for.

Also, because electronic devices, like computers, are

physical existents that are
not organic physical existents,they can not be semiosically understood for experiential

orientation toward them to be associated by the two

stimulus-response and standing-for types of association and

also by the understanding of the meaning being stood-for

third type of association in semiosis.

Computers
can not semiotically understand the meaning

that computers, as physical existents, stand-for, nor the

meaning that the word ‘computer’ stands-for.

In contrast to the mechanical and electronic devices, for

examples, cars and computers, the organic devices of, for

example, the organ of the brain of a human body and the

organs of sensations, i.e. the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and

tongue of the human body
, can be semiotically understood

for experiential orientation toward them to be associated by

the two stimulus-response and standing-for types of

association
and also by the semiotical understanding of the

meaning being stood-for third type of association in

semiosis, because of the organic stimulus-response type of

association between:

(1) the organic physical existent of the organs of the human body,

including, especially, the human brain and the physical existent

of the organs of sensation resulting in impulse events between

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

15

neurons in the nervous system of the human body, and;

(2) the organic psychical existents of the events and states of the

human mind, e.g. those resulting in the mental feelings of

emotions, the mental images of imagination, and the mental

will of volition, and of the state of the human mind resulting in

dispositional habits of propensities of humans;

Whereas, the organic physical and psychical existents

are connected by the organic stimulus-response type of

association, the organic physical existent of the impulse

event between neurons in the nervous system of the human

body, for example, can
exist as-and-only-as a physicalexistent without the meaning of, for example, the word

‘synapse’ to reference and endow it with meaning that

envelopes and encompasses it,
so can the organic psychical

existents in the human mind:

(1) of the mental feelings of emotions exist as-and-only-as

an organic psychical existent without the meanings of,

for example, the words ‘joy and sadness’ and ‘love and

hate’ to reference and endow them with meaning that

envelopes and encompasses them;

(2) of the mental images of imagination exist as-and-only-as

an organic psychical existent without the meanings of,

for example, the words ‘representation’, ‘vision’, ‘dream’,

or ‘hallucination’ to reference and endow them with

meaning that envelopes and encompasses them;

(3) of the mental will of volition exist as-and-only-as anorganic psychical existent without the meanings of, for

example, the words ‘resolve’, ‘determination’, or

‘strength of mind’ to reference and endow them with

meaning that envelopes and encompasses them, and;

(4) of the mental habits of disposition exist as-and-only-as

an organic psychical existent without the meanings of,

for example, the words ‘attitude’, ‘inclination’,

‘tendency’, or ‘proclivity’ to reference and endow them

with meaning that envelopes and encompasses them.

Whereas, the organic physical and psychical existents

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

16

are connected by the organic stimulus-response type of

association, the organic physical existent of the impulse

event between neurons in the nervous system of the human

body, for example,
can not be penetrated and impregnated

by the meaning that envelopes and encompasses it, as

endowed, for example, by the reference of the word

‘synapse’. However, in the human mind:

(1) the organic psychical mental events, being referenced and

endowed by the use of the meanings, for example, of the

words ‘joy and sadness’ and ‘love and hate’
can be

penetrated and impregnated by the meanings that

envelopes and encompasses them;

(2) the organic psychical mental events, being referenced and

endowed by the use of the meanings, for example, of the

words ‘representation’, ‘vision’, ‘dream’, or

‘hallucination’
can be penetrated and impregnated by the

meanings that envelopes and encompasses them;

(3) the organic psychical mental events, being referenced and

endowed by the use of the meanings, for example, of the

words ‘resolve’, ‘determination’, or ‘strength of mind’

can be penetrated and impregnated by the meanings that

envelopes and encompasses them, and;

(4) the organic psychical dispositional state, being referenced

and endowed by the use of the meanings, for example, of

the words ‘attitude’, ‘inclination’, ‘tendency’, or

‘proclivity’
can be penetrated and impregnated by the

meanings that envelopes and encompasses them.

Also, though, whereas, the meaning of the word

‘synapse’,
can be used to reference a physical existent,

therefore, stand for a physical existent that can exist as-andonly-

as a physical existent, so:

(1) the meanings of the words ‘joy and sadness’ and ‘love

and hate’
can be used to reference psychical existents,

therefore, stand-for those psychical existents that can

exist as-and-only-as psychical existents;

(2) the meanings of the words ‘representation’, ‘vision’,

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

17

‘dream’, or ‘hallucination’ can be used to reference

psychical existents, therefore, stand-for those psychical

existents that can exist as-and-only-as psychical existents;

(3) the meanings of the words ‘resolve’, ‘determination’, or

‘strength of mind’
can be used to reference psychical

existents, therefore, stand-for those psychical existents

that can exist as-and-only-as psychical existents, and;

(4) the meanings of the words ‘attitude’, ‘inclination’,

‘tendency’, or ‘proclivity’
can be used to reference

psychical existents, therefore, stand-for those psychical

existents that can exist as-and-only-as psychical existents.

Therefore, whereas, organic physical and psychical

existents of the human body and mind
can exist as-andonly-

as organic physical and psychical existents, connected

in the stimulus-response type of association, they
can also

exist:

(1) as organic physical-psychical data, being connected in the

organic stimulus-response type of association; and

(2) as organic physical-psychical connected data, being

stood-for by meaning, used to reference, endow,

envelope, and encompass it, in the standing-for type of

association;

and, because of the organic physical-psychical connected

data, as being involved in the organic stimulus-response

type of association and in the standing-for meaning type of

association,

(3) as understanding of the meaning being stood-for type of

association.

Humans, as organic physical-psychical beings, can

understand what the meaning of their own organic physicalpsychical

existence stands-for, hence, the meaning of what

they stand for, as well as the meaning of what other things,

especially words, stand for.

Humans
can conduct themselves with this semiotical

understanding for experiential orientation toward and with

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

18

meaning as they, as organic-physical-psychical-semiosical

beings, communicatively experience:

(1) the stimulus-response of data in the informative type of

association;

(2) the standing-for of meaning in the significative type of

association; and

(3) the understanding of the meaning being stood-for in the experience of the informative and significative types of

association.

In short, then, humans can, through semiotical

understanding, understand that what they say and do has

meaning and what the meaning of what they say and do has

in their associated living, i.e. in their stimulus-response,

standing-for, and understanding of meaning types of

associations, as conducted conjointly, i.e. as conducted with

other humans, in communicated experience. Hence,

Question 1 can be answered as follows.

An Answer to Question 1. Question 1: “How is

democracy, as a way of life, conducted as a mode of associated

living, involving conjointly communicated experiences?”

With the meaning developed in Part I, the answer is as

follows.

Answer 1: “By semiosis is how democracy, as a way of

life, is conducted as a mode of associated living, involving

conjointly communicated experiences.”

where the meaning of the word ‘semiosis’ is used to refer to

the organic process:

(1) that characterizes the essential aspects involved in human

communication;

(a) in which physical and physical-psychical

existence, as the data of information in the

stimulus-response type of association is

semiotically understood within the stimulusresponse

type of associated living situations to

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

19

stimulate human organic conjointly

communicated experiences; and,

(b)
(b) through which the existence of meaning is

semiotically understood and used to reference and

endow the existence of physical mechanical and

electronic and the physical-psychical organic data

in the standing-for type of association and the

transmission of data in the stimulus-response type

of association, within and between stimulated

human organic conjointly communicated

experiences;

(2) that provides for the envelopment and encompassment by

meaning of physical mechanical and electronic and of

organic physical-psychical existence as data of

information transmission in communication, for

semiotical understanding and experiential orientation in

associated living situations by the understanding of the

meaning being stood for type of association, within and

between stimulated human organic conjointly

communicated experiences;

(3) that provides for the penetration and impregnation by

meaning of organic physical-psychical existence as data

of information transmission in communication, for

semiotical understanding and experiential orientation in

associated living situations by the understanding of the

meaning being stood for type of association, within and

between stimulated human organic conjointly

communicated experiences;

(4) by which humans, as organic physical-psychical existents,

can conduct associated and communicated living

experiences, with semiotical understanding and

experiential orientation toward the association between

data and meaning by the semiotical understanding of the

meaning being stood for type of association, within and

between stimulated human organic conjointly

communicated experiences.

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

20

Part I Summary. The meaning of the word

‘democracy’ can be used to refer to a form of government

and to a way of life. In Part I, the focus has been its

meaning that references a way of life, specifically as a way

of life involving communication.

Sketched in Part I has been the meaning of the word

‘communication’ that refers to the two significative and

informative semiosical aspects of communication and the

two stimulus-response and standing-for semiosical types of

association in communication, with importance of the

standing-for meaning semiosical type of association

emphasized in relation to the stimulus-response of data

semiosical type of association through the semiotical

understanding of the meaning being stood-for, third type of

association.

It is through the third type of association, i.e. the

understanding of the meaning being stood-for semiosical

type of association, by which the semiotical understanding

and orientation of the organic experiential philosophy of

educology for developing democracies, as developing ways

of life, in the world is derived.

Part II

Philosophy of Educology and Democracy

Where philosophy of educology is the philosophical

study of knowledge about education, it is the semiotical

understanding of and orientation toward stimulus-response

associated human organic communicated experiences in

standing-for associated living relationships, as a

democratically experienced and conducted way of life, that

provides an awareness of the knowledge about the organic

connection between experience and education, to be

accounted for in Part II, in which

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21

Question 2: “How is the democratically experienced and

conducted way of life related to the educative experience?”

will be answered as follows.

Answer 2: “By semiotical understanding of and orientation

in the phases of the reflective thinking experience is how the

democratically experienced and conducted way of life relates

to the educative experience.”

In An Outlined Introduction to the Universal and

Unifying Research Methodology in the Domain of

Educology, as published in
Pedagogika, 51, 2001, Vytautas

Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania, and in the

International Journal of Educology, (IJE) 1998-2001,

Volume 12-15, Educology Research Associates, Sydney,

eleven phases in the reflective thinking experience were

distinguished and outlined through the semiotical

understanding of the difference between the stimulusresponse

of data type of associations and the standing-for

meaning type of associations when considered in the

reflective thinking experience.

With this semiotical understanding, then, the difference

between physical and psychical data and the organically

related semiosical meaning in the reflective thinking

experience can be made:

(1) where physical data are exampled by what is sensed by

and involved in the stimulus-response of data type of

associations by the nervous system of a human body;

(2) where psychical data are exampled by what are sensed by

and involved in the stimulus-response of data type of

associations in the reflective thinking phases of a human

mind; and

(3) where semiosical meaning is exampled by what is

intellectualized by and involved in the standing-for of

meaning type of associations in the reflective thinking

phases of a human mind.

And, with semiotical understanding, then:

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

22

(1) Examples of physical data sensed by the nervous system

of a human body are physical objects like atoms,

molecules, stars, cars, and mountains and physical

behaviors like running, falling, and jumping;

(2) Examples of physical objects involved within the nervous

system of a human body are neurons and of physical

behaviors are synapses;

(3) Examples of psychical data sensed in the reflective

thinking phases of a human mind are: mental feelings of

emotion like wonder, joy, frustration, and resentment;

mental images of imagination like visions, dreams,

representations, and hallucinations; mental willing of

volition like determination, resolve, and will power; and

habits of disposition like inclinations, tendencies, and

attitudes; and

(4) Examples of semiotical meanings intellectualized in the

reflective thinking phases of a human mind are the

meanings; (i) used to refer to and endow physical data

and envelope and encompass them, and (ii) used to refer

to and endow psychical data and envelope and encompass

them, and also to penetrate and impregnate them.

A semiotically understood and oriented experiential

philosophy of educology as a philosophy of the reflective

thinking experience, emphasizing the interrelatedness of the

sense experiences involved in a stimulus-response of data

type of semiosical association and the intellectual

experiences involved in the standing-for meaning type of

semiosical association, as a philosophy of democracy as a

way of life, then, can begun to be established as follows.

A Semiotically Understood and Oriented Experiential

Philosophy of Educology as a Democratic Philosophy of

Life.
Where educology means knowledge about education

and education means, as Dewey states it:

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

23

that reconstruction or reorganization of experience which

adds to the meaning of experience, and which increases

ability to direct the course of subsequent experience; (5)

then, philosophy of educology means philosophy of

knowledge about how to reconstruct or reorganize

experience in which transacted meaning is organic to

experience and is added into experience, and in which this

added meaning of experience contributes to the ability to

direct the course of subsequent experience toward further

growth in the ability to direct the course of subsequent

experience, etc, for as Dewey also says:

there is nothing to which growth is relative save more growth, there

is nothing to which education is subordinate save more education.

It is a commonplace to say that education should not cease when

one leaves school. The point of this commonplace is that the

purpose of school education is to insure the continuance of

education by organizing the powers that insure growth. The

inclination to learn from life itself and to make the conditions of life

such that all will learn in the process of living is the finest product

of schooling. (6)

It should be pointed out that the meaning of the word

‘education’, as used in this quote is that which refers to the

educative experience as conducted through the phases of

reflective thinking experience. The meaning of the words

‘human growth’, then, refers to the educative experience as

conducted through the phases of reflective thinking, hence,

educology becomes knowledge about human growth, i.e.

educology becomes knowledge about the human conduct of

the phases of the reflective thinking experiences, as

transacted meaning, i.e. as the semiosical existent known to

semiotics, is organic to it and added within and by it.

Philosophy of educology, then, becomes the philosophy of

knowledge, i.e. the epistemology of how to continuously

transact and add meaning to life’s experiences.

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

24

As Dewey states, meaning is that which increases a

human’s ability to direct the course of his/her subsequent

experience, hence, is vital, i.e. is organic, to the reflective

thinking experience, hence, is organic, i.e. is vital, to

education, i.e. is organic or vital to the educative experience.

Therefore, when he states his educology of schools as the

“purpose of school education is to insure the continuance of

education by organizing the powers that insure growth,” he

is referring to the organization of what is semiotically

understood to be the:

(1) the experience of the sensation of physical data

organically, i.e. vitally, involved in the stimulusresponse

transmission of data type of associations by the

nervous system of a human body;

(2) the experience of the sensation of psychical data

organically, i.e. vitally, involved in the stimulusresponse

transmission of data type of associations in the

reflective thinking phases of a human mind; and

(3) the experience of intellectualization of the semiosical

meaning organically, i.e. vitally, involved in the

standing-for transaction of meaning type of associations

in the reflective thinking phases of a human mind.

The sensations of the human body involve natural and

powerful stimulus-responses to move. Especially in school

age children is this natural power prevalent. School age

children’s bodies urge them to physically move, i.e. to

squirm, to run, to jump, to skip, and to laugh, as examples.

The sensations of the mind in school age children also

involve the natural and powerful stimulus-responses to

mentally move. The mental urges to move, for example the

urge by the feelings of anxiety and wonder, anger and joy,

appreciation and resentment, and happiness and sadness are

stimulus-response associated with each other and with the

bodily urges to move, especially in school age children.

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

25

These body and mental urges to move, i.e. these

affections as data, when considering how to organize them

for school educative experiences, then, become experiences

that can conflict with the intellectual experience of meaning,

i.e. the cognition of meaning, and it is this dualism between

the human experiences of affection and cognition, i.e.

between the human mind and body experiences, that is the

focus of the following rather long quote by Dewey in which

he implicitly is working with the semiotically understood

distinctions between the experiences of the sensations of

physical data involved in the nervous system of the human

body and the experiences of the sensations of mental data

and the intellectualizations of semiosical meanings involved

in the reflective thinking phases of the human mind. In this

regard, Dewey says:

It would be impossible to state adequately the evil results which

have flowed from this dualism of mind and body, much less to

exaggerate them. Some of the more striking effects, may, however,

be enumerated.

(a) In part bodily activity becomes an intruder. Having nothing,

so it is thought, to do with mental activity, it becomes a distraction,

an evil to be contended with. For the pupil has a body, and brings

it to school along with his mind. And the body is, of necessity, a

wellspring of energy; it has to do something. But its activities, not

being utilized in occupation with things which yield significant

results, have to be frowned upon. They lead the pupil away from the

lesson with which his "mind" ought to be occupied; they are sources

of mischief. The chief source of the "problem of discipline" in

schools is that the teacher has often to spend the larger part of the

time in suppressing the bodily activities which take the mind away

from its material. A premium is put on physical quietude; on

silence, on rigid uniformity of posture and movement; upon a

machine-like simulation of the attitudes of intelligent interest. The

teachers' business is to hold the pupils up to these requirements and

to punish the inevitable deviations which occur.

The nervous strain and fatigue which result with both teacher

and pupil are a necessary consequence of the abnormality of the

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

26

situation in which bodily activity is divorced from the perception of

meaning. Callous indifference and explosions from strain alternate.

The neglected body, having no organized fruitful channels of

activity, breaks forth, without knowing why or how, into

meaningless boisterousness, or settles into equally meaningless

fooling -- both very different from the normal play of children.

Physically active children become restless and unruly; the more

quiescent, so called conscientious ones spend what energy they have

in the negative task of keeping their instincts and active tendencies

suppressed, instead of in a positive one of constructive planning and

execution; they are thus educated not into responsibility for the

significant and graceful use of bodily powers, but into an enforced

duty not to give them free play. It may be seriously asserted that a

chief cause for the remarkable achievements of Greek education

was that it was never misled by false notions into an attempted

separation of mind and body.

Even, however, with respect to the lessons which have to be

learned by the application of "mind," some bodily activities have to

be used. The senses -- especially the eye and ear -- have to be

employed to take in what the book, the map, the blackboard, and the

teacher say. The lips and vocal organs, and the hands, have to be

used to reproduce in speech and writing what has been stowed

away. The senses are then regarded as a kind of mysterious conduit

through which information is conducted from the external world

into the mind; they are spoken of as gateways and avenues of

knowledge. To keep the eyes on the book and the ears open to the

teacher's words is a mysterious source of intellectual grace.

Moreover, reading, writing, and figuring -- important school arts --

demand muscular or motor training. The muscles of eye, hand, and

vocal organs accordingly have to be trained to act as pipes for

carrying knowledge back out of the mind into external action. For it

happens that using the muscles repeatedly in the same way fixes in

them an automatic tendency to repeat.

The obvious result is a mechanical use of the bodily activities

which (in spite of the generally obtrusive and interfering character

of the body in mental action) have to be employed more or less. For

the senses and muscles are used not as organic participants in

having an instructive experience, but as external inlets and outlets of

mind. Before the child goes to school, he learns with his hand, eye,

and ear, because they are organs of the process of doing something

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

27

from which meaning results. The boy flying a kite has to keep his

eye on the kite, and has to note the various pressures of the string on

his hand. His senses are avenues of knowledge not because external

facts are somehow "conveyed" to the brain, but because they are

used in doing something with a purpose. The qualities of seen and

touched things have a bearing on what is done, and are alertly

perceived; they have a meaning. But when pupils are expected to

use their eyes to note the form of words, irrespective of their

meaning, in order to reproduce them in spelling or reading, the

resulting training is simply of isolated sense organs and muscles. It

is such isolation of an act from a purpose which makes it

mechanical. It is customary for teachers to urge children to read

with expression, so as to bring out the meaning. But if they

originally learned the sensory-motor technique of reading -- the

ability to identify forms and to reproduce the sounds they stand for

-- by methods which did not call for attention to meaning, a

mechanical habit was established which makes it difficult to read

subsequently with intelligence. The vocal organs have been trained

to go their own way automatically in isolation; and meaning cannot

be tied on at will. Drawing, singing, and writing may be taught in

the same mechanical way; for, we repeat, any way is mechanical

which narrows down the bodily activity so that a separation of body

from mind -- that is, from recognition of meaning -- is set up.

Mathematics, even in its higher branches, when undue emphasis is

put upon the technique of calculation, and science, when laboratory

exercises are given for their own sake, suffer from the same evil.

On the intellectual side, the separation of "mind" from direct

occupation with things throws emphasis on things at the expense of

relations or connections. It is altogether too common to separate

perceptions and even ideas from judgments. The latter are thought

to come after the former in order to compare them. It is alleged that

the mind perceives things apart from relations; that it forms ideas of

them in isolation from their connections -- with what goes

before and comes after. Then judgment or thought is called upon to

combine the separated items of "knowledge" so that their

resemblance or causal connection shall be brought out. As matter of

fact, every perception and every idea is a sense of the bearings, use,

and cause, of a thing. We do not really know a chair or have an idea

of it by inventorying and enumerating its various isolated qualities,

but only by bringing these qualities into connection with

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

28

something else -- the purpose which makes it a chair and not a table;

or its difference from the kind of chair we are accustomed to, or the

"period" which it represents, and so on. A wagon is not perceived

when all its parts are summed up; it is the characteristic connection

of the parts which makes it a wagon.

And these connections are not those of mere physical

juxtaposition; they involve connection with the animals that draw it,

the things that are carried on it, and so on. Judgment is employed in

the perception; otherwise the perception is mere sensory excitation

or else a recognition of the result of a prior judgment, as in the case

of familiar objects.

Words, the counters for ideals, are, however, easily taken for

ideas. And in just the degree in which mental activity is separated

from active concern with the world, from doing something and

connecting the doing with what is undergone, words, symbols, come

to take the place of ideas. The substitution is the more subtle

because some meaning is recognized. But we are very easily trained

to be content with a minimum of meaning, and to fail to note how

restricted is our perception of the relations which confer

significance. We get so thoroughly used to a kind of pseudo-idea, a

half perception, that we are not aware how half-dead our mental

action is, and how much keener and more extensive our

observations and ideas would be if we formed them under

conditions of a vital experience which required us to use judgment:

to hunt for the connections of the thing dealt with.

There is no difference of opinion as to the theory of the matter.

All authorities agree that discernment of relationships is the

genuinely intellectual matter; hence, the educative matter. The

failure arises in supposing that relationships can become perceptible

without experience -- without that conjoint trying and undergoing

of which we have spoken. It is assumed that "mind" can grasp them

if it will only give attention, and that this attention may be given at

will irrespective of the situation. Hence the deluge of halfobservations,

of verbal ideas, and unassimilated "knowledge" which

afflicts the world. An ounce of experience is better than a ton of

theory simply because it is only in experience that any theory has

vital and verifiable significance. An experience, a very humble

experience, is capable of generating and carrying any amount of

theory (or intellectual content), but a theory apart from an

experience cannot be definitely grasped even as theory. It tends to

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

29

become a mere verbal formula, a set of catchwords used to render

thinking, or genuine theorizing, unnecessary and impossible.

Because of our education we use words, thinking they are ideas, to

dispose of questions, the disposal being in reality simply such an

obscuring of perception as prevents us from seeing any longer the

difficulty. (7)

Dewey uses the meaning of the word ‘evil’, then, to refer

to, with semiotic understanding, the lack of transaction of

meaning in association with the body and mind transmission

of data through the senses of humans, i.e. in association with

the mind and body natural urges to move and to have

experiences, in regard to educology, i.e. in regard to

knowledge about educative experiences. In this regard and

with this understanding, philosophically speaking, then,

knowledge about the educative experience exists, the

meaning of which refers those with the knowledge, i.e.

refers educologists, to the question of how to organize the

educational institutions of a democracy, i.e. home, school,

business, government, churches, etc. for the people, i.e.

children, youth, and adults, to have educative experiences,

i.e. have experiences understood and oriented by transacted

meaning rather than not understood and oriented by

transacted meaning.

A semiotically understood and oriented experiential

philosophy of educology as a democratic philosophy of life

directs educologists living in the democracy of the USA, as

well as in democracies of other countries in the world, to

attend to what Dewey refers to by the meaning of the words

‘Either-Or’ in his book
Experience and Education.Though Experience and Education was written in 1938,

it is still applicable to the developing democracy of the USA

and developing democracies of the world, today. In Chapter

1 entitled “Traditional vs. Progressive Education,” Dewey

says:

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

30

Mankind likes to think in terms of extreme opposites. It is given to

formulating its beliefs in terms of Either-Ors, between which it

recognizes no intermediate possibilities. When forced to recognize

that the extremes cannot be acted upon, it is still inclined to hold

that they are all right in theory but that when it comes to practical

matters circumstances compel us to compromise. Educational

philosophy is no exception. The history of educational theory is

marked by opposition between the idea that education is

development from within and that it is formation from without; that

it is based upon natural endowments and that education is a

process of overcoming natural inclination and substituting in its

place habits acquired under external pressure. (8)

Again, though writing in 1938, what Dewey has to say is

relevant today, when he says:

At present, the opposition, so far as practical affairs of the school

are concerned, tends to take the form of a contrast between

traditional and progressive education. (9)

What Dewey is pointing at is that which was occurring

throughout the middle and late 1900s in the developing

democracy of the USA, i.e. the reform of education as

conducted in schools through either-or forms of thinking

such that either the traditional education is taken as the right

one or the progressive education is taken as the right one,

without considering that the either-or forms of thinking,

rather than orienting reformers toward the right form of

thinking about education, ought to rather;

. . . set new problems which have to be worked out on the basis of a

new philosophy of experience. (10)

Remembering that the reflective thinking experience, as

guided transacted meaning, is what Dewey means by an

educative experience and remembering that it is the meaning

guided transactions in reflective thinking experience that

provides the organic connection between education and

experience, it is worthwhile considering the distinction

between what he refers to by the meanings of the words

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

31

‘educative experience’, and ‘mis-educative experience’,

when he says:

The belief that all genuine education comes about through

experience does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or

equally educative. Experience and education cannot be directly

equated to each other. For some experiences are mis-educative. An

experience is mis-educative that has the effect of arresting or

distorting the growth of further experience. (11)

Mis-educative experiences, then, are non-reflectively

conducted experiences, i.e. experiences in which thinking is

not being conducted with transacted meaning

intellectualized by it penetrating and impregnating the

psychical mental feelings of emotions, mental images of

imagination, and mental will of volition, nor the habits of

disposition, i.e. the psychical sensations of mind, and,

hence, not affecting the physical sensations of the body in a

coordinated, continuing, and growing mind-body active

experience.

When characterizing mis-educative experiences, Dewey

says:

An experience may be such as to engender callousness; it may

produce lack of sensitivity and of responsiveness. Then the

possi-bilities of having richer experience in the future are restricted.

Again, a given experience my increase a person’s automatic skill in

a particular direction and yet tend to land him in a groove or rut; the

effect again is to narrow the field of further experience. An

experience may be immediately enjoyable and yet promote the

formation of a slack and careless attitude; this attitude then operates

to modify the quality of subsequent experiences so as to prevent a

person from getting out of them what they have to give. Again,

experiences may be so disconnected from one another that, while

each is agreeable or even exciting in itself, they are not linked

cumulatively to one another. Energy is then dissipated and a person

becomes scatterbrained. Each experience may be lively, vivid, and

‘interesting,’ and yet their disconnectedness may artificially

generate dispersive, disintegrated, centrifugal habits. The conesquence

of formation of such habits is inability to control future

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

32

experiences. They are then taken, either by way of enjoyment or of

discontent and revolt, just as they come. Under such circumstances,

it is idle to talk of self-control. (12)

In regard to the either-or thinking used by those taking the

side of traditional education and those taking the side of

progressive education, Dewey states:

Traditional education offers a plethora of examples of experiences

of the kinds just mentioned. It is a great mistake to suppose,

even tacitly, that the traditional schoolroom was not a place in

which pupils had experiences. Yet this is tacitly assumed when

progressive education as a plan of learning by experience is placed

in sharp opposition to the old. The proper line of attack is that

the experiences which were had, by pupils and teachers alike, were

largely of a wrong kind. How many students, for example, were

rendered callous to ideas, and how many lost the impetus to learn

because of the way in which learning was experienced by them?

How many acquired special skills by means of automatic drill so

that their power of judgment and capacity to act intelligently in new

situations was limited? How many came to associate the learning

process with ennui and boredom? How many found what they did

learn so foreign to the situations of life outside the school as to give

them no power of control over the latter? How many came to

associate books with dull drudgery, so that they were ‘conditioned’

to all but flashy reading matter? (13)

Dewey hastens to say about traditional education, however,

that:

If I ask these questions, it is not for the sake of wholesale

condemnation of the old education. It is for quite another purpose.

It is to emphasize the fact, first, that young people in traditional

schools do have experiences; and, secondly, that the trouble is not

the absence of experiences, but their defective and wrong character

— wrong and defective from the standpoint of connection with

further experience. (14)

And, further he says, in regard to progressive education and

the problem it sets for the practicing educologist, or, using

Dewey’s words, the problem it sets for the educator.

The positive side of this point is even more important in connection

with progressive education. It is not enough to insist upon the

necessity of experience, nor even of activity in experience.

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

33

Everything depends upon the quality of the experience which is had.

The quality of any experience has two aspects. There is an

immediate aspect of agreeableness or disagreeableness, and there is

its influence upon later experiences. The first is obvious and easy to

judge. The
effect of an experience is not borne on its face. It sets a

problem to the educator. It is his business to arrange for the kind of

experiences which, while they do not repel the student, but rather

engage his activities are, nevertheless, more than immediately

enjoyable since they promote having desirable future experiences.

Just as no man lives or dies to himself, so no experience lives

and dies to itself. Wholly independent of desire or intent, every

experience lives on in further experiences. Hence the central

problem of an education based upon experience is to select the kind

of present experiences that live fruitfully and creatively in

subsequent experiences. (15)

The Central Problem of a Semiotically Understood and

Oriented Experiential Philosophy of Educology as a

Democratic Philosophy of Life

The central problem, as rephrased in the context of a

semiotical understanding and orientation of experiential

philosophy of educology as a democratic philosophy of life,

then, is one that faces theoretical educologists in

consideration of practicing educologists, specifically

teachers. It is:

how can a practicing educologist identify for selection of, i.e.

how can a practicing educologist know, that kind of

experience that is educative in that it will live fruitfully and

creatively in subsequent experiences when meaning is

transacted within a reflective thinking experience involving

the transmission of the data information, i.e. within the

reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to

the meaning of experience, and which increases ability to

direct the course of subsequent experience?

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

34

Using (1) the meanings of the words ‘facts’ and

‘information’, as the meaning of the words ‘data of

information’, (2) the meaning of the word ‘idea’ to refer to

the (i) stimulus-response association of mental feelings,

images, and will as (ii) penetrated and impregnated by

transacted meaning; (3) the meaning of the words ‘scientific

method’ to refer to the reflective thinking experience; (4)

the meaning of the word ‘educator’ to refer to a practicing

educologist; and (5) the meaning of the word ‘intelligence’

to refer to the intellectualization of the transacted meaning

of an idea, the following quote from Dewey is highly

relevant to an important condition requiring “a long view

forward” facing theoretical educologists trying to solve the

central problem for practicing educologists.

About this condition, Dewey talks about the need for a

long view forward, by saying:

. . . experiences in order to be educative must lead out into an

expanding world of subject-matter, a subject matter of facts or

information and of ideas. This condition is satisfied only as the

educator views teaching and learning as a continuous process of

reconstruction of experience. This condition in turn can be satisfied

only as the educator has a long look ahead and views every

present experience as a moving force in influencing what future

experiences will be. (16)

Further, Dewey explains the emphasis he is placing on the

scientific method, as the phases of the reflective thinking

experience, when he says:

I am aware that the emphasis I have placed upon scientific method

may be misleading, for it may result only in calling up the special

technique of laboratory research as that is conducted by

specialists. But the meaning of the emphasis placed upon scientific

method has little to do with specialized techniques. It means that

scientific method is the only authentic means at our command for

getting at the significance of our everyday experiences of the world

in which we live. It means that scientific method provides a

working pattern of the way in which and the conditions under which

experiences are used to lead ever onward and outward. Adaptation

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

35

of the method to individuals of various degrees of maturity is a

problem for the educator, and the constant factors in the problem are

the formation of ideas, acting upon ideas, observation of the

conditions which result, and organization of facts and ideas for

future use. Neither the ideas, nor the activities, nor the

observations, nor the organization are the same for a person six

years old as they are for one twelve or eighteen years old, to say

nothing of the adult scientists. But at every level there is an

expanding development of experience, if experience is educative in

effect. Consequently, whatever the level of experience, we have no

choice but either to operate in accord with the pattern it provides or

else to neglect the place of intelligence in the development and

control of a living and moving experience.” (17)

In this quote, Dewey alludes to the general phases, i.e.

the general pattern, in the reflective thinking experience, i.e.

in the scientific method, when saying, as paraphrased, that

the constant factors in the scientific method are: (1) a felt

problem; (2) the formation of ideas of how to solve the

problem; (2) acting upon ideas; (3) observation of the

conditions which result; and (4) organization of acts and

ideas for future use.

A corollary problem to the central problem for

theoretical educologists in consideration of practicing

educologists, then, is that of more fully explicating the

phases of the reflective thinking experience, i.e. the pattern

of the scientific method, so as to understand its logic as, in

Dewey’s terms, “a theory of inquiry,” from the perspective

of a semiotical understanding of the semiosical process in

which it is embedded.

This corollary problem is being worked on by

Educology Research Associates/USA (ERA/USA), in a

philosophical project working on: (1) the reference of the

meaning of the words “logic of eduction,” i.e. the logic of

how transacted meaning is used to draw out the phases of

the reflective thinking experience, i.e. to draw out the

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

36

pattern of the scientific method in use in everyday life; and

(2) the significance of this reference to the central problem.

The philosophy of educology being followed at

ERA/USA is that of the semiotic understanding of the

semiosically oriented organic connection between education

and experience, through the transaction of meaning, and

between this connection and the arrangements for a

democratic way of life as it affects the quality of human

daily experience. It follows Dewey, when he makes a

distinction between the meanings of the words ‘cause’ and

‘reasons’ in reference to why democracy is the preferable

arrangement for a way of life:

The question I would raise concerns why we prefer democratic and

humane arrangements to those which are autocratic and harsh. And

by ‘why,’ I mean the reason for preferring them, not just the

causes which lead us to the preference. One cause may be that we

have been taught not only in the schools but by the press, the pulpit,

the platform, and our laws and law-making bodies that democracy is

the best of all social institutions. We have so assimilated this

idea from our surrounds that it has become an habitual part of our

mental and moral make-up. But similar causes have led other

persons in different surroundings to widely varying conclusions —

to prefer facism, for example. The cause for our preference is not

the same thing as the reason why we should prefer it.” (18)

In regard to the reasons, Dewey says:

It is not my purpose here to go in detail into the reason. But I would

ask a single question: Can we find any reason that does not

ultimately come down to the belief that democratic social

arrangements promote a better quality of human experience, one

which is more widely accessible and enjoyed, than do nondemocratic

and anti-democratic forms of social life? Does not the

principle of regard for individual freedom and for decency and

kindliness of human relations come back in the end to the

conviction that these things are tributary to a higher quality of

experience on the part of a greater number than are methods of

repression and coercion or force? Is it not the reason for our

preference that we believe that mutual consultation and convictions

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

37

reached through persuasion, make possible a better quality of

experience than can otherwise be provided on any wide scale? (19)

At ERA/USA, from the perspective of a semiotically

oriented experiential philosophy of educology, the answer to

this question is in the affirmative. And, the affirmative

answer to this question is recommended to all educologists,

theoretical or practicing, who are working in and for

democracies in the world.

Part II Summary

In Part II, a semiotically understood and oriented

experiential philosophy of educology as a democratic

philosophy of life was sketched. The sketch includes the

meaning of the word ‘education’ to reference the

reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to

the meaning of experience, and which increases ability to

direct the course of subsequent experiences, also referred to

by the meaning of the words ‘educative experience’ and

‘reflective thinking experience’.

With this meaning of the word ‘education’, then,

philosophy of educology becomes the philosophy of

knowledge about educative experiences or reflective

thinking experiences. And, with this meaning of education,

then, it was stated that the end of education is more

education, i.e. the end of educative experiences as reflective

thinking experiences is more of the same. More generally,

the educative experience is the human growth experience

the aim of which is more human growth experiences.

Educology, then, becomes knowledge about human growth

experiences, as conducted through the reflective thinking

experience.

The purpose of schools and other institutions in which

education is conducted, then, is to provide the arrangement

that insures the continuance of education by organizing the

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

38

powers that insure human growth experiences, i.e: (1) the

experience of the sensation of physical data organically

involved in the stimulus-response transmission of data

associations in the nervous system of human bodies; (2) the

experience of the sensation of psychical data organically

involved in the stimulus-response transmission of data type

of associations in the reflective thinking phases of human

minds; and (3) the experience of intellectualization of the

semiosical meaning organically involved in the standing for

transaction of meaning type of associations in the reflective

thinking phases of human minds.

Part II concludes with: (1) statements of the central and

corollary problems facing theoretical educologists in

consideration of practicing educologists in democracies in

the world, i.e. the problems of (i) how to know kinds of

experiences that are educative as involved in the reflective

thinking experience and (ii) the explication of the phases of

reflective thinking; and (2) reasons why democracy is the

preferable arrangement for a way of life guided by the

growth aimed educative experience of the reflective

thinking experience, which is in short, because it provides

best for human growth.

Conclusion

Philosophy of educology is philosophy of knowledge

about education and a general sketch of a semiotically

understood and oriented organic experiental philosophy of

educology has been presented for consideration by

educologists in democracies in the world.

The sketch provides the beginning of the work at

understanding, i.e. at coming to know; (1) how transacted

meaning, as a semiosical existent and transmitted data, as

physical and psychical existents, are associated in the

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

39

educative experience of the reflective thinking experience

and (2) the problem that educologists must solve in

arranging for this educative experience in democracies in

the world, for the growth of their people.

References

(1) John Dewey: Experience and Education; (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pg. 25)

(2) John Dewey;
Democracy and Education;

(http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/academic/texts/dewey/d_e/contents.ht

ml, Ch. 8, pg. 4)(3) Umberto Eco: A Theory of Semiotics; (A Midland Book, Indiana

University Press, Bloomington, 1979, pg. 32)

(4) Umberto Eco:
A Theory of Semiotics; (A Midland Book, Indiana

University Press, Bloomington, 1979, pg. 33)

(5) John Dewey; Democracy and Education, Ch. 6, pg. 4

(http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/academic/texts/dewey/d_e/contents.ht

ml)

(6) John Dewey; Democracy and Education, Ch. 4, pg. 5

(http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/academic/texts/dewey/d_e/contents.ht

ml,)

(7) John Dewey; Democracy and Education;, Ch. 11, pgs. 1-3

(http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/academic/texts/dewey/d_e/contents.ht

ml)

(8) John Dewey: Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pg. 17)

(9) John Dewey:
Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pg. 17)

(10) John Dewey:
Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pgs. 21-22)

(11) John Dewey:
Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pg. 25)

(12) John Dewey:
Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pg. 26)

(13) John Dewey:
Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pgs. 26-27)

(14) John Dewey:
Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pg. 27)

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

40

(15) John Dewey: Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pgs. 27-28)

(16) John Dewey:
Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pg. 87)

(17) John Dewey:
Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pgs. 87-88)

(18) John Dewey:
Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pg. 34)

(19) John Dewey:
Experience and Education (A Touchstone Book,

Simon and Shuster, Copyright 1938, First Edition 1997, pg. 34)


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An Article in Philosophy of Educology
 

International Journal of Educology

2004, Volume 18, Number 1


7

An Introduction to Philosophy of Educology as the Philosophy of the Future in the

New Situation of Life in the World (An Essay in Philosophy of Educology)

James E. Fisher

President ERA/USA

Columbia, South Carolina, USA

Introduction by Co-Editors

This article compares the 2002 philosophy of reality of Professor Wieslaw of Poland with that of

the 1929 philosophy of reality of Professor John Dewey of the USA as they relate to the new

world situation of life involving a philosophy of knowledge, specifically as they involve a

philosophy of educology, i.e. a philosophy of knowledge about education, as a philosophy of the

future for the new situation of life in the world.

Introduction by the Author

The background of this paper includes references made in a paper I presented at the April 19-20,

2002 UNESCO Conference on Culture of Peace, Human Rights, and Upbringing of the Civic

Society, titled,
Philosophy of Educology for Developing Democracies in the World (1) and

references made by Professor of Philosophy, Wieslaw Sztumski in his paper presented at that

2002 UNESCO Conference, titled,
Upbringing in the New Situation of Life: (Click-time Ethics asthe Fundament of Upbringing in the Future) (2).

Part 1

The New Situation in the World

The new situation of life in the world, as conceived by Professor Sztumski, involves the

imperative, as formed into the directive;
Educologists as ethicists, be responsible for

philosophically inquiring into, constructing, and teaching knowledge about the good and how to

best educate the people of the world with this knowledge, in that a new situation of life has

developed in the world.

What is the good and what is knowledge about the good that educologists, as ethicists, are to

inquire into, construct, and teach? To understand the significance of this question, it is important

to understand the circumstances in the new situation of life in the world, as characterized by

Professor Sztumski. It is in the understanding of the circumstances of the new situation of life in

the world that comes from the significance of the educologist’s, as ethicist’s, imperative, i.e. the

imperative to those who do philosophy about the good, about knowledge of the good, and about

how to educate the people of the world with this knowledge.

The new situation of life in the world involves circumstances in which there exists a context of

meaning that includes the meanings that form knowledge constructed by the understood and

accepted use of the method of experimental inquiry in science and technology in the

contemporary circumstances of the new world situation of life, in contrast to its non-understood

and non-accepted use in, what can be called the “classical circumstances” of the old world

situation of life. Contemporarily the circumstances of the new world situation of life include the

understood and accepted use of the method of experimental inquiry in science and technology,

producing such meanings as forming, for example, knowledge about quantum mechanics and

relativity, whereas, classically the old world situation of life did not include these circumstances.

8

In regard to this inclusion and exclusion of the circumstances of the understanding and

acceptance of the use of the method of experimental inquiry in the new world situation of life,

Sztumski says:

“. . . in the beginning of the last century, quantum mechanics and the theory of

relativity destroyed the foundations of classical physics and awakened the mistrust in

stereotypes functioning in classical science and philosophy.” (3)

The point being made by Sztumski is that classical science, technology, and philosophy were not

conducted with an understanding and acceptance of the method of experimental inquiry, whereas,

contemporary science, technology, and philosophy are suchly conducted. Further, the point is

that the contemporary conduct of science, technology, and philosophy, with the understanding

and acceptance of the method of experimental inquiry, has had the consequence of awakening

human doubting of, hence, thinking about, the stereotypical, i.e. established, meanings that

formed knowledge claims functioning in classical science, technology, and philosophy, leading

to, as Sztumski says “the rise of the consciousness of uncertainty.”

Circumstances in the new situation of life in the world have created the consciousness of

uncertainty about the stereotypical, i.e. established, meanings forming classical knowledge

claims, whereby, the knowledge claims have, as Sztumski states, “lost their power and are no

longer adequate for the new social reality and for the modern conditions of life.” These

circumstances include: (i) the “historical experiences” of “two world wars, social revolutions,

dictatorships (fascist and bolshevist), the holocaust, exterminations of ethnic groups, the period of

the so-called cold war (or ‘frozen peace’), and now - after September eleventh . . . - global

terrorism;”; (ii) the technological “development of the production of mass-extermination

weapons, the development of nuclear energy and the enormous progress in the spheres of

transport, telecommunication, exploration of the cosmos, and the processes of automation,

computerization, and robotization.”; and now they include (iii) “ethical canons that have lost their

power.” (4)

The new situation of life in the world, then, includes the circumstances in which, according to

Sztumski, speaking for the people of the world:

”. . .we have to deal with an unusual crisis in ethics:
we have begun to live in an interepochalempty ethical space. In other words, our topical life space-time has

become, to some extent, devoid of its ethical dimension or this dimension is

significantly reduced.” (5)

In an earlier epoch, Sztumski, points out that “. . . people knew that the world changes” and

alterates and alternates between “certainty and despair, constancy and variability, unity and

plurality, harmony and contradiction,” wherein, “such attributes as constancy, certainty,

unity, invariability and harmony constitute the perfection of being,” hence,” something good,”

whereas, “their antinomies were acknowledged as the degeneration, as the deviation from

perfection,” hence, “something bad.” (6)

Within circumstances of the world situation of life in that earlier epoch, Sztumski says, about the

claims to know the good, as based on the ethic that certainty of being is the absolute good and

uncertainty of being is the absolute bad, that these knowledge claims:

“. . . survived throughout the epochs, and were even strengthened by the foundations of

Christian philosophy and modern science. Always in philosophy and science one

9

looked for some absolutely certain fulcrum - some foundation or axiom. And, one tried to

find it in the self-consciousness of man, in God, in the Mind, etc.” (7)

“The world in which we live, and in which the nearest generations will come to live, is full of

changes, threats, uncertainties, and risks,” Sztumski says, along with saying that these changes, in

the past:

“took place during longer intervals of time, usually in the course of a dozen or so

generations. Therefore, the belief in constancy and certainty of the processes

occurring in the world, in the stability of life conditions, and in the educational ideals

were not questioned.” (8)

The circumstances of the new world situation of life, then, as Sztumski identifies them, include:

(1) the circumstance of the existence of the interactive conjunction of the precarious and the

assured that also existed in the old world situation of life of an earlier epoch; (2) the circumstance

of the mode and tempo of the existence of the change, as the alteration and alternation back and

forth, of the interactive conjunction of the precarious or uncertain, and the assured or certain; (3)

the circumstance of the continued philosophical quest for an absolutely certain fulcrum,

foundation, or axiom in the self-consciousness of man or in God or in Mind, within the tempo of

the mode of existence of the conjunction, alteration, and alternation of the precarious and the

assured; and, (4) the circumstance of the philosophical questioning of the educational ideals

within the tempo of the mode of existence of the conjunction, alteration, and alternation of the

precarious and the assured.

Part 2

The New Situation of life in the World and Philosophy of Educology

From the perspective of the philosophy of educology, being developed in the Institute of History

and Philosophy of Educology, an initiative of Educology Research Associates/USA (ERA/USA),

the circumstances of the new situation of life in the world, as Sztumski, a Polish philosopher

writing in 2002, has identified, are ones that correspond with their identification by John Dewey,

an American philosopher writing in 1929 in his book Experience and Nature.

In Chapter Two of this book, titled,
Existence as Precarious and as Stable, Dewey begins the

close of the chapter by saying that he has:

“. selected only a few of the variety of the illustrations that might be used in support of

the idea that the significant problems and issues of life and philosophy concern the rate

and mode of the conjunction of the precarious and the assured, the incomplete and the

finished, the repetitious and the varying, the safe and sane and the hazardous. If we trust

to the evidence of experienced things, these traits, and the modes and tempos of their

interaction with each other, are fundamental features of natural existence.” (9)

Dewey, in this quote, is directly calling attention to Circumstance 1, the circumstance involving

the interactive conjunctive existence of the traits of the world situation of life, i.e. the conjunctive

existence of: (1) the precarious or uncertain; and, (2) the assured or certain, as identified by

Sztumski. Also, in this quote, Dewey calls direct attention to Circumstance 2, the circumstance

identified by Sztumski involving the quick-time, or, in Sztumski’s computer referencing meaning

by the words ‘click-time’, for the mode and tempo of the change, as the alteration and alternation

back and forth, of the interaction of these two conjunctive traits of the world situation of life, as

experienced evidence of the reality of the fundamental features of natural existence.

10

Indirectly, in this quote, Dewey is calling attention to Circumstances 3 and 4 as the circumstances

involving the experience of philosophically questing for certainty and questioning educational

ideals by people existing as naturally integrated human beings involved in the interaction,

alteration, and alternation of the two conjunctive traits of uncertainty and certainty of the world

situation of life, wherein, about the experience of the two traits, as fundamental features of natural

existence, Dewey, says :

“The experience of their various consequences, according as they are relatively

isolated, unhappily or happily combined, is evidence that wisdom, and hence that

love of wisdom which is philosophy, is concerned with choice and administration

of their proportioned union. Structure and process, substance and accident, matter

and energy, permanence and flux, one and many, continuity and discreteness, order and

progress, law and liberty, uniformity and growth, tradition and innovation, rational will

and impelling desires, proof and discover, the actual and the possible, are names given to

various phases of their conjunction and the issue of living depends upon the art with

which these things are adjusted to each other.” (10)

For Dewey, then, philosophy is the inquiry involved with the significant problems and issues of

human beings:

"experiencing the consequences of the change, as the alteration and alternation back and

forth, of the conjunctive and interactive reality of structure, as a phase of the trait in

nature of the circumstance of certainty, and of process, as a phase of the trait in nature of

the circumstance of uncertainty, with the question of their proportional relationship;"

and, so on through the conjunctive and interactive reality of substance and accident, matter and

energy, permanence and flux, one and many, continuity and discreteness, order and progress, law and liberty, uniformity and growth, tradition and innovation, rational will and impelling

desires, proof and discover, and the actual and the possible.

Philosophy, then, for Dewey, is experiential inquiry into proportional relationships between traits

of the interactive, conjunctive, alterative, and alternative changing reality of the phases in life of

certainty and uncertainty, not, in my opinion, as Sztumski noted, as that which has “survived

throughout the epochs,” of non-experiential inquiry into absolute certainty. In Dewey’s

metaphysics, absolute certainty does not exist as a trait of reality to be experienced by humans,

hence, it is unknowable, whereas, the interaction, conjunction, alteration, and alternation of

certainty and uncertainty does exist as a trait of reality to be experienced by humans, hence, is

knowable.

Alluding to the metaphysics of the trait of absolute certainty, in relation to the traits of certainty

and uncertainty in conjunction, interaction, alteration, and alternation, Dewey says that:

“While metaphysics may stop short with noting and registering these traits, man is

not contemplatively detached from them. They involve him in his perplexities and

troubles, and are the source of his joys and achievements.” (11)

The point being made in this quote by Dewey in 1929, it appears, is that which Sztumski makes

in 2002. It is the point that, as the epochs of world situations of life moved into the epoch of the

new situation of the world, the tendency by philosophers was to quest for metaphysical

11

knowledge of the absolutely certain trait of reality, whereas, the tendency of human beings, in

general, was to actually experience the reality of the interactive, conjunctive, alterative, and

alternative traits of certainty and uncertainty and quest for proportional knowledge in the

interactive, conjunctive, alterative, and alternative, wherein, the experience engages these traits

through the troubling feelings of perplexity in the uncertainty and the joyous feeling of

achievement in the certainty.

Dewey is emphasizing that the interactively, conjunctively, alteratively, and alternatively

changing traits of certainty and uncertainty, constituting the circumstances that condition organic,

i.e. living, forces in the world situation of life was not and:

“. is not indifferent to man, because it forms man as a desiring, striving, thinking,

feeling creature. It is not egotism that leads man from contemplative registration of these

traits to interest in managing them, to intelligence and purposive art. Interest, thinking,

planning, striving, consummation and frustration are a drama enacted by these forces and

conditions.” (12)

For Dewey, then, existence, including human existence, involves precarious or uncertain and

stable or certain conjunctive, interactive, alteratively and alternatively changing traits, and it

organically and dramatically involves human desiring, striving, thinking, and feelings, as

conducted, in and with the circumstances of world situations of life, with the interest of

intelligently managing these conjunctive, interactive, alterative, and alternative changing traits.

However, according to Dewey, it is not the motive of egotism or arbitrary choice that leads

humans to this interest in intelligent management of human existence. In this regard, he says:

“A particular choice may be arbitrary; this is only to say that it does not approve itself to

reflection. But choice is not arbitrary, not in a universe like this one, a world which is not

finished and which has not consistently made up its mind where it is going and what it is

going to do. Or, if we call it arbitrary, the arbitrariness is not ours but that of existence

itself. And to call existence arbitrary or by any moral name, whether disparaging or

honorific is to patronize nature.” (13)

For Dewey, existence, including human existence itself, is characterized by the organically

conditioned conjunctive, interactive, alteratively, and alternatively changing traits of

precariousness (uncertainty) and stability (certainty) and from this characterization it is taken that

the existence of the universe, including the world, “has not consistently made up its mind where it

is going and what it is going to do.” (14)

Because of the changing trait of existence, considered to be a deficiency, where the meaning of

the phrase ‘to patronize’ refers to acts of condescension, i.e. to acts that disdain something or hold

something in contempt for being deficient; the meaning of the phrase ‘to compensate’ refers to

acts of making up for deficiencies; and, the meaning of the word ‘strait’ refers to a passage

through something, Dewey continues by saying:

“To assume an attitude of condescension toward existence is perhaps a natural human

compensation for the straits of life. But it is an ultimate source of the covert, uncandid

and cheap in philosophy. This compensatory disposition is that which forgets that

reflection exists to guide choice and effort.” (15)

12

And further, Dewey says, about this compensatory act of making up for deficiencies of existence,

as that which is characterized by the changing trait, in relation to philosophy as the love of

wisdom, that philosophy as the:

“. love of wisdom is but an unlaborious transformation of existence by dialectic, instead

of an opening and enlarging of the way of nature in man.” (16)

Where the meaning of the phrase “an opening and enlarging of the way of nature in man”

is referenced as the latter task, Dewey concludes Chapter 2 by saying:

“A true wisdom, devoted to the latter task, discovers in thoughtful observation and

experiment the method of administering the unfinished processes of existence so that frail

goods shall be substantiated, secure good be extended, and precious promises of good

that haunt experienced things be more liberally fulfilled.” (17)

The meaning of the word ‘existence’, then, as used by Dewey, refers to the unfinished processes

involved in the organically oriented dramatic conjunction, interaction, alteratively, and

alternatively changing of the circumstantial traits of the precarious (the uncertain) and the stable

(the certain), aspects of the world situation of life, as they were in the near and distant past, as

they are in the present, and, as they will be in the near and distant future. Existence, including

that of human being as an organic and integral part of it, as Dewey conceives it, then, is

unfinished and is characterized by certainty interactively, alteratively, and alternatively conjoined

with uncertainty, rather than absolute certainty disjoined from uncertainty.

The good, then, in the world situation of life, according to Dewey, is not the absolute certain or

stable, in disjunction from the uncertain or precarious, for such does not exist in the reality of the

organically conditioned interactive, conjunctive, alterative, and alternative circumstances of the

world situation of life, hence, human experience of it and knowledge about it is impossible. The

good, for Dewey, is the proportional good of the certain or stable in conjunction, interaction,

alteration and alternation with the uncertain or precarious. Such a proportional good does exist in

the reality of the organically conditioned circumstances of the world situation of life, hence, is

experiencable and experienced, and, further, is knowable and known by humans in circumstances

in the world situation of life in and from experience.

About this proportional good, as the conjunction of the proportional certain with the uncertain in

contrast to the absolute good, as the absolute certain in disjunction from the uncertain, Sztumski, I

infer, takes it as a deficient good and takes it that knowledge about this good is deficient

knowledge. The point that knowledge about the proportional good is deficient, in that it is

lacking in it the knowledge about the absolute good, is made by Sztumski, when saying:

“Up until now, knowledge (especially scientific) was a guarantor of certainty. Now, such

knowledge has become increasingly relative, it has lost its value of reliability and cannot

warrant anything in an absolute manner. Above all, the orientation of humans resulting

from knowledge about the world does not warrant the possibility of survival. On the

contrary,
the greater the progress of science and technology the more risky becomes oursurvival.” (18)

Where the meaning of the word ‘now’ refers to present circumstances in the new situation of life

in the world, then, the meaning of the phrase ‘up until now’ refers to past circumstances in the

world situation of life, and, as Sztumski implies, knowledge about the absolute certain, as

13

disjoined from the uncertain, existed and “guaranteed” absolute certainty, hence, absolute good,

in those past circumstances, whereas, in the present circumstances, this knowledge does not exist,

hence, there is no guaranteed absolute certainty as a guaranteed absolute good. And, further,

without the existence and guarantee of this absolute knowledge, in the present organically

conditioned interactive, conjunctive, alterative, and alternative circumstances of the new situation

of life in the world, the possibility of continued human survival is not warranted, following the

direct correlation of the more proportional knowledge, i.e. the more scientific knowledge, the

more the risk to human survival, as a consequence, then, risk to human survival is on the increase.

It seems to me that implicit in Sztumski’s correlation of “risk,” is what Dewey, within the

philosophy of pragmatism, alludes to as the “drama” of human interactive existence in the world

situation of life, is the anguish, anxiety, or angst, about the “tragedy in the drama” of human

existence in the world situation of life, as alluded to by Jean Paul Sartre, in the philosophy of

existentialism, for as Sztumski says:

“We are not able to foresee the next direction we are to go that does not involve risk,

failure, and the growth of threat. Moreover, the risk of failure increases proportionally

to the speed of the changes in our environment.” (19)

From my perspective, then, the aspects of the pragmatism of Dewey that Sztumski, explicitly and

implicitly, is agreeing with, are those of:

(1) the
philosophy of existence, including human existence, as the organic and

dramatic interaction of the world situated and alteratively and alternatively changing

circumstantial trait of stability in conjunction with, rather than in disjunction from, the

world situated circumstantial trait of precariousness; and

(2) the
philosophy of experience of existence, as that of the human experience of

the existence of the traits of precariousness (uncertainty) and stability (certainty) in

organically conditioned circumstantial conjunction with, not in circumstantial disjunction

from, the interactive, and alternatively changing world situation of life, as that of the

troubling feelings of perplexity conjoined with, not disjoined from, the joyous feelings of

achievement; whereby:

forming in man, as Dewey points out, the experiential acts of feeling, desiring, and striving, as

integral aspects of the human experience, involved in the sometimes tragic and sometimes nontragic

drama of the human interest in the continuity of the relationships between and among

frustration, planning, and consummation, as organically conditioned circumstantial forces and

conditions in the new situation of life in the world.

The philosophy of existence, in terms of a conjunction of the precarious trait and the stable trait,

as organically conditioned, conjoined, interactive, alterative, and alternative circumstances in the

world’s new situation of life, and the philosophy of experience of existence, in terms of

experiencing the troubling feelings of perplexity, as induced and experienced by the precarious

trait, and the joyous feelings of achievement, as induced and experienced by the stable trait, as

characterized above, within the philosophy of Dewey’s pragmatism, implies a philosophy of the

knowing experience, which I make no claim of agreement between Sztumski and Dewey, but

which I will elliptically develop, in the space I have left in this paper, i.e. the development of a

philosophy of educology as a philosophy of the knowing experience as a philosophy for the

future in the new world situation of life.

14

Part 3

Philosophy of Educology: The Philosophy of the Knowing Experience as the Educative

Experience

In the pragmatic philosophical perspective, from which this paper is written, the meaning of the

word ‘educology’, as alluded to in the background section of this paper, refers to knowledge

about both the educational process, as specially conducted, for example, home, school, and

community institutions, and the educative experience, as generally conducted in life in general,

and, as integrated well and ill into the educational process. And, where educology is knowledge

about the educative experience it is identical to knowledge about the conduct of the reflective

thinking experience as the knowing or inquiring experience. Where, then, educology is

knowledge about the educative experience, it is identical to knowledge about the knowing

experience generally conducted as the reflective thinking experience within the organic

interaction, alteration, and alternation of the conjunction of the circumstantial traits of

precariousness and stability, i.e. within the existence, of the world’s new situation of life.

Within the philosophy of existence and of experience of existence characterized above, as that

which Sztumski and Dewey agree, the specific philosophical question about educology, as

knowledge about the educative experience generally conducted as the reflective thinking

experience, is, as being knowledge about the educative experience, “What is knowledge about the

reflective thinking experience?”

To understand the significance of this question in regard to knowledge about the reflective

thinking experience as knowledge about the educative experience, i.e. in regard to educological

knowledge, it is important to understand the identification of the educative experience with the

reflective thinking experience being carried one step further to that of identifying the educative

experience and the reflective thinking experience with that of the inquiring experience, or inquiry,

for short, the identification of which Dewey refers to in the Preface of his book titled
Logic: TheTheory of Inquiry, when saying:

“This book is a development of ideas regarding the nature of logical theory that were

first presented, some forty years ago, in Studies in Logical Theory; that were somewhat

summarized with special reference to education in How We Think. While basic ideas

remain the same, there has naturally been considerable modification during the

intervening years. While connection with the problematic is unchanged, express

identification of reflective thought with objective inquiry makes possible, I think, a mode

of statement less open to misapprehension than were the previous ones.” (20)

Dewey makes the identification of the reflective thinking experience and the inquiring experience

and he connects this identification with what he refers to by the meaning of the phrase ‘the

problematic’ and with the meaning of the word ‘education’. Dewey technically defines the

meaning of the word ‘education’ in his book Democracy and Education, where he says:

“It is that reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to the

meaning of experience, and which increases ability to direct the course of

subsequent experience.” (21)

And, from the philosophy of educology perspective of this paper, the meaning of the word

‘educology’ refers to knowledge about the reflective thinking, i.e. the knowing or inquiry

15

thinking, experience used to conduct the “reconstruction or reorganization of experience which

adds to the meaning of experience, and which increases ability to direct the course of subsequent

experience,” as the knowing experience.

In consideration of the reference of the meaning of the phrase ‘the problematic’, it is that of a

situation, as characterized earlier, i.e. a situation is that of the existence of the organic interaction,

alteration, and alternation of the conjunction of the circumstantial traits of precariousness and

stability, and, as Dewey says, in negative terms, a situation:

“. . . is
not a single object or event or set of objects and events. For we never

experience . . . objects and events in isolation but only in connection with a

contextual whole. This latter is called a ‘situation’.” (22)

About the fact that humans experience objects and events only in the context of a situational

whole, Dewey points out a fault with psychology, when it is considered from the pragmatic

philosophical perspective he comes from. He says:

“Psychology has paid much attention to the question of the
process of perception,

and has for its purposes described the perceived object in terms of the results of

analysis of the process. I pass over the fact that, no matter how legitimate the virtual

identification of process and product may be for the special purpose of psychological

theory, the identification is thoroughly dubious as a generalized ground of philosophical

discussion and theory.” (23)

Dewey’s point is that psychology selectively emphasizes singular aspects of situations existing in

the reality of the organic interaction, alteration, and alternation of the conjunction of the

circumstantial traits of precariousness and stability in situations in the world, e.g. mentalistic

psychology selectively emphasizes the singularity of mental feelings, mental images, and mental

habits; behavioral psychology selectively emphasizes the singularity of physical behavior;

cognitive psychology selectively emphasizes the singularity of the cognitive; and neural

psychology selectively emphasizes the singularity of neurons. Psychologists single out and focus

on an aspect of situations, in contrast to what educologists do, as Dewey says, that of being “. . .

sensitive to the quality of a situation as a whole,” where the meaning of the word ‘quality’ refers

to that which “qualifies
all the constituents to which it applies in thorough going fashion.” (24)

The meaning of the phrase ‘problematic situation’, then, refers to that kind of situation, existing

in the reality of the organic interaction, alteration, and alternation of the conjunction of the

circumstantial traits of precariousness and stability in the world situation of life, that is tertiarily

qualified, specifically by the tertiary quality of being indeterminate, or as Dewey says, by being

“disturbed, troubled, ambiguous, confused, full of conflicting tendencies, obscure, etc.” (25)

About problematic situations and these tertiary qualities as traits of a situation, Dewey continues

by saying:

“It is the
situation that has these traits. We are doubtful because the situation is

inherently doubtful. Personal states of doubt that are evoked by and are not relative to

some existential situation are pathological; when they are extreme they constitute the

mania of doubting. Consequently, situations that are disturbed and troubled, confused or

obscure, cannot be straightened out, cleared up and put in order, by manipulation of our

personal states of mind. The attempt to settle them by such manipulation involves what

psychiatrists call ‘withdrawl’ from reality.’ Such an attempt is pathological as far as it

16

goes, and when it goes far it is the source of some form of actual insanity. The habit of

disposing of the doubtful as if it belonged only to
us rather than to the existential situation

in which we are caught and implicated is an inheritance from subjectivistic psychology.

The biological antecedent conditions of an unsettled situation are involved in that state of

imbalance in organic-environmental interactions. . . Restoration of integration can be

effected, in one case as in the other, only by operations which actually modify existing

conditions, not by merely ‘mental’ processes." (26)

Where a problematic situation is an indeterminate situation, i.e. an unsettled situation, involved in

the reality of the existence of the organic interaction, alteration, and alternation of the

circumstantial trait of stability (certainty), in conjunction with, rather than in disjunction from, the

circumstantial trait of instability (uncertainty), in the world’s new situation of life, it is an

indication of an imbalance of alterating and alternating stability and instability in existence that

induces the reflective thinking experience, as the knowing, inquiring, or reflective thinking

experience, to be conducted to establish a resolved problematic situation as a determinate

situation, i.e. as a settled or more stable situation, hence, restoring the integrity of the situation,

using, as Dewey says, “operations which actually modify existing conditions, not by merely

‘mental’ processes,” producing proportional, not absolute, knowledge as a proportional, not

absolute, good.

For Dewey, being that knowledge: (1) is the product of the reflective thinking (knowing,

inquiring, educative) experience; (2) settles (stabilizes) an unsettled (instable) situation; and (3) is

proportional, rather than, absolute; it, (4) forms relations in and with aspects of the reality of the

existence of the organic interaction, alteration, and alternation of the trait of the certain, in

conjunction with, rather than disjunction from, the trait of the uncertain in circumstances of

situations in the world, wherein, as Dewey says, within his philosophy of pragmatism, that:

“In order to avoid, negatively, the disastrous doctrinal confusion that arises from the

ambiguity of the word
relation, and in order to possess, positively, linguistic means of

making clear the logical nature of the different subject-matters under discussion, I shall

reserve the word
relation to designate the kind of ‘relation’ which symbol-meanings bear

to one another as symbol-meanings. I shall use the term reference to designate the kind

of relation they sustain to existence; and the words connection (and involvement) to

designate that kind of relation sustained by things to one another in virtue of which

inference is possible.” (27) Knowledge, then, is proportional in that it forms relations, within and between the symbolmeanings,

i.e. word and number meanings, that construct propositions, used to reference the

connection, i.e. the involvement, of the things, i.e. objects and events in their significance for

inference, in the organically oriented interaction of the alteratively and alternatively changing

circumstantial trait of certainty, in conjunction with, rather than disjunction from, the

circumstantial trait of uncertainty in the world situation of life, however, the meaning of the word

‘knowledge’, Dewey says:

“. . . suffers from ambiguity. When it is said that attainment of knowledge, or truth, is the

end of inquiry the statement . . . is a truism. That which satisfactorily terminates inquiry

is, by definition, knowledge; it is knowledge because it is the appropriate close of

inquiry. But the statement may be supposed, and has been supposed, to enunciate

something significant instead of a tautology. As a truism, it defines knowledge
as the

outcome of competent and controlled inquiry. When, however, the statement is thought

17

to enunciate something significant, the case is reversed. Knowledge is then supposed to

have a meaning of its own apart from connection with and reference to inquiry. The

theory of inquiry is then necessarily subordinated to this meaning as a fixed external end.

The opposition between the two views is basic. The idea that any knowledge in

particular can be instituted apart from its being the consummation of inquiry, and that

knowledge in general can be defined apart from this connection is, moreover, one of the

sources of confusion in logical theory. For the different varieties of realism, idealism,

and dualism have their diverse conceptions of what ‘knowledge’ really is. In

consequence, logical theory is rendered subservient to metaphysical and epistemological

preconceptions, so that interpretations of logical forms varies with underlying

metaphysical assumptions.” (28)

The metaphysical assumption made in the philosophy of educology perspective in this paper is

that reality is the existence of the organically oriented interactive, alteratively, and alternatively

changing circumstantial trait of certainty or stability in conjunction with, rather than in

disjunction from, the circumstantial trait of uncertainty or instability in the world situation of life

And, the epistemological assumption made is that aspects of this conjunction, referenced by the

meanings formed in the propositional construction of proportional knowledge, in contrast to

absolute knowledge, as the product of the reflective thinking for knowing (inquiring) experience,

is the product of the educative experience, hence, proportional knowledge is the product of the

educative experience as conducted by engaging Dewey’s logic as a theory of inquiry (reflective

thinking, knowing, educative) experience the knowledge of which is educology.

From the perspective of philosophy of educology in this paper, with these metaphysical and

epistemological assumptions, then, the meaning of the word ‘educology’ refers to knowledge of

the logic of the conduct of the reflective thinking experience as involved in inquiry, i.e.

educology is knowledge of the logic of the conduct of the thinking for knowing experience as the

educative experience. Educology, then, is based on metaphysical and epistemological

assumptions that provide the basis for logically and ethically guiding the human conduct of the

reflective thinking experience in the reality of existence toward the end of knowing, i.e. making

certain or stable, selected aspects of existence, where the meaning of the word ‘existence’ refers

to, as characterized above, the human drama as it is involved in the organically oriented

interactive, alteratively, and alternatively changing circumstantial trait of certainty or stability in

conjunction with, rather than in disjunction from, the circumstantial trait of uncertainty or

instability, in the world situation of life.

Part 4

Philosophy of Educology as a Philosophy of Logic and Ethics for the Future

Ironically, the philosophy of the logic of educology is the logic of the method of experimental

inquiry; the very influence in the new situation in the world that Sztumski and Dewey agree

exists, making it a new world situation of life, however, it is the philosophy that makes a

distinction between logic, as knowledge about the pattern of experimental inquiry, and

methodology, as knowledge about methods of experimental inquiry conducted within the

knowledge of the logic of experimental inquiry. Whereas, the knowledge about methods of

experimental inquiry has altered and influenced alteration and will continue to alter and influence

alteration in existence, to resolve specifically identified problematic situations, it is the case that

the knowledge about the logic of experimental inquiry remains constant through this alteration.

18

The methodology of, i.e. knowledge about the methods of: the physical sciences, e.g. of physics

and chemistry; the bio-physical sciences, e.g. of biology and ecology; the mathematical sciences,

e.g. of algebra and geometry; have altered and influenced alteration of methodology of inquiry as

affected by specifically identified problematic situations involving experimental inquiry into

circumstances connecting such objects and events as light, sound, atoms, molecules, genes,

chromosomes, number, and lines as singularity focused subject matter of inquiry. Also, the

methodology of the social sciences, e.g. of social-psychology, sociology, and anthropology has

altered and influenced alteration involving methodology of experimental inquiry into

circumstances connecting such objects and events as; mental feelings, images, and habits;

physical individual and group behavior; human cognition; and nervous system and brain neural

behavior as singularity focused subject matter of inquiry. However, in each case of the alteration

of the methodology of experimental inquiry in the physical, bio-physical, mathematical, and

social science knowledge producing societies, the logic of experimental inquiry has remained

constant, and is the object of inquiry in the philosophy knowledge producing society of

educology as unity focused subject matter of inquiry.

Whereas, the philosophy of the physical, bio-physical, mathematical, and social sciences directs

the scientists in their knowledge societies to use methodology that selectively emphasizes and

focuses on a single aspect, the philosophy of educology directs the philosophers in its knowledge

society to use methodology that emphasizes and focuses on the unified and unifying aspects, of

the logic of the reflective thinking (knowing, inquiring, educative) experience, in contrast to, but

includes, the logic of the dialectical thinking (knowing, inquiring, educative) experience.

The space remaining in this paper does not permit the discussion necessary to make the

distinction between these two kinds of logic, except to say that Dewey makes and uses it in his

books
Logic: The Theory of Inquiry and How We Think, and to say that it is the logic that is based

on the ethical value of human growth of the continuous and proportional betterment of the

reflective thinking (knowing, inquiring, educative) experience as the good of the continuous

educative experience. The logic of reflective thinking (knowing, inquiring, educative) experience

is a logic that directs the reflective thinking (knowing, inquiring, educative) experience toward

continuously bettering the cooperation, coordination, and correspondence among humans

necessarily involved in the truthful vindication, validation, and verification experiences of the

good of growth in the continuous educative experience, as conducted in the human drama,

involved in the experience of existence in the new world situation of life.

Knowledge of the logic of the reflective thinking (knowing, inquiring) experience, is knowledge

of the educative experience, and, is educological knowledge in a philosophical form. Educology,

from the philosophy of educology perspective of this paper, is knowledge as the product of the

reflective thinking (knowing, inquiring, educative) experience conducted philosophically and is

the kind of knowledge indicated by Dewey in the summary of his review of the relation of

philosophy to the educative experience, in the chapter titled Philosophy of Education, in his book

Democracy and Education. Intending the meaning of the word ‘education’ to refer to the

educative experience as the reflective thinking (knowing, inquiring) experience conducted in life

in general, in contrast to referring to the educational process conducted in schools, from the

metaphysical and epistemological assumptions, respectively, about the reality of existence and

the experience of this reality, stated above in this paper, Dewey says:

“After a review designed to bring out the philosophic issues implicit in the

previous discussions, philosophy was defined as the generalized theory of

education. Philosophy was stated to be a form of thinking, which, like all

thinking, finds its origin in what is uncertain in the subject matter of experience, which

19

aims to locate the nature of perplexity and to frame hypotheses for its clearing up to be

tested for action. Philosophic thinking has for its differentia the fact that the uncertainties

with which it deals are found in widespread social conditions and aims, consisting in a

conflict of organized interests and institutional claims. Since the only way of bringing

about a harmonious readjustment of the opposed tendencies is through a modification of

emotional and intellectual disposition, philosophy is at once an explicit formulation of the

various interests of life and a propounding of points of view and methods through which

a better balance of interests may be effected. Since education is the process through

which the needed transformation may be accomplished and not remain a mere hypothesis

as to what is desirable, we reach a justification of the statement that philosophy is the

theory of education as a deliberately constructed practice.” (29)

This knowledge being stated by Dewey is proportional, not absolute, philosophical knowledge

about the reality of the organic, interactive, and the alternatively changing conjunction of the

certain and uncertain circumstances of existence and the proportional good, in contrast to the

absolute good, of the educative experience as the reflective thinking (knowing, inquiring)

experience, and, from the philosophy of educology perspective of this paper, it is educological

knowledge implying the logic of this experience and the ethics of human practice conducted in

accord with the logic of this experience.

Also, from this perspective, philosophy of educology is the philosophy of the future needed to

answer the question of the best education of people for conducting the successful globalization of

the world in accord with Sztumski’s directive:
Educologists as ethicists, be responsible for

philosophically inquiring into, constructing, and teaching knowledge about the good and how to

best educate the people of the world with this knowledge, in that a new situation of life has

developed in the world.

And, also from this perspective, a model case of an educologist, as demonstrated in her paper

titled
The Problem Method in Teaching Philosophy, soon to be published in the International

Journal of Educology, is Professor of Philosophy, Jurate Morkuniene. As a conclusion to my

paper a quote is presented from her paper in reference to teaching, as the conduct of arranging

circumstances for an educative experience in the subject matter of philosophical text for

university students who exist in and are indicating a problematic situation by questions in the

educational process, as conducted in a school situation in the world situation of life. Morkuniene

says:

“Philosophical texts, both those belonging to the past and present, in many cases are

‘alien’ to the student, because his knowledge and experience has been accumulated . . .

on a lower level of generalization in another ‘paradigm’ of teaching. It is here that a

conflict appears first of all, i.e.
a problem arises. How should I understand a strange

experience and of what use is it to me? In general, is this strange text worth to be

understood by me? Maybe I should only learn it (to pass the exam)? The student

encounters the dilemma: first, is the text worth studying if it is not worth understanding?

Second, if it is worth understanding, how should I do it?” (30)

Notes

1. Fisher, James: Philosophy of Educology for Developing Democracies in the World. This paper is available through www.era-usa.net, the website for Educology Research

Associates/USA (ERA/USA)

20

2. Sztumski, Wieslaw: Upbringing in the New Situation of Life: Click-Time Ethics as theFundament of Upbringing in the Future. This paper is also available through www.erausa.

net.

3. Sztumski, pg. 4

4. Ibid, pg. 1

5. Ibid, pg. 1

6. Ibid, pg. 2

7. Ibid, pg. 3

8. Ibid, pg. 3

9. Dewey, John:
Experience and Nature; Dover Publications, Inc., New York 10, New York,

1959, second edition, with the first edition published in 1929, pg. 75.

10. Ibid,
Experience and Nature, pgs. 75-76

11. Ibid, pg. 76

12. Ibid, pg. 76

13. Ibid, pg. 76

14. The meaning of the word ‘mind’, as used by Dewey, to contrast with his meaning of the word

‘consciouness’, can be understood in consideration of his work in Chapter Eight,

Existence, Ideas and Consciousness, from his book Experience and Nature, pgs. 303-

305).

15. Dewey,
Experience and Nature, pg. 76

16. Ibid, pg. 76

17. Ibid, pg. 76-77

18. Sztumski, pg. 4

19. Ibid, pg. 4

20. Dewey, John;
Logic: The Theory of Inquiry, John Dewey: The Later Works, 1925-1953,

Volume 12: 1938, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville, pg. 3

21. Dewey, John;
Democracy and Education, The Free Press, New York, seconded copyright in

1944 with first copyright by Macmillan Company in 1916, pg. 76

22. Dewey, John;
Logic: The Theory of Inquiry, pg. 72

23. Ibid, pg. 73

24. Ibid, pg. 75

25. Ibid, pg. 109

26. Ibid, pgs. 109-110

27. Ibid, pgs. 60-61

28. Ibid, pg. 16

29 Dewey, John:
Democracy and Education, pgs. 331-33230. Morkuniene, Jurate; The Problem Method in Teaching Philosophy, a paper soon to be

published in the International Journal of Educology, Educology Research Associates,

Sydney, Australia, pg. 3. This paper is also available through www.era-usa.net.


An Article in Philosophy of Educology
 

International Journal of Educology

2004, Volume 18, Number 1


29

Toward an Ecologically Oriented Philosophy of Educology to Meet

Future Challenges in the World (A Paper in Philosophy of Educology)

James E. Fisher

President ERA/USA

Columbia, South Carolina, USA

Introduction by Co-Editors

This paper is one in philosophy of educology, i.e. in philosophy of knowledge about the educative

experience as this experience is integrated, well or ill, into daily life and into the educational

process, in that it inquires into the nature of the educative experience as it is in synergetic, i.e. in

integrative, inter-active, and trans-active, inter-connection with the natural environment of the

earth and universe. It was written by Dr. James E. Fisher, President of Educology Research

Associates/USA (ERA/USA), a non-profit organization with the mission to improve home,

school, and community education through the development of educology, and, the organization’s

initiative of the Institute of History and Philosophy of Educology for Developing Democracies in

the World.

.

Introduction by Author

The purpose of the paper is to inquire into the subject matter of ecology so as to establish a

philosophy of educology for democratically integrating the world, where the meaning of the

locution ‘philosophy of educology’ refers more specifically to the epistemology of educology, i.e.

to the philosophical inquiry guided by the question “What is knowledge about education?”

Where educology is the body of knowledge claims about education and education is conceived as

both the educational process conducted in homes, school, and communities in the world and the

educative experience conducted in the educational process and in general life experiences, the

paper focuses on the reflective thinking experience as the educative experience for educology’s

knowledge claims to refer to.

With this focus, then, the reflective thinking experience will be demonstrated to be organically

connected to the subject matter of ecology, whereby the subject matter of ecology provides an

orientation for the development of a philosophy of educology. Such an ecologically oriented

philosophy of educology provides worthwhile ideas for meeting the future challenges in the

World.

Part 1

Basis of Paper

This paper is based on the one presented by Professor Wieslaw Sztumski, Social Science Faculty,

University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland, the title of which is, in regard to the European countries,

“Are We Ready for Integration in the World?”

Professor Wieslaw is European by birth, as I am by heritage. I am an American with ancestry, I

believe, in England and/or Germany. I can make only belief claims, and not knowledge claims,

because I have not made my heritage the subject matter of disciplined inquiry.

I can make knowledge claims, however, about the fact that Professor Wieslaw and I, in the month

of October, 2002, collaborated in the presentation of a series of lectures and seminars in

30

universities in Poland, the content of which directly and indirectly impacts on the matter of the

future challenges of integrating Europe and the World.

Professor Wieslaw’s approach to this matter, as I see it, is that as an ecologist concerned about

educological matters, and mine, as I see it, is as an educologist concerned with ecological matters.

Our approaches, however, both consider the import of the matter to be that of when and where, in

the future, “Life itself becomes the highest good.” (From page 3 of Professor Sztumki’s paper)

As an educologist, I approach this goal of the matter, i.e. the goal of the matter of life itself

becoming the highest good for humans in the world, from wondering about the meaning of the

locution ‘life’ and what it is used to refer to in connection to the significance of education in

meeting future challenges of the integration of Europe and the World, including America. This

wondering is carried through the content of this paper, as guided by its purpose.

The purpose of the paper is to inquire into the subject matter of ecology so as to establish a true

philosophy of educology for democratically integrating the world, where the meaning of the

locution ‘philosophy of educology’ refers, more specifically to the epistemology of educology,

i.e. to the philosophical inquiry guided by the question “What is knowledge about education?”

With the belief that knowledge claims about education, i.e. with the belief that educology, ought

to be conceived as being composed by meanings that are used to knowingly refer to the human

experience of life, as it is conducted in the natural environment of the world and universe, I have

selected to inquire into the subject matter that has been intentionally formed by meanings to

reference this natural environment, i.e. the meanings formed in the subject matter of ecology.

It should be noted that the question “What is knowledge about education?” is not the same as the

question “What is education?” To this latter question, I can say, I came to a settlement on the

following answer, which, in my wondering about the matter of life itself becoming the highest

good for humans in the world, I came to as a necessary settlement to proceed with the question

“What is knowledge about education?” i.e. What is educology?” question.

The answer to the question: “What is education?” I have settled on as being divided into two

answers; Answer 1 and Answer 2, accounted for, as follows:

Answer 1: Education is the educational process as it is conducted in homes, schools, and

communities in the world.

I have conceived the meaning of the locution ‘educational process’ to refer to the process that

involves:

(i) someone, e.g. a parent, teacher, preacher, “boss,” or “politician” teaching

(ii) someone, e.g. a child, student, church member, business employee, or political party

member;

(iii) to study for learning something of value, e.g. the subject matter formally and

informally composing a curriculum of, e.g. the home, school, church, business, or

political party;

(iv) somewhere, e.g. in the home, school, church, business, or political party,

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(v) at some time, e.g. time in the home, school, church, business, or political party.

Answer 2: Education is the educative experience as it is conducted in: (i) the experience of the

educational process; and in (ii) the experience of life in the natural environment of the earth and

universe, in general.

I have conceived the meaning of the locution ‘educative experience’ to refer to the experience

that involves the reflective thinking experience of the mental organic phases of the human

consciousness as in a reciprocal trans-ductive relationship with the reflexive and non-reflexive

functions of the physical organic systems of the human body, as they are both synergeticaly

driven to inter-act and trans-act in and with the physical, physical organic, and mental organic

aspects of the circumstances in the natural environment.

As an ecologically oriented educologist, I assume that it is the knowledge of the educative

experience, composed by meanings referencing the reflective thinking experience, as a mental

organic trans-active experience, conducted in and within physical organic inter-active functions in

the natural environment, is the knowledge that ought to be the something of value that is taught,

studied, and learned in the educational process in homes, schools, churches, businesses, and

political parties and in general life experiences in democracies in the world while meeting the

challenges of integrating Europe and the World, now and in the future.

Both of the answers and this assumption are somewhat explained in an outline form in a paper I

published in the European journal, Pedgogika, Vytauto Didziojo universiteto leidykla, Kaunas

Lithuania, 51, 2001, with the title of An Outlined Introduction to the Universal and Unifying

Experiential Research Methodology in the Domain of Educology: The Discipline of Educology

Introduced to Graduate Students, however, the second answer and its assumption continues to be

the subject matter of my philosophizing about educology in this paper, as I wonder with the

matter of life itself becoming the highest good for humans in the world, as conceived in the

subject matter of ecology for orienting the continuing development of a philosophy of knowledge

about education, i.e. for continuing the development of a philosophy of educology, the matter

being motivated by Professor Wieslaw and his paper in regard to the primary challenge to the

integration of the world.

From Professor Wieslaw, we come to understand that the primary challenge to the integration of

the world is that of how to integrate human beings in countries of the world, where the use of the

meaning of the locution ‘integration’ is accounted for as follows.

“Integration is more than the mere joining together, unification or association.

Integration means merging in many respects. As a result of such merging comes the full

synergy of actions. Integration takes place especially under the influence of internal

factors having an effect over longer period. It is possible on the basis of fundamental

interest. At present, such common interest is to survive in very critical situations of our

life environment and to secure living conditions for us and for future generations.” (From

page 1 of Professor Wieslaw’s paper with my italics added.)

With this statement, then, I shall proceed by standing on its referential use of the meaning of the

locution ‘integration’ by directly considering the referential use of the two meanings of the

italicized locutions ‘synergy of actions’ and ‘internal factors’, and by indirectly considering the

referential use of the meanings of ‘survive’ ‘situations’, ‘life environment’, ‘secure living

conditions’, and ‘future generations’, in relation to the meaning of the locution ‘transfer of

physical energy’ as a key meaning formed in the subject matter of ecology.

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The meaning of the locution ‘synergy of action’ will be considered beginning in Part II and

continuing through Parts III, then, the meaning of the locution ‘internal factors’ will be

considered, continuing through Part IV.

Part II

Synergy of Action and Transfer of Physical Energy

Where the locution ‘synergy of action’ means ‘cooperative and integrative action of two or more

complementarily connected living organisms’, its meaning can be used to refer to the cooperative

and integrative action of two or more complementarily connected human living organisms in the

bio-physical organic circumstances of the natural environment of the world as the subject matter

of biology.

Where a human living being is conceived as a physical living organization of skeletal, muscular,

digestive, circulatory, lymphatic, respiratory, excretory, urinary, nervous, sensory, endocrine,

reproductive, immune, and integumentary systems, then, he/she is conceived as a biologically

characterized physical living organism cooperatively and integratively active, i.e. synergetically

active, in and with the physical organic circumstances of the natural environment.

And, then, where a human living being is conceived as a biologically characterized physical

living organism, it follows that, he/she is conceived as an ecological organism cooperatively and

integratively active, i.e. synergetically active, within and among eco-systems, where eco-systems

are constituted by biotic, i.e. physical living organizations like plants and animals, and abiotic, i.e.

physical non-living factors like light, temperature, water, and soil, circumstances of the natural

environment.

A human living being, then, becomes a biologically characterized physical living organism, in

short a biological living organism, as part of the eco-systems of communities and populations and

of habitats and niches, and as part of the bio-geo-chemical water, oxygen, and nitrogen ecocycles.

Further, being a biological organism as part of eco-systems and eco-cycles, a human

living being is cooperatively and integratively, i.e. synergetically, involved in the transfer of

physical energy within a physical living and non-living, i.e. a biotic and abiotic, natural

environment, involving the trophic, i.e. nutritive, pyramids of feeding levels, food chains, and

food webs.

A human living being, then, within the context of meaning, as constructed in the subject matter of

ecological inquiry, becomes a bio-living organization of physical systems physically connected to

physical eco-systems and eco-cycles, cooperatively and intergratively, i.e. synergetically,

involved as a physical organism physically connected in and with the physical living and physical

non-living circumstances of the natural environment, through a transfer of physical energy.

Whether considered to be:

(i) a being evolved naturally in a physical living and non-living natural environment; or

(ii) a being created super-naturally and placed in a naturally physical living and nonliving

natural environment,

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it is known, through the subject matter of ecology, that a human being can be conceived as a bioliving

physical being that must, to realize the good of physical life, sustain the cooperative and

integrative, i.e. the synergy of action, involvement:

(i) of his/her bio-organization of systems within and among themselves;

(ii) of his/her eco-organization of systems, cycles, and pyramids within and among

themselves; and

(iii) of his/her bio-and eco-organizations within and among themselves, as living physical

organizations, i.e. as living physical organisms, in the physical living and non-living

circumstances of the natural environment.

From the ecological perspective, then, a human living being is a physical living organism, i.e. a

physical living organization, that must, for the good of physical life, transfer physical energy to

sustain his/her synergy of action, i.e. his/her cooperative and integrative action, in the biotic and

abiotic physical organic circumstances of the natural environment.

The synergy of action of a human being as a physical living organism, i.e. as a human living

body, involves the organization of physical systems of the human body, with provision as

follows.

Human Body Systems Organized by Surface and Internal Systems that are Provisions of the

Synergy of Action

Surface Human Body Systems

The integumentary system providing for the physical organic skin covering for, and

assistance to the respiratory system of, the human body

The ingestive system, as part of the digestive system, providing physical organic

assistance to the digestive system of the human body (mouth)

The sensory system, as part of the nervous system, providing physical organic assistance

to the nervous system of the human body (eyes, ears, nose, skin, and tongue of mouth)

The inhalation and exhalation system, as part of the respiratory system, providing

physical organic assistance to the respiratory system of the human body (mouth)

The urinary and defecation system, as part of the excretory system, providing physical

organic assistance to the excretory system of the human body (penis and anus)

The penis and vagina system, as part of the reproductive system, providing physical

organic assistance to the reproduction system of the human body (penis and vagina)

Internal Human Body Systems

The skeletal system providing physical organic structure for the human body

The muscular system providing physical organic movement for the human body

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The digestive system providing physical organic assimilation of nutrients for the human

body

The nervous system providing for physical organic control and coordination of the human

body

The circulatory system (blood system) providing for the physical organic transport of

nutrients, gases, chemicals, and waste for the human body

The lymphatic system, as part of the circulatory system, providing physical

organic assistance to the circulatory system of the human body

The respiratory system providing for the physical organic intake of oxygen for and the

elimination of carbon dioxide and water from the human body

The excretory system providing for the removal of physical organic cellular wastes from

the blood of the human body and for the maintenance of its fluid and chemical balance

The endocrine system providing for physical organic hormones that regulate growth and

maturation of the human body

The reproductive system providing the physical organic means for producing offspring in

order to maintain the species of the human body

The immune system providing the physical organic means for protecting the

human body from diseases

From this organization of human body systems by surface and internal systems, emphasis will

placed first on the significance of the surface ingestive system and then on the surface sensory

system as they are organically connected with the internal muscular system in the synergy of

action, i.e. to the cooperation and integration of human body action, in physical organic and

inorganic circumstances of the natural environment.

The surface of the human living body, from the ecological perspective, then, participates in a

synergy of action involving an organization of systems providing protection and transfer of

physical energy to and for the internal systems, where the skin, as an organ constituting the

integumentary system, provides for the protection and the eyes as organs of the head, the ears as

organs of the head, the nose as an organ of the head, and the mouth as an organ of the head,

constituting the organs of the sensory system, provide for the transfer of physical energy.

The mouth, though it is considered here as a surface sensory organ of the sensory system of the

human body, it is also a surface ingestive organ as part of the internal digestive system, as both

systems provide for the transfer of physical energy. The mouth will first be considered as a

surface ingestive organ , after which the tongue of the mouth will be considered as a surface

sensory organ, along with the organs of the eyes, ears, nose, and skin of the surface sensory

system as part of the internal nervous system, as they provide for the transfer of physical energy.

The mouth, as a surface opening in the head, is the organ through which the human body ingests

physical food and in which the cavity behind it, and internal to the body, is the means of biting

and chewing the physical food for the beginning of its involvement in the internal physical

digestive system.

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By the ingestion of physical food, through the surface body opening of the organ of the mouth,

and the digestion of the ingested physical food in the internal digestive system constituted by the

stomach and intestines, physical energy, as formed into physical food, is transferred by ingestive

and digestive systems into and through-out the human physical body.

Through the ingestive and digestive systems, then, as they are involved with physical energy in

the form of physical food, there is a transfer of physical energy from the physical organic

circumstances of the natural environment and back to the physical organic and inorganic

circumstances of the natural environment through the synergy of action, i.e. through the use of

physical energy having a physical organic stimulus and response function causing the cooperative

and integrative activity in and with the physical organic circumstances of the natural environment

of the human body as a living physical organism. In short, there is a physical organic inter-action

of the human body in and with the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the natural

environment, i.e. the human body is cooperatively and integrally acting, as synergetically driven,

to organically involve itself in and with the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the

natural environment.

Part III

The Human Body as Synergetically Driven to a Physical Organic Inter-Action in and with the

Physical Organic Circumstances of the Natural Environment

The human body, as characterized in the subject matter of ecology, is as a physical organic living

being with surface and internal systems organized to provide various ways of being synergetically

driven to a physical organic inter-action in and with the physical organic and inorganic

circumstances in the natural environment.

The human mouth, as characterized above, is a surface ingestive organ and is part of the internal

system of organs of the stomach and intestines that are synergetically driven to physically interact

in and with, i.e. to physically be cooperative and integrative in and with, the physical organic

and inorganic circumstances of the natural environment by the organic ingestion and digestion of

physical energy in the form of physical food.

The human mouth, stomach, and intestines form a system of organs that are organized to provide,

through the organic force of the physical stimulus and response function, for the assimilation of

nutrients from the physical organic circumstances of the natural environment by the meta-bolic

aspect of the transfer of physical energy into and through-out the human being’s physical organic

body and back into the physical organic circumstances for synergizing physical organic body

actions, e.g. walking, running, jumping, etc. In short, the human being’s body, through the force

of the physical organic stimulus and response function of metabolism, is synergetically driven to

physical organic inter-action, i.e. to cooperate and integrate itself, with the physical organic and

inorganic circumstances of the natural environment.

This cooperative and integrative physical organic inter-action, also, through the force of the

physical organic stimulus and response function, is synergetically guided, by the surface sensory

organs of the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and tongue as part of the internal nervous system, to provide

physical organic control and coordination of the internal muscular system in the physical organic

inter-action of the human body in and with the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of

the natural environment.

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This control and coordination of the human’s physical organic body, being synergetically driven

by the force of the organic stimulus and response function to be inter-active in and with the

physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the natural environment, is involved in the

organic trans-ductive aspect of the transfer of physical energy by the means of the surface and

internal sensory, nervous, and muscular organs as they are organized in and of the physical

organic human body.

By means of special types of sensory receptors in the human body’s eyes, ears, nose, skin, and

tongue these surface organized sensory organs function as organic trans-ducers, i.e. they transform

one form of physical energy into another form of physical energy.

For example, when light rays, in the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the natural

environment, strike and are detected by the sensory receptors in the eyes of a human physical

organic body they are changed, i.e. organically trans-ducted, into electrical impulses. In this “eye

case,” then, the physical energy of light rays is trans-formed into the physical energy of electrical

impulses through sensory receptors in the eyes as organic trans-ducting surface organs of the

human being’s physical organic body. The electrical impulse then moves from the eyes into and

along nerves into the internal nervous system to the brain’s visual center where it is trans-formed,

by the organic trans-ductive function of this area of the brain, into sight. The organic transductive

aspect of the transfer of physical energy, then, in this “eye case,” involves the eyes as

organic trans-ducters of light ray energy into electrical impulse energy and the brain as an organic

trans-ducter of electrical impulse energy into sight, i.e. into the seeing activity of the surface

physical organic structure of the eyes.

Another example is the “ear case.” This case can be accounted for by making the set of locution

substitutions in the above paragraph, as follows.

‘ear(s)’ substituted for ‘eye(s)’

‘sound wave(s)’ substituted for ‘light ray(s)’

‘visual’ substituted for ‘auditory’

‘sound’ substituted for ‘sight’

‘hearing’ substituted for ‘seeing’, as follows.

For example, when sound waves, in the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the

natural environment, strike and are detected by the sensory receptors in the ears of a human

physical organic body they are changed, i.e. organically trans-ducted, into electrical impulses. In

this “ear case,” then, the physical energy of sound waves is trans-formed into the physical energy

of electrical impulses through sensory receptors in the ears as organic trans-ducting surface

organs of the human being’s physical organic body. The electrical impulse then moves from the

ears into and along nerves into the internal nervous system to the brain’s visual center where it is

trans-formed, by the organic trans-ductive function of this area of the brain, into sound. The

organic trans-ductive aspect of the transfer of physical energy, then, in this “ear case,” involves

the ears as organic trans-ducters of sound wave energy into electrical impulse energy and the

brain as an organic trans-ducter of electrical impulse energy into sound, i.e. into the hearing

activity of the surface physical organic structure of the ears.

Other examples, i.e. the examples of a “nose case,” “skin case,” and/or “tongue case” can be

exactly and or very approximately characterized by using the following chart of locutions for

substitution in appropriate places in the paragraph.

Chart of Locutions for Substitution in Appropriate Places in the Above Paragraph

37

Organ Receptors Forms Brain Organic

as Organic of Physical Trans-Ductions

Trans-ducers Energy of Physical Energy

Locutions Locutions Loctuions

‘eyes’ ‘light rays’ ‘visual’ ‘sight’ ‘seeing’

‘ears’ ‘sound waves’ ‘auditory’‘ sound’ ‘hearing’

‘nose’ ‘odor molecules’ ‘olfactory ‘ ‘smell’ ‘smelling’

‘skin’ ‘physical touch forces’ ‘tactual’ ‘touch’ ‘touching’

‘tongue’ ‘taste molecules’ ‘taste’ ‘taste’ ‘tasting’

In general, the function of organically receiving and organically trans-ducting physical energy

from the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the natural environment by a human

physical organic body involves both the surface sensory organs of the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and

tongue and the specific areas of the internal organ of the brain. The surface sensory organs are

ones that organically receive the physical energy from the natural environment and organically

trans-duct it into electrical impulse energy that moves through nerves to selected areas of the

brain where the electrical impulse energy is organically trans-ducted into sight, sound, smell,

touch, and taste i.e. where it is organically trans-ducted into the human body inter-actions of

seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting aspects of the physical organic and inorganic

circumstances of the natural environment.

The sensory organs of the human physical organic body, then, are physical organic structures, i.e.

biotic, organic, or living physical structures in the natural environment, that function as organic

sensory receptors and organic trans-ducers of physical energy, e.g. of light rays, sound waves,

odor molecules, physical touch forces, and taste molecules i.e. abiotic, inorganic, or non-living

physical structures in the natural environment. By means of these living, i.e. physical organic,

and non-living, i.e. physical inorganic, structures, then, physical energy is organically received

and organically trans-ducted by a physical organic living human body, as an organization of

sensory, nervous, and muscular systems existing on the surface of, and internal, to the physical

body, that provide, by a physical organic stimulus and response function of electrical impulses in

the internal nervous system, for the human body’s synergy of muscle action as it is involved in

the control and coordination of human cooperative and integrative action, i.e. for synergetically

driven action, within and with the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the natural

environment.

This synergy of human body muscle action is determined by the three physically different, but

organically connected, kinds of muscles in the internal muscle system, i.e. the skeletal, smooth,

and cardiac muscles, and the two physically different, but organically connected, aspects of the

internal nervous system, i.e. the voluntary (somatic) and involuntary (automatic) nervous

systems. These physical differences and organic connections are accounted for, as follows.

Skeletal Muscles and the Voluntary and Involuntary Nervous Systems

Muscles that move bones are called skeletal muscles. They are physically attached to bones

either directly or indirectly by means of strong physical organic bands of non-elastic connective

tissue called tendons.

Because skeletal muscles, though they are physical organic structures, they are generally under a

human’s conscious control and coordination, hence, they are also called voluntary muscles.

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However, they sometimes move without conscious control and coordination, such as when interacting

with physiological organic fear and/or pain, hence, they sometimes act involuntarily.

Smooth Muscles and the Voluntary and Involuntary Nervous Systems

Muscles that protect internal organs of the digestive, respiratory, and circulatory systems are

called smooth muscles.

Smooth muscles are physical organic structures, however, they are not under conscious control

and coordination so they are called involuntary muscles.

Cardiac Muscles and the Voluntary and Involuntary Nervous Systems

Muscles that are found in the heart are called cardiac muscles.

Unlike other types of muscles, cardiac muscles, also as physical organic structures, do not receive

electrical impulses from the nervous system. Instead, the heart has its own means of control and

coordination as a tiny block of special muscle fibers called the sinoatrial node that physically

cause the cardiac muscles to contract, hence, the heart is not directly physically connected, but is

organically connected, to the voluntary and involuntary aspects of the internal nervous system.

The Involuntary and Voluntary Nervous System

The physical organic stimulus and response function of electrical impulses, in the involuntary

aspect of the internal nervous system, then, synergetically drive the human body muscles in their

physical organic inter-action in and with the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the

natural environment without the involvement of what is referred to by the meaning of the locution

‘conscious control and coordination’. However, the electrical impulses in the voluntary part of

the internal nervous system are so involved.

How does the organic stimulus and response function of electrical impulses work in the

involuntary, i.e. work with no conscious control and coordination, and work in the voluntary, i.e.

work with conscious control and coordination, aspects of the internal nervous system as they are

involved with the synergy of muscle action, i.e. involved in the control and coordination of the

human’s physical body muscles as they synergetically drive the human physical organic body

into cooperative and integrative physical organic inter-actions in and with the physical organic

and inorganic circumstances of the natural environment?

The answer to this question involves the understanding of the basic unit of the internal nervous

system, i.e. that which is referred to by the meaning of the locution ‘neuron’. The meaning of

‘neuron’ refers to the nerve cell, the significance of which is that it is the most basic physical

organic structure in the surface sensory and internal nervous system in that it carries the

organically trans-ducted electrical impulses from the surface sensory receptors in the organs of

the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and tongue to the organ of the brain where they, the electrical impulses,

are organically trans-ducted into the human body’s physical organic inter-actions of the seeing,

hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting experiences of various light ray, sound wave, odor

molecule, physical touch force, and taste molecule aspects of the physical organic and inorganic

circumstances of the natural environment by the human body.

In the subject matter of ecology, the meaning of the locution ‘sensory receptor’ is made more

specific by the meaning of the locution ‘sensory neurons’, wherein, the meaning of the latter

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locution references specifically that which exists as sensory nerve cells, i.e. sensory neurons, that

are involved in the physical organic inter-actions of the human body’s organic reception and

organic trans-duction of forms, i.e. in organic trans-formations, of physical energy in the natural

environment into electrical impulse energy in the internal involuntary and voluntary nervous

systems.

Necessarily involved, then, in the physical organic stimulus and response organic trans-ductive

function of electrical impulses through out the internal involuntary and voluntary nervous systems

and the internal human body muscular system, i.e. in the synergy of muscle action, is the sensory

neuron, i.e. the sensory nerve cell.

The sensory neuron is a physical organic structure that is constituted by a physical body,

dendrites, and an axon. Dendrites are extensions of the cell body that carry the electrical impulse

to and into the cell body. A single, long physical organic fiber that extends from the other side of

the cell body is an axon. An axon is a physical organic extension of a sensory neuron that carries

the electrical impulse away from the cell body. Sensory neurons have many dendrites but only

one axon.

An electrical impulse is received by one or more dendrites and then physically flows organically

to and into the cell body and into and through the axon. From the axon the electrical impulse

travels on to and into the next sensory neuron. In this way, electrical impulses are carried along

an axon or dendrite.

Although electrical impulses move from sensory neuron to sensory neuron, sensory neurons,

themselves, do not touch each other. Between any two sensory neurons, there is a gap called a

synapse. A synapse is a gap where two sensory neurons exist very closely together and are

coordinated for cooperating in an integrative physical organically controlled inter-action

involving the electrical impulse crossing organically from one sensory neuron to and into another

sensory neuron, i.e. a synapse is a gap between sensory neurons involving a synergetically driven

physical organic inter-action of two sensory neurons.

This synergetically driven physical organic inter-activity involves the electrical impulse being

organically trans-ducted into a chemical action and then a chemical action organically transducted

into an electrical impulse, by means of the syn-apsing function, i.e. the “to-gathering

function,” of sensory neurons in the internal involuntary and voluntary nervous system.

This organic trans-ductive physical organic inter-action, i.e. this continuous trans-formational

transfer of energy from the electrical form of energy to the chemical form of energy and then to

the electrical form of energy, etc., etc, is the syn-apsing function of the internal involuntary and

voluntary nervous system and is conducted as follows.

When the electrical impulse reaches the end of an axon, a chemical is released from the axon into

the synapse, i.e. into the gap. This chemical moves across the synapse, i.e. across the gap, to and

into the dendrites of the next sensory neuron. The chemical stimulates the response of an

electrical impulse to start into and through the second sensory neuron. Thus, the electrical

impulse through the physical organic stimulus and response function moves from sensory neuron

to sensory neuron in an organic receiving and organic trans-ducting physical organic neural

synergetically driven inter-activity. In other words, the electrical impulse moves from sensory

neuron to sensory neuron by the sensory neurons, as physical organic structures, organically

working together in an electrical and chemical physical stimulus and response function as

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involved in the surface sensory system and the internal involuntary and voluntary nervous

systems of the physical organic human body.

The answer to the question of how the organic stimulus and response function of electrical

impulses works in the involuntary and voluntary parts of the internal nervous system, then, is that

involving the syn-apsing function as it is involved in the surface sensory system of the human

body by the physical organic stimulus and response function of sensory neurons in the synergy of

human action as controlled and coordinated by the internal muscular system.

However, the answer also involves the syn-apsing function as it involves motor neurons.

Whereas, it is a physical organic fact that the sensory neurons organically receive, organically

trans-duct, and organically trans-port electrical impulses from the surface sensory system to the

spinal cord and brain of the internal involuntary and voluntary nervous system, it is also a

physical organic fact: (i) that motor neurons organically receive, organically trans-duct, and

organically trans-port electrical impulses from the spinal cord and brain of the internal

involuntary and voluntary nervous system to other internal body systems specifically as involved

with the physical transfer of energy in the synergy of the internal muscular system: and (ii) that

association neurons organically receive, organically trans-duct, and organically trans-port

electrical impulses within the spinal cord and brain of the internal involuntary and voluntary

nervous system as it is involved with the physical transfer of energy in the synergy of the internal

muscular system.

The syn-apsing function, then, involves sensory, motor, and association neurons as they are

involved in the surface sensory and the internal involuntary and voluntary nervous and muscular

systems in reflexive and non-reflexive synergetic human body physical organic inter-actions,

accounted for as follows.

The Syn-apsing Function in Reflexive Human Body Synergetic Physical Organic Inter-Actions

The internal involuntary and voluntary nervous system is constituted by an internal central

nervous system of the brain and spinal cord and an internal peripheral nervous system of branches

of nerves. Some branches of nerves of the internal peripheral nervous system: (i) physically

connect the surface sensory organs, i.e. the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and tongue, to the internal brain

and spinal cord; and some (ii) physically connect the internal brain and spinal cord to the muscles

of the internal muscular system, both physical connections of which are involved with the synapsing

function in the involuntary and voluntary human body reflexive and non-reflexive physical

organic inter-actions in and with the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the natural

environment.

Reflexive physical organic inter-actions are involuntary responses, i.e. without conscious control

and coordination responses, respectively, to a stimulus involved in what is referred to by the

meaning of the locution ‘reflex arc’. The significance of a reflex arc is that it involves the

internal peripheral and central nervous systems such that, through the syn-apsing function, the

physical energy of an electrical impulse, in the form of a sensory neuron, travels from the surface

sensory organs of the eyes, ears, nose, skin, or tongue, into physically connected branches of

nerves of the peripheral nervous system and proceeds to the internal spinal cord of the central

nervous system where it is trans-ducted to that of an association neuron that travels within the

spinal cord and is trans-ducted to that of a motor neuron that travels from the spinal cord into the

branches of nerves of the peripheral nervous system physically connected to organs of muscles in

the internal muscular system with the travels of the trans-ducted electrical impulse by-passing the

brain and stimulating the involuntary movement, i.e. without conscious control and coordination

41

movement, of muscles controlling and coordinating the human body to synergetically, i.e.

cooperatively and integratively, inter-act organically with the physical organic and inorganic

circumstances of the natural environment, through a reflex arc.

The syn-apsing function through a reflex arc, then, involves the sensory, association, and motor

neurons in an involuntary, i.e. without conscious control and coordination, synergetically driven

human body reflexive physical organic inter-action in and with the physical organic and inorganic

circumstances of the natural environment in that the trans-duction of the electrical impulse is

directed into, through, and out of the spinal cord and not into, through, and out of the brain of the

internal central nervous system.

When the syn-aspsing function is so reflexively involved, i.e. as involved in the transport of the

electrical impulse into, through, and out of the spinal cord and not into, through, and out of the

brain, the trans-duction is and only is from one form of physical energy to another form of

physical energy involuntarily, i.e. without conscious control and coordination. There is, then, in

reflexive human body synergetic physical organic inter-actions, only one possibility of transduction,

into, through, and out of the spinal cord and it is that of the trans-duction of physical

energy in one form trans-ducted into physical energy of another form.

The Syn-Apsing Function in Non-Reflexive Human Body Synergetic

Physical Organic Inter-Actions

In contrast, when the syn-apsing function is non-reflexively involved the transport of the

electrical impulse is into, through, and out of the brain and not the spinal cord. When the synapsing

function is non-reflexively involved in the brain, then, there are three possibilities of

organic trans-duction,

Possibility 1: Brain reflex inter-actions with physical circumstances

Possibility (1) involves the trans-ductive possibility that the physical energy in one form

is organically trans-ducted into physical energy of another form, e.g. physical energy in

the forms of light rays, sound waves, odor molecules, physical touch forces, and taste

molecules in the physical circumstances of the natural environment is organically

received and trans-ducted into physical energy in the form of electrical impulses by

sensory neurons, to, into, and through the brain, whereby the physical energy in the form

of electrical impulses are organically trans-ducted into physical energy in the form of

physical organic human inter-activities of seeing by the eyes, hearing by the ears,

smelling by the nose, touching by the skin, and tasting by the tongue of aspects of the

physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the natural environment, i.e. a transfer of

physical energy into and through sensory neurons to, into, and through only the brain and

then into the human body inter-activity of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting

of the physical circumstance of the natural environment;

Possibility 2: Spinal cord reflex inter-actions with physiological circumstances

Possibility (2) involves the trans-ductive possibility that the physical energy in one form

is organically trans-ducted into physical energy of another form; e.g. the physical energy

of the electrical impulse being organically trans-ducted: (i) from physical energy in the

form of sensory neurons to physical energy in the form of association neurons; (ii) from

physical energy in the form of association neurons to physical energy in the form of

motor neurons; (iii) from physical energy in the form of motor neurons to physical energy

42

in the form of physical organic muscle movement; (iv) from physical energy in the form

physical organic muscle movement to the synergy of physical organic human body interactivity

in and with the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the natural

environment; i.e. a transfer of physical energy into and through sensory neurons to, into,

and through only the spinal cord and into, for example, the human body inter-acting with

physiological organic fear and/or pain circumstances of the natural environment.

Possibility 3: Brain non-reflex trans-actions with mental circumstances in the natural environment

Possibility (3) involves the trans-ductive possibility that physical energy in its many

forms being organically trans-ducted by the syn-apsing function in the surface sensory

and internal nervous system into mental energy in the form of mental feelings, e.g. the

physical energy of electrical impulses being organically trans-ducted by means of

sensory, associative, and motor neurons to the cooperative and integrative synergy of

physical organic inter-actions in the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the

natural environment to that of this cooperative and integrative synergy of physical

organic inter-actions being trans-ducted into the synergy of mental organic trans-actions

in the physical organic and inorganic, the physiological organic, and the mental organic

circumstances of the natural environment, i.e. a transfer of physical energy into and

through sensory neurons to, into, and through only the brain and then into the human

body trans-activity of the reflective thinking activity as involved with the physical

organic and inorganic, the physiological organic, and the mental organic circumstance of

the natural environment;

Possibilities (1) and (2), i.e. the trans-ductive possibilities of the syn-apsing function being

involved involuntarily, i.e. without conscious control and coordination, by the organic transduction

of forms of physical energy into other forms of physical energy with the outcome being

the cooperative and integrative synergy of physical organic human body inter-actions in the

physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the natural environment is actualized, as

accounted for in the paper to this point. The account has been drawn from the subject matter of

ecology.

However, possibility (3), i.e. the trans-ductive possibility of the syn-apsing function being

involved voluntarily, i.e. with conscious control and coordination, by the organic trans-duction of

forms of physical organic energy into forms of mental organic energy in the form of mental

organic feelings with the outcome being the cooperative and integrative synergy of mental

organic human body trans-actions in the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the

natural environment, though actualized in the physical organic and inorganic circumstances of the

natural environment, has not been, because it can not be, accounted for in this paper, as drawn

from the subject matter of ecology.

The subject matter of ecology, including that of the transfer of physical energy as involved in

voluntary, i.e. in conscious control and coordination, of the human body, does not include that of

the transfer of mental organic energy. The subject matter of the ecology of human beings, as

accounted for in Parts I, II, and III, is as a physical living organism, i.e. a physical living

organization of systems existing on the surface of the body and internal to the body that must, for

the good of physical organic life, transfer physical organic energy to sustain his/her synergy of

action, i.e. his/her cooperative and integrative action, in the physical organic, biotic, living and

organic, abiotic, inorganic circumstances of the natural environment.

Part IV

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Internal Factors and the Transfer of Physical Organic and Mental Organic Energy

The subject matter of the ecology of human beings includes meanings, in regard to internal

factors and the transfer of physical energy that: (1) refer to only the physical existence of organic

systems, i.e. organization of systems, existing internally to the physical organic human body; and

that (2) are composed to constitute ecological knowledge that, whether existing;

(i) as a being evolved naturally in a physical organic and inorganic natural environment;

or

(ii) as a being created super-naturally and placed in a physical organic and inorganic

natural environment,

the human being, to continue the good of his/her physical organic life, i.e. to continue his/her

physical organic survival, must sustain the synergy of physical organic action. That is, we human

beings to continue the good of our physical organic life, we must sustain cooperative and

integrative physical organic inter-activity in and with the physical organic and inorganic

circumstances of the natural environment, whether existing as human beings of natural evolution

or as human beings of super-natural creation.

The subject matter of the ecology of human beings, then, demonstrates that the internal factors of

the human body, i.e. the physical organic organization of a skeletal system, muscular system,

digestive system, nervous system, circulatory system, respiratory system, excretory system,

endocrine system, reproductive system and an immune system, as physically connected to

function organically with the surface factors of the human body, e.g. the physical organic

organization of an integumentary system, ingestive system, and sensory system, as accounted for

above, but also as could be accounted in regard to an inhalation and exhalation system, and a

urinary and defecation system, are, for the good of physical organic life, necessarily involved in

the synergy of physical organic energy.

The Internal Factor of Metanoia

However, the subject matter of the ecology of human beings does not, whereas, the subject matter

of the educology of human beings, as philosophically oriented by the subject matter of ecology,

does demonstrate what the internal factors of the human consciousness are, where the meaning of

the locution ‘metanoia’, is conceived by Professor Sztumski, when he says;

“Metanoia means a radical change in human mentality on a mass scale. It is a form of the

reorientation of collective social awareness. It is preceded by a replacement of a system

of values binding at given levels of social evolution.” (From page 6 of Professor

Sztumki’s paper.)

Professor Sztumski’s conception of the meaning of the locution ‘metanoia’ as ‘a radical change of

human mentality’ I will interpret, with an ecologically oriented philosophy of educology, to mean

‘a radical change in human thinking as conducted by the human organic consciousness, with the

meaning of the locution ‘human organic consciousness’ implying that the human consciousness is

a mental organic existent as the human body is a physical organic existent, therefore, both exist,

synergetically connected, as organic circumstances in the natural environment.

The implication of this ecologically oriented philosophy of educology meaning of ‘metanoia’,

without, at this point, connecting it with the meaning of the locution ‘radical’, then, is that the

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human consciousness and human body both exist organically with internal consciousness factors

and internal body factors that are operating through an organization of physical and organic

systems that synergetically relate the internal factors, i.e. that operates through an organization of

organic systems cooperatively and integratively related to the physical organic energy of

electrical impulses, as they are involved in the syn-apsing function operating in the human body’s

nervous and muscle systems, being reciprocally trans-ducted as they are involved with the mental

organic energy of emotional feelings, hence, as they are involved in the mentally organic thinking

activity that is operative in the organic human consciousness' thinking pattern of phases.

In short, the educological implication is that the human body’s surface sensory and internal

nervous and muscular systems of organs are synergetically driven to organically operate in

cooperation and integration with the human consciousness’ thinking pattern of phases through

the reciprocal trans-duction, i.e. through the mutual reformation, of the forms of mental organic

energy of human consciousness, i.e. forms of mental feelings, as forms of organic energy, and

forms of physical organic energy of human bodies, i.e. forms of electrical impulses as forms of

organic energy.

In that the human consciousness operates by organic energy and the human body operates by

organic energy, in a reciprocal trans-duction of each, and in that;

(i) they both exist organically conjoined, not organically disjoined; and

(ii) they both exist as natural aspects of human beings naturally conducting the thinking

experiences that control and coordinate the physical organic and inorganic, physiological

organic, and the mental organic circumstances of the natural environment, as

synergetically driven toward cooperative and integrative inter-actions and trans-actions in

the physical inorganic and organic, and also the mental organic circumstances of the

natural environment, the thinking experience is conducted as synergetically driven by the

mental organic energy of mental feelings.

The Thinking Experience

The thinking experience, from the educological perspective, can be considered to be conducted in

two patterns of phases referred to by the meanings of the locutions ‘reflective thinking

experience’ and ‘day-dream thinking experience’.

The reflective thinking experience compares and contrasts with the day-dream thinking

experience, as follows:

(i) the reflective thinking experience is conducted for the purpose of establishing its value

through the experience of thinking FOR the trans-actions involved in the testing of the

truth of the ideas being thought and through the experience of thinking IN the transactions

involved in the testing of the truth of the ideas being thought, whereas:

(2) the day-dream thinking experience is conducted for the purpose of establishing its

value through the experience of thinking FOR the trans-actions involved in the testing of

the pleasure of the ideas being thought and through the experience of thinking IN the

trans-action involved in the testing for the pleasure of the ideas being thought.

The similarities between the reflective thinking and day-dream thinking experiences are that:

45

(i) both are conducted for the purpose of establishing the value of the ideas in the

thoughts used in the thinking experience, where the values are truth and pleasure; and

(ii) both are conducted in two mental organically related phases, where the phases are

those of;

Phase 1, as thinking FOR the trans-actions involved in testing the value of the

ideas being thought in the thinking experience, and of

Phase 2, as thinking IN the trans-actions involved in testing the value of the

ideas being thought in the thinking experience.

Within these similarities there are two differences in the thinking experiences. They are that:

(i) truth is the value used to judge the value of the ideas in the thoughts used in the

reflective thinking experience; and that

(ii) pleasure is the value used to judge the value of the ideas in the thoughts used in the

day-dream thinking experience.

And, within this difference there are two differences, whereby in Phase 1, in both types of

thinking, the trans-action being thought of to involve in the testing of ideas for; (i) truth, will be

different than the trans-action being thought of to involve in the testing of ideas for; (ii) pleasure.

Whereas, the meaning of the locution ‘trans-action’ refers to reciprocal and conjoint human

conduct controlled and coordinated by the operation of the meaning that is endowed on the

mental organic energy of mental organic feelings by the conceptual experience of using,

constructing, and endowing meaning on the mental organic feelings in the thinking experience,

then:

(i) in the reflective thinking experience, where truth is the value, then, the conceptual

experience will be that of using and constructing meaning to endow on mental organic

feelings that will control and coordinate them toward using meaning to cohere and

correspond significantly in the perceptual experience of the various and changing

particular aspects of the reality of physical organic and inorganic, physiological organic,

and mental organic circumstances in the natural environment; and

(ii) in the day-dream thinking experience, where pleasure is the value, then, the

conceptual experience will be that of using and constructing meaning to endow on mental

organic feelings that will control and coordinate them toward using meaning to cohere

and correspond in-significantly in the perceptual experience of the various and changing

particular aspects of the reality of physical organic and inorganic, physiological organic,

and mental organic circumstances in the natural environment.

The Conceptual and Perceptual Experiences in the Reflective and Day-Dream Thinking

Experience

The conceptual experience is that of the experience of continuing the use of previously

constructed meanings and/or constructing new meanings for use in the thinking experience by

endowing them on the mental organic energetic feelings, i.e. on the synergy of feelings in the

46

consciousness, by penetrating and impregnating the feelings with the meanings, hence,

controlling and coordinating feelings in and for the perceptual experience;

(i) toward truth in the two mental organically connected phases of the reflective

experience and

(ii) toward pleasure in the two mental organically connected phases of the day-dream

experience.

The perceptual experience is conducted through the organically connected extro-spective and

intro-spective perceptual experiences, whereby:

(1) the extro-spective perceptual experience is that which is conducted by the human

body’s sensory neurons in the surface sensory organs of the human body, i.e. the eyes,

ears, nose, skin, and tongue, that detect, receive, and trans-duct the physical energy of the

reality of the various and changing particular aspects of the physical organic and

inorganic circumstances of the natural environment, i.e. the light rays, sound waves, odor

molecules, physical touch forces, and taste molecules into the electrical energy of

electrical impulses transported and trans-ducted by the neurons by the syn-apsing

function through the involuntary and voluntary aspects of the internal to the human body

central and periphery human body’s nervous system’s to, into, and through the brain and

spinal cord to the internal to the human body’s muscular system and through, the synergy

of the electrical impulses, stimulating the human body to synergetically inter-act, i.e.

cooperate and integrate itself, with the physical organic and inorganic and the

physiological organic circumstances of the natural environment.

(2) the intro-spective perceptual experience is that which is conducted by:

(i) the human body’s sensory neurons in the internal body organs that detect,

receive, and trans-duct internal to the human body physiological feelings of, for

example, muscle pains and pleasures, stomach aches and nausea, head dizziness,

and the physiological feeling of human body orgasm; and

(ii) the human consciousness’s conscious experience of the emotion’s

experiences of detecting its mental feelings, the imagination’s experience of

constructing mental images, and the volition’s experience of determining the

mental will.

Both the extro-spective and intro-spective perceptual experiences are of various and changing

particular aspects of the physical organic and inorganic, physiological organic, and mental

organic circumstances of the natural environment on which the meaning of the conceptual

experience is endowed:

(i) by penetrating and impregnating mental organic circumstances internal to the human

consciousness with meaning; and

(ii) by enveloping and encompassing the physical organic and inorganic and physical

organic circumstances internal and external to the human with meaning.

and by which the perceptual experience becomes meaningful.

47

Without the conceptual experience in and with thinking experiences, i.e. without meaning being

endowed on the various and changing particular aspects of the circumstances of the natural

environment, including the physical organic and inorganic, physiological organic, and mental

organic aspects of the human body and consciousness synergetically cooperating and integrating

themselves in the natural environment, human beings, individually and collectively, can not

participate in the perceptual experience necessary to the trans-active experience, though

participating in the non-conceptual and non-perceptual experience of the inter-active experience

in the circumstances of the natural environment.

The Trans-Active and Inter-Active Experiences in the

Conceptual and Perceptual Experiences

The meaning of the locution ‘inter-action’, I restrict to refer to the synergy of action as involved

in the physical organic and inorganic and the physiological organic aspects of the circumstances

of the natural environment. In regard to the human thinking experience, the meaning of ‘interaction’

is used to refer to physical energy as electrical impulses being trans-ducted and

transported into and throughout the human physical body as a synergy of inter-action, i.e. as a

synergy of cooperation and integration, in and with the physical organic and inorganic

circumstances of the natural environment. The human body, then, conducts, involuntarily, the

inter-active experience, with this meaning of the locution ‘inter-action’, wherein the human body

exists organically connected with but not consciously aware of the trans-active experience.

The inter-active experience, in the thinking experience, then, in consideration of the human body

and its relationship to itself, other human bodies, and other physical organic and inorganic and

physiological organic circumstances in the natural environment, involves only an involuntary

inter-active experience of the human body and not the organically related voluntary trans-active

experience of the human consciousness.

Where the inter-active experience, in the thinking experience, involves the reality of the various

and changing particular aspects of the synergy of the physical organic energy of the electrical

impulse in the human body, the trans-active experience involves the reality of the various and

changing particular aspects of the synergy of the mental organic energy of mental feelings in the

human consciousness.

However, only as the reality of the various and changing particular aspects of:

(i) the synergy of the mental organic energy trans-ducted into the form of mental feelings

internal to the human consciousness is endowed with, by being penetrated and

impregnated with, meaning composed in and by the conceptual experience, and its

controlling and coordinating effect;

(ii) the synergy of physical organic energy trans-ducted into the form of electrical

impulses internal to the human body is endowed by, by being enveloped and

encompassed by, meaning composed in and by the conceptual experience, and its

controlling and coordinating effect; and

(iii) the synergy of physical inorganic energy trans-ducted from the forms of light rays,

sound waves, odor molecules, physical touch forces, and taste molecules external to the

human body is endowed by, by being enveloped and encompassed by, meaning

composed in and by the conceptual experience, and its controlling and coordinating

effect;

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can the perceptual experiences of extro-spection and intro-spection be involved in the synergy of

cooperative and integrative conduct by human beings in the reality of the various and changing

particular aspects of the physical organic and inorganic, physiological organic, and mental

organic circumstances of the natural environment.

From the perspective of a philosophy of educology, as oriented by the subject matter of ecology,

then:

(i) the meaning of the locution ‘inter-action’ as being restricted to refer to the synergy of

physical organic energy in the form of electrical impulses as they are involved in the synapsing

function in the human body’s organization of the sensory, nervous, and muscular

organ systems, as organically related to

(ii) the meaning of the locution ‘trans-action’ as being restricted to refer to the synergy of

the mental organic energy in the form of mental feelings as they are involved in the

thinking activity in the human consciousness’ organization of patterns of phases in the

thinking experience.

With these educologically composed restriction of meanings, then, through the synergy of mental

organic energy the conceptual and perceptual experiences are involved in synergy of trans-actions

in the reality of the natural environment, as involved in both the reflective and day-dream

thinking experience.

Also involved in the trans-active conceptual and perceptual experiences is the inferential

experience.

The Inferential Experience in the Trans-active Conceptual and Perceptual Experiences

The inferential experience is organically involved with both the conceptual and perceptual

experience, where:

(i) the conceptual experience provides meaning to the perceptual experiences of extrospection

and intro-spection;

(ii) the perceptual experiences of extro-specton and intro-spection are experiences of the

reality of the various and changing inter-active particular aspects of the natural

environment, including particular aspects of the human body; and

where:

(iii) the perceptual experience, using the meaning provided by the conceptual experience,

trans-ducts the extro- and intro-spective experiences of the reality of the various and

changing inter-active particular aspects of the natural environment, including particular

aspects of the human body, into a meaningful reality, i.e. a reality experientially extroand

intro-spected and endowed with meaning from the conceptual experience in the

human thinking experience.

The perceptual experience, then, is of the extro- and intro-experiences of a various and changing

particular reality endowed with meaning constructed and endowed in the past by the conceptual

experience as it i.e. as an endowed with meaningful reality, is, through, the trans-active thinking

49

experience as conducted in the present. However, the human being’s conduct of thinking

experience is not limited to the perceptually oriented trans-active thinking experience of a present

meaning endowed reality of various and changing particular aspects of physical organic and

inorganic, physiological organic, and mental organic circumstances of a natural environment.

The human being’s consciousness, as it conducts the reflective or day-dream thinking

experiences, is not limited to only the perceptual experience of a here-and-now various and

changing reality endowed with meaning. It takes these perceptual experiences, of a here-and-now

various and changing particular reality endowed with meaning, and infers into the immediate,

intermediate, and/or the remote future a reality or fantasy, endowed with meaning, based on the

here-and-now reality as it is endowed with meaning.

The inferential experience in the human being’s thinking experience is organic to the conceptual

and perceptual experience, as conceived in this paper using the subject matter of ecology to orient

the development of a philosophy of educology.

So, from the perspective of the educology, being philosophically composed in this paper, the

inferential experience is the experience in the human being’s thinking experience from which

another difference between the reflective thinking experience and the day-dream thinking

experience can be demonstrated, as follows:

The essential difference is that in the reflective thinking experience:

(i) truth is the criterion used to judge the quality of ideas being thought in the thinking

experience;

(ii) the conceptual experience in the thinking experience is used to endow meaning on a

various and changing particular here-and-now reality, including the here-and now reality

of the mental organic feelings of the human conducting the reflective thinking;

(iii) the endowed meaning is composed so that the meanings cohere and correspond

significantly in the perceptual experience, and;

(iv) the composed coherent and significantly correspondent meanings are used to infer

into an immediate, intermediate, and/or remote future reality with endowed meaning.

Whereas, in the day-dream thinking experience:

(i) pleasure is the criterion used to judge the quality of ideas being thought in the thinking

experience;

(ii) the conceptual experience in the thinking experience is used to endow meaning on a

various and changing particular here-and-now reality, including the here-and now reality

of the mental organic feelings of the human conducting the reflective thinking;

(iii) the endowed meaning is composed so that the meanings cohere and correspond insignificantly

in the perceptual experience, and;

(iv) the composed coherent and significantly correspondent meanings are used to infer

into an immediate, intermediate, and/or remote future fantasy with endowed meaning.

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This demonstration indicates that the difference between the reflective thinking experience and

the day-dream thinking experience is the difference in the criterion to judge the value of the

thinking is organically connected to the inferential experience.

In the reflective thinking experience, where truth is the criterion of value, the inference into the

future is that of a future reality with endowed meaning, whereas, in the day-dream thinking

experience, where pleasure is the criterion of value, the inference into the future is that of a future

fantasy with endowed meaning.

TRUTH and truth in the Reflective Thinking Experience

Essential, then, to the reflective thinking experience is that the human being conducting the

reflective thinking experience value truth. The meaning of the locution ‘truth’, however, refers

to:

(i) a judgment made by a human being about how significantly meanings cohere and

correspond, in the perceptual experience, to the various and changing particular aspects

of reality in the natural environment,

(ii) the existence of some particular aspect of the various and changing reality in the

natural environment; and

(iii) the existence of a super-natural being in a realm of various and unchanging reality

that transcends the various and changing reality in the natural environment.

When the meaning of the locution ‘truth’ is used to refer to (iii), it is commonly structured in all

caps, such as ‘TRUTH’ or with the first lettered capped, such as ‘Truth’. Here I will use the all

capped structure.

Where, then, the criterion of value used in the reflective thinking experience is TRUTH, the

following demonstrates the inference in (iv) as it relates to (i).

(i) TRUTH is the criterion used to judge the quality of ideas being thought in the thinking

experience;

(ii) the conceptual experience in the thinking experience is used to endow meaning on a

spiritual being in a realm of various and unchanging reality in a super-natural realm that

transcends the various and changing reality in the natural environment.

(iii) the endowed meaning is composed so that the meanings cohere and correspond

100% significantly in the perceptual experience, and;

(iv) the composed coherent and 100% correspondency of meanings are used to infer into

a remote future realm of various and unchanging reality in a super-natural realm that

transcends the various and changing reality in the natural world, with endowed meaning.

The essential difference, then, in the inferential experience, as it is conducted in the reflective

thinking experience, where truth is the criterion of value and where TRUTH is the criterion of

value is that in the former the meaning of the locution ‘truth’ refers to a judgment made by a

human being about how significantly meanings cohere and correspond, in the perceptual

experience, to the various and changing particular aspects of reality in the natural environment,

51

and in the latter the meaning of the locution ‘TRUTH’ refers to the existence of a super-natural

being in a realm of various and unchanging reality that transcends the various and changing

reality in the natural environment.

In both cases, however, the reflective thinking experience is being conducted with the value of

truth, not of pleasure, though of two different meanings of the locution ‘truth’. This difference

makes a difference, only, in the inferential experience involved in the reflective thinking

experience in that the meaning of ‘truth’ coheres the meanings used in the reflective thinking

experience toward less than a 100% correspondency of meanings used to infer into the future,

whereas the meaning of ‘TRUTH’ coheres the meanings used in the reflective thinking

experience toward a 100% correspondency of meanings used to infer into the future.

The point is that the inferential experience, as involved in the reflective thinking experience, with

using the reference of the meanings ‘truth’ or ‘TRUTH’ as the criterion of value, is organically

involved with the conceptual and perception experiences in both cases. Both are cases of human

being conducting the reflective thinking experience in their trans-active experience of the various

and changing particular aspects of reality in the natural environment.

Summary and Conclusion to Part IV

In the summary and conclusion of this part of the paper, I will return to my interpretation of

Professor Sztumski’s conception of the meaning of the locution ’metanoia’, which is that it refers

to a radical change in human thinking as conducted by the human organic consciousness, and

make the following summary statements.

Summary-Conclusion Statement 1: Using the subject matter of ecology, I have presented a

demonstration that human thinking experience is organic to the reality of the circumstances in the

natural environment of the world and follows a general pattern of two phases, where:

Phase 1, is thinking FOR the trans-actions involved in testing the value of the ideas being

thought in the thinking experience, and

Phase 2, is thinking IN the trans-actions involved in testing the value of the ideas being

thought in the thinking experience.

Summary-Conclusion Statement 2: Using this general pattern of two phases of the thinking

experience, I presented a demonstration that the pattern is conducted by human beings in the

forms of the reflective thinking trans-active experience and the day-dream thinking trans-active

experience:

The reflective thinking trans-active experience uses truth as the criterion of value to judge

the quality of the ideas thought in the thinking experience, and

The day-dream thinking trans-active experience uses pleasure as the criterion of value to

judge the quality of ideas though in the thinking experience,

Summary-Conclusion Statement 3: Using the meaning of the locution ‘truth’ to refer to:

a judgment made by a human being about how significantly meanings cohere and

correspond, in the perceptual experience, to the various and changing particular aspects

of reality in the natural environment;

52

and, using the locution ‘TRUTH’ to refer to:

the existence of a super-natural being in a realm of various and unchanging reality that

transcends the various and changing reality in the natural environment;

I presented a demonstration, that in both cases, the trans-active experience is organic to and

involves the general pattern of phases of the reflective thinking experience in which the criterion

of value to judge the quality of the ideas being thought in the thinking experience, whereas, in the

day-dream trans-active thinking experience, though being organic to and involving the general

pattern of phases of the reflective thinking experience the criterion of value to judge the quality of

the ideas is pleasure, not truth or TRUTH.

Summary-Conclusion Statement 4: The point of the demonstrations is that, using the meaning of

‘metanoia’ to refer to a radical change in human thinking, where human thinking is organically

conducted in accord with a general pattern of phases, then:

(i) to radically change the pattern of phases would be to change what is organic to the

human consciousness; and

(ii) to radically change the criterion of value to judge the quality of the ideas being

thought, i.e. truth, TRUTH, and pleasure would be to change what is organic to the

human consciousness.

Summary-Conclusion Statement 5: Considering this point, then, in my opinion, what can and

should be radically changed is the competency of human beings doing better what is organic to

their nature, i.e. conducting reflective thinking trans-active experiences more competently for the

purpose of truth.

Summary-Conclusion Statement 6: With this opinion, then, I take it that the following steps

are ones that can and should be taken by educologists of the world:

Step 1 is for educologist’s of the world to conduct inquiry into the nature of the mental

organic energy, i.e. into the synergy of the thinking experience, as the educative

experience, especially the organic thinking experience referred to by the meaning of the

locution ‘reflective thinking experience’.

Step 2 is for educologist’s of the world to conduct courses, for example named the

“Synergy of The Thinking Experience as the Authentic Educative Experience In and For

Democracies in the World,” first at the university level in colleges, department, and

divisions of educology, in which the subject matter of this inquiry is taught, studied, and

learned in the educational process in that setting.

Step 3 is for educologist’s of the world to plan conferences in, for example, the

“Educology of the Thinking Experience as The Challenge of Integrating the World.”

In my opinion, these are three steps that need to be taken to bring about, in Professor Sztumski’s

words, “a replacement of a system of values binding at given levels of social evolution,” that

precedes a “reorganization of collective social awareness,” i.e. that precedes metanoia as “a

radical change in human mentality on a mass scale,” where the system of value is that of the

value of a life in which the reflective thinking experience is conducted as well as it can be

53

conducted in the pursuit of truth. Such a life experience would lead to the reorganization of the

collective social awareness of humans in the world and affect a social evolution at many levels.

Part V

Summary and Conclusion of the Paper

The purpose of the paper was to inquire into the subject matter of ecology so as to establish a

philosophy of educology for the democratic integration of the world, where the meaning of the

locution ‘philosophy of educology’ refers, more specifically to the epistemology of educology,

i.e. to the philosophical inquiry guided by the question “What is knowledge about education?”

Where educology is the body of knowledge claims about education and education is conceived as

both the educational process conducted in homes, school, and communities in the world and the

educative experience conducted in the educational process and in general life experiences, the

paper focuses on the reflective thinking experience as the educative experience for educology’s

knowledge claims to refer to.

With this focus, then, the reflective thinking experience was demonstrated to be organically

connected to the subject matter of ecology, whereby the subject matter of ecology provides an

orientation for the development of a philosophy of educology. And, for such an ecologically

oriented philosophy of educology to provide worthwhile ideas for the future challenges of the

Integration of Europe and the World.


An Article in Educology

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

41

Teaching Forward,

Understanding Backward: In Search of

Theorized Practice

Kim Pittman,
Aurora University, USA, &Linda O’Neill, Northern Illinois University, USA

Life can only be understood backwards: but it must be lived

forwards. Soren Kierkegaard

Abstract

In this study, teacher generated metaphors were closely

aligned with three major educological themes: behavioral

change, assisted performance, and radical constructivism.

Teacher observations, in contrast, revealed much more

complexity. A factor analysis of the follow-up survey results

exposed nine distinctive teacher practice profiles. Each of

these three strategies -- metaphor analysis, observations,

and survey data -- provided teachers with unique

topographical perspectives for uncovering the subterranean

landscapes of the mind. Rather than viewing their work as

an eclectic collection of strategies, teachers were able to

identify the components of their own distinctive profiles and

analyze their implications. Their analyses revealed that

daily activities did not always reflect underlying patterns.

Introduction

Given the recent critique of reform efforts and the

attempts to move into a framework of renewal, teachers’

tacit constructions of their roles in this process may become

increasingly critical to the success of these efforts. Rather

than assuming that teacher belief systems can be brought

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

42

into alignment using traditional reform strategies, this study

examined the potential impact of teacher educological

identification on the change process. Analysis of

metaphors, observations, and surveys collected from 250

School of Education graduate students revealed

unanticipated categorical complexity.

Rather than assuming that change can be imposed,

metaphor analysis can be used to initiate a more personal,

reflective approach. Using metaphor analysis, teacher

conceptualizations can be articulated and analyzed for

possible internal and external inconsistencies. Research has

shown that metaphors provide a unique vehicle for giving

deep meaning to sensory experience (Barker, 1985). By

constructing images, and then assigning language to those

images, teachers reconstruct their experiences in ways that

translate tacit understandings into concrete expressions of

personal and professional identity.

The purpose of this study was to explore the use of a

professional development process that integrated the

creation of metaphor with self-assessment surveys,

observations, and reflection as a vehicle for uncovering and

realigning teachers’ educological identities. The study also

examined the various ways teachers chose to link this

process to classical learning theory. In addition, this study

suggested that metaphor analysis corroborated by survey

data may provide a strategy for linking teacher action and

reflection within the context of sustained professional

development.

Without such analysis, teachers’ unexamined

epistemological contradictions may inadvertently undermine

professional development efforts. Teacher epistemologies

evolve as they construct meanings from their everyday

sensory experiences. In a continuous and dynamic

construction of images they expand their educological

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

43

awareness. Metaphors, which embody this process, are

personal referents and serve to organize sets of beliefs.

Beliefs and metaphors of teachers are associated with

curricular actions. To foster professional development that

support curricular change, it may be necessary for teachers

to reconceptualize the manner in which they make sense of

their salient roles.

Literature Review

A significant shift is taking place in the understanding

and practice of professional development. There is

movement away from simply offering workshops and

“telling” to knowing, understanding, acting, and reflecting.

Standard district days are being rethought. People are

attending to what it means to learn on the job and be

supported in the process, with discussion of what is being

taught as well as what is being learned. As Clandinin and

Connelly (1998) have observed:

Teachers feel listened to, researchers find themselves doing

something human, and we sense that each feels closer and more in

tune with one another as researchers collect and tell teacher stories.

Some people tell us that schools now look less strange to

researchers and universities look less forbidding and judgmental to

teachers. (p. 245)

Schools can organize in many different ways, improve

the professional lives of teachers and expand their roles,

challenge regulations, and remove boundaries, but if student

learning and engagement are not the focus, they will

accomplish little of value for students. School change and

improvement must focus on the students. A way to examine

whether students are truly engaged in their work is through

the process of educological identification. This is not simply

a gimmick that will lead to an understanding of what the

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

44

school stands for. This is what helps shape the values and

beliefs of a school community.

Adopting programs or practices without understanding

the consequences of given ideas, the assumptions underlying

the work, and the organizational conditions necessary to

make them happen, will inevitably breed cynicism and

confusion. Values without the necessary practices to help

make them real make people feel fraudulent. Teachers learn

by doing, and when they take the time to reflect on what

they are learning, they often become clearer about what they

know what they need to know and what they believe

(Schon, 1995). This process of teacher-guided inquiry is

growing in popularity as an effective means that produces

knowledge about effective classroom practices. Erickson

(1986) contends that an essential characteristic of master

teachers should be the ability to reflect critically on one’s

classroom practice and to communicate to others the

insights from that reflection process.

During the last decades, reflection has become a basic

concept in teacher education all over the world (Gore, 1987;

Hatton & Smith, 1995). It has emerged as a specific topic

within the general movement of “teacher thinking,” which

started in the 1970s. Today, most professionals in the field

seem to agree on the fact that reflection is a generic

component of good teaching. However, close analysis of

teacher education practices and the literature on reflection

reveals that the term has been conceptualized in many

different ways (Day, 1999; Grimmett, 1988; Tom, 1985).

Calderhead (1989) and Hatton and Smith (1995) point at

the confusion about the precise meaning of the term

reflection. Dewey and Schon’s conceptualizations provide

two pivotal examples. According to Dewey (1933 cited in

Korthagen, 2000):

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

45

Reflection involves not simply a sequence of ideas, but a consequence-

a consecutive ordering in such a way that each idea

determines the next as its proper outcome, while each outcome in

return leans back on, or refers to, its predecessors. (p.4)

Dewey’s “reflection” entails a chain of thoughts, which

“are linked together so that there is a sustained movement to

a common end” (p.5). In comparison, Schon (1983, 1987)

distinguishes between reflection-in-action and reflection-onaction.

Schon states that reflection-in-action and

experimentation go together:

When someone reflects-in-action, he becomes a researcher in the

practice context. He is not dependent on the categories of

established theory and technique, but constructs a new theory of the

unique case. His inquiry is not limited to a deliberation about

means which depend on a prior agreement about ends. He does not

keep means and ends separate, but defines them interactively as he

frames a problematic situation. (Schon, 1983, p.68)

Reflection-in-action is limited to what Schon calls the

action present: “the zone of time in which action can still

make a difference to the situation” (Schon, 1983, p.62).

This is not the case in reflection-on-action, which takes

place after the action itself. Reflection-on-action is

prompted by unexpected results (Schon, 1987, p.26). This

reflection-on-action can change our future rather than

present actions. Schon gives the example of a person who,

by reflecting on his Monday morning quarterback, plays

differently in next Saturday’s game (Schon, 1987, p. 31).

According to Schon, reflection-on-action is more likely to

foster inquiry into the personal theories which lie at the

basis of one’s actions.

While little attempt has been made to operationalize and

measure reflection, Zeichner and Liston (1987) have

developed a “reflective-teaching index” based on Van

Manen’s (1977) framework for assessing the level of

reflection of teachers. Zeichner and Liston distinguished

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

46

between four levels of discourse during supervisory

conferences in teacher education: (a) factual discourse,

concerned with what has occurred in a teaching situation or

with what will occur in the future; (b) prudential discourse,

revolving around suggestions about what to do or around

evaluations of what has been established; (c) justificatory

discourse, focusing on the reasons employed when

answering questions of the form “why do this rather than

that?”; and (d) critical discourse, examining and assessing

the adequacy of the reasons offered for the justification of

educational actions or assessing the values and assumptions

embedded in the form and content of curriculum and

instructional practices (the “hidden curriculum”). The levels

of reflection vary with the levels of discourse.

In addition to multiple ways of characterizing reflection,

there are also distinctive programmatic usages. Calderhead

and Gates (1993) state that professional development

programs based on notions of reflective practice espouse

one or more of the following aims:

1) to enable teachers to analyze, discuss, evaluate and change their

own practice, adopting an analytical approach towards teaching; 2)

to foster teachers’ appreciation of the social and political contexts in

which they work, helping teachers to recognize that teaching is

socially and politically situated and that the teacher’s task involves

an appreciation and analysis of that context; 3) to enable teachers to

appraise to moral and ethical issues implicit in classroom practices,

including the critical examination of their own beliefs about good

teaching; 4) to encourage teachers to take greater responsibility for

their own professional growth and to acquire some degree of

professional autonomy; 5) to facilitate teachers’ development of

their own theories of educational practice, understanding and

developing a principled basis for their own classroom work; 6) to

empower teachers so that they may better influence future directions

in education and take a more active role in educational decisionmaking.

(p. 2)

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

47

Zeichner (1993) has clarified the relation between the

concept of reflection and a number of different views on the

goals of teacher education. He distinguishes four paradigms

of teacher education. The first is
behavioristic teacher

education, emphasizing the development of specific and

observable teaching skills that are assumed to be related to

effective learning. The second is
personalistic teacher

education, focusing on the psychological maturity of

teachers, and “emphasizing the reorganization of

perceptions and beliefs over the mastery of specific

behaviors, skills and content knowledge” (p.4). Next,

Zeichner describes the
traditional-craft paradigm in which

teacher education is viewed primarily as a process of

apprenticeship. The fourth approach is inquiry-oriented

teacher education, “which prioritizes the development of

inquiry about teaching and about the contexts in which

teaching is carried out” (p.5).

Reflection plays no significant role in either the

behavioristic or the traditional craft paradigms. In both

these approaches, the content of educology for teacher

education can be specified and defined in advance. There is

an existing body of knowledge about teaching and a given

educational context. This leads to certain competencies,

which the teacher has to acquire. In the personalistic and

inquiry-oriented paradigms, however, teachers are active

participants in the construction of the educological content.

Reflection is the instrument by which experiences are

translated into dynamic knowledge; both personalistic and

inquiry-oriented paradigms aim at an ongoing process

consisting of experience, looking back on experience,

analysis, and reorganization. However, the two differ in the

extent to which internal or external factors are incorporated

into this process. The
personalistic paradigm stresses the

importance of the role of personal perception (Combs,

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

48

Blume, Newman, & Wass, 1974) and self-actualization

(Joyce, 1975, p. 134), whereas the inquiry-oriented

paradigm focuses on investigating contextual influences on

the teaching-learning situation.

Teacher education can have greater impact if the

teacher’s background knowledge about teaching is

incorporated into instruction in teacher education (Clark,

1988). According to Shulman (1987), teachers’ background

knowledge base includes both general and specific concepts:

1) knowledge of the subject to be taught; 2) general

educological knowledge including classroom management

and organization; 3) curriculum knowledge; 4) educologicall

content knowledge connecting specific strategies to selected

content areas; 5) knowledge of students; 6) knowledge of

educational contexts; and 7) knowledge of educational ends,

purposes, and values. It is sometimes difficult for teachers

to identify the unique amalgams of content and educology

that constitute their educological content knowledge. In an

elaboration on Shulman’s work, Grossman (1990) expanded

the concept of educological content knowledge to include

“knowledge and beliefs about the purposes for teaching a

subject at different grade levels” as well as “knowledge of

instructional strategies and representations for teaching

particular topics” (pp. 8-9).

In related attempts to determine what teachers know that

others do not, Elbaz (1983) and that of Clandinin and

Connelly (1995) examined the various ways in which

teachers encapsulate their knowledge. Many people know

the content that teachers attempt to teach; however, teachers

also have knowledge about teaching (i.e., they have

educology). “The knowing of a classroom” is part of the

“personal practical knowledge” each teacher possesses.

“Personal practical” knowledge resides in “the persons past

experience, in the person’s mind and body, and in the

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

49

person’s future plans and actions (Connelly and Clandinin,

1988, p.25). Teachers deal with the exigencies of the present

by reconstructing the past as well as adjusting their

intentions for the future. According to this research, teacher

knowledge exists in categories other than those proposed by

Shulman and Grossman including: images, rules, practical

principles, personal philosophy, and metaphor.

Because much of the teacher’s educological knowledge

is tacit, the challenge for teacher educators (i.e. those who

teach educology to students preparing to be teachers) is to

make this knowledge explicit (Weinstein, 1989). Only by

expressing tacit meanings can they be subjected to analysis

and through scrutiny find justification (Polanyi, 1958).

Metaphors are a vehicle for expressing these tacit

understandings. Metaphors reflect the values and belief

systems that shape thought and action (Shue & Lacroix,

1998; Grady, 1996; Wineck, 1996). Thus, metaphors can be

a powerful tool in making sense of concepts associated with

teaching and learning. They can also be a powerful tool in

change efforts when the reconstruction of teacher

educological content knowledge plays an integral role in

reform.

There is a growing interest in the study of the metaphors

that teachers use to reveal their self-understandings

(Provenzo, McCloskey, Kottkamp & Cohn, 1989; Russell &

Johnston, 1988; Hunt, 1987; Miller & Fredericks, 1988;

Munby, 1986), what Bandman (1967) earlier described as

“picture preferences” (p.112). Metaphors represent teachers’

understanding about teaching and their conceptions of

themselves as teachers, what Pajak (1986) calls their

“professional identity” (p. 123). This view is based, in part,

upon the belief that metaphor is the primary means by which

humans come to terms with experience.

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

50

Just as in mutual understanding we constantly search out

commonalities of experience when we speak with other

people, so in self-understanding we are always searching for

what unifies our own diverse experiences in order to give

coherence to our lives. Just as we seek out metaphors to

highlight and make coherent what we have in common with

someone else, so we seek out personal metaphors to

highlight and make coherent our own pasts, our present

activities, and our dreams, hopes, and goals as well.

A large part of self-understanding is the search for

appropriate personal metaphors that make sense of our lives.

As Lakoff & Johnson (1980) explain:

Self-understanding requires unending negotiation and renegotiation

of the meaning of your experiences to yourself . . . . It involves, the

constant construction of new coherences in your life, coherences

that give new meaning to old experiences. The process of selfunderstanding

is the continual development of new life stories for

yourself . . . . (pp. 232-233)

Metaphors play a central role in this process storytelling.

In addition, metaphors can be used as a reflective tool in

teacher education (Bullough, 1991; Philion, 1990). In a

study of preservice teachers, Bullough (1991) found that

uncovering the teachers’ metaphors was an essential process

in their reflection about teaching and being a teacher. It

forced them to reflect on the extent to which their practice

mirrored the metaphors which they chose to describe

themselves as teachers.

Methods

Teacher-guided inquiry as a tool for professional

development is a recent development in in-service teacher

programs. Its growing importance has emerged, in part,

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

51

from the fact that this process values inquiry, collaborative

work and teachers’ voices. Furthermore, this process of

pedagogical identification allows practitioners to reframe

their understanding of teaching and learning in meaningful

ways. This exploration of teacher pedagogical identity

within the context of professional development employed

both combined qualitative and quantitative methods in

addressing the challenges of discovery and verification

(Patton, 1990). In the initial discovery cycle, 250 metaphors

from teachers were analyzed by both researchers for

recurring images and themes, then independently

categorized as part of the peer review process. Three major

themes emerged from this analysis which corresponded to

themes in the learning theory literature: behavioral change

(characteristic of Skinner), assisted performance

(characteristic of Vygotsky), and radical constructivism

(characteristic of Piaget). A componential analysis (Weber,

1985, Spradley, 1980) of these three themes revealed ten

contrasting pairs of descriptors: 1) flexible/structures; 2)

convergent/divergent; 3) build in/draw out; 4) teacher

directed/student directed; 5) receptive attentiveness/engaged

application; 6) emotional emphasis/rational emphasis; 7)

individual focus/ social group focus; 8) teacher talk/ student

talk; 9) self-esteem/academic performance; 10) predict and

shape behavior/serendipity. In various combinations these

descriptors constituted the distinguishing characteristics for

categorizing learning theory profiles — behavioral change,

assisted performance, and radical constructivism..

Initial verification was provided by 250 classroom

teachers who used these descriptors to conduct a series of

classroom observations over a ten-week period.

Immediately after conducting a lesson or activity, teachers

selected the dominant descriptors from each pair and

explained their selections. Self reflections were

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

52

complemented by selected peer reviews. Because the

results of this initial verification phase were not consistent, a

survey was developed translating each descriptor into a

specific statement of teaching practice (see Appendix A)

This Likert-scale survey was designed to translate the

various aspects of teacher practice reflected in metaphor into

composite teacher profiles. The alpha reliability coefficient

was 0.91.

Means and standard deviations of individual items were

calculated for the survey. The data were then subjected to a

series of generalized least squares factor analysis in an

attempt to determine the optimal number of factors in a

scale. Correlational analysis of the 10 pairs from the survey

indicate a high degree of intercorrelation among the scales.

To obtain a smaller number of more unique characteristics,

the 10 pairs were subjected to a maximum likelihood factor

analysis using the Varimax method of factor rotation. To

evaluate the impact of the entire process from selfassessment

survey to observation to metaphor analysis, a

follow-up evaluation was conducted with selected in-service

teachers. This evaluation consisted of survey and focus

group data.

Findings

An analysis of teacher-generated metaphors revealed

that most could be placed within one of the three themes,

allowing for some individual variation. The following

metaphors characterize each of the three themes: behavioral

change, guided performance and radical constructivism.

Behavioral Change

Clear, non-negotiable goals and an emphasis on discrete

steps reinforced by the teacher in a series of successive

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

53

approximations on the road to goal attainment characterized

metaphors describing learning as product, outcome, or

behavioral change. As one teacher expressed her role:

As a teacher, I think of myself as a Film Producer, starting from

scratch, developing a plan, utilizing a plan, molding the plan,

working through the problems, and finally, feeling success with a

finished product (The Movie) at the end (Excerpt from metaphor #

33).

Assisted Performance

Guided, reciprocal, mediated instruction designed to

move students from the realm of social interaction to selfregulating

internalizations characterized metaphors describing

learning as assisted instruction. As one teacher

expressed his role:

I choose a destination and then encourage others to come along. I

am knowledgeable about the locations of travel (subject matters)

and can point out important things throughout the trip. I enjoy the

places we go and like to go back. I find the more I go back, the more

I discover to point out to the next group on the next trip (Excerpt

from metaphor #12).

Radical Constructivism

Experimentation, discovery, and hands-on problem

solving fostering individual construction of knowledge and

the refinement of logical processes characterized metaphors

describing learning in terms of “thinking” and problem

solving. As one teacher explained:

I see myself as a general contractor of my classroom. I oversee the

construction of learning. Each student is his own builder of

meaning, and I, as the general contractor, guide the student in the

process. I allow for individual technique and style within each

builder’s mind while offering advice and direction when necessary

(Excerpt from metaphor #5).

The initial verification phase consisted of teacher and

peer observations using the following key descriptors: 1)

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

54

flexible/structures; 2) convergent/divergent; 3) build in/

draw out; 4) teacher directed/student directed; 5) receptive

attentiveness/engaged application; 6) emotional emphasis/

rational emphasis; 7) individual focus/ social group focus; 8)

teacher talk/ student talk; 9) self-esteem/academic

performance; 10) predict and shape behavior/serendipity.

These observations, which required teachers to choose one

descriptor from each pair, revealed a surprising lack of

consistency. Unlike the metaphors, the three major learning

theory themes did not emerge as organizing categories.

Instead, teacher observations revealed multiple combinations

of descriptors across thematic boundaries. For

example, an observation might combine a report of both

structure (behavioral change and serendipity), which is

assisted performance and radical constructivism. As a result

of these incongruities, we developed the Likert-scale as a

follow-up to the forced choice observations.

The factor analysis derived a 9-factor solution

accounting for 80% of the variance in the items. Factor

loadings for each of the items are presented in Table 1.

Five scales loaded on Factor 1, which we have named

cooperative convergence. This factor describes teachers

who focus on the achievement of pre-determined goals and

prefer to control the planning and implementation of

classroom activities.

Six scales loaded on Factor 2, which we have named

supportive realism. This factor describes teachers who use

lesson plans as rough guidelines to support student initiated

learning and emphasize feelings, values, and relationships as

well as logical problem solving.

Six scales loaded on Factor 3, which we have named

identity building. This factor describes teachers who

balance flexibility and structure allowing for both clear

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

55

goals and individualized outcomes, promoting in their

students a strong sense of identity.

Factor 4, which we have named
progressiveindependence describes teachers who use a subtle control to

initially direct student action and facilitate subsequent

student directed efforts.

Factor 5, which we have named
problem-basedengagement describes teachers who manage class time to

get results while facilitating student directed activities.

Factor 6, which we have named controlled convergence

describes teachers who emphasize the importance of

systematic problem solving and carefully build in requisite

content knowledge.

Factor 7 which we have named grounded instruction

describes teachers who draw out students’ prior knowledge

and help to organize it.

Factor 8 which we have named assisted performance

describes teachers who prefer to carefully organize class

activities to help develop students’ social and emotional as

well as cognitive skills. Factor 9 which we have labeled

structured collaboration describes teachers who encourage

teacher, student dialogue and balance the need for class

structure with opportunities for accidental discovery.

The original research which forms the basis for this

overall self-reflective process, resulted in three organizing

themes which clearly linked teacher practice with classic

learning theory: behavioral change, assisted performance

and radical constructivism.

While a factor analysis of the survey data produced nine

factors which accounted for 80% of the variance, the

purpose of this follow-up evaluation was to assess the

overall process, which included observations and metaphor

analysis in addition to the original survey data. The followup

evaluation of the process revealed that while teachers

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

56

derived significant benefits from this extended selfreflective

sequence, there were also some interesting

limitations inherent in the process.

Teachers reported that the overall process provided

structure, reinforcement and critical insight. Those who

responded positively to the structure felt that precise survey

questions kept them focused and encouraged reflection that,

in the words of one teacher, “we so often do not do.” In

fact, this teacher reported that she was “grateful for the

opportunity.” Another commented that it “forced me to

look at my teaching and my philosophy and see how they fit

into the big picture of learning.” For some, this “deeper

look” into the classroom confirmed that they were “on the

right highway.” Others were surprised by the lack of

congruence between their self-assessment surveys and their

observations. A teacher who found some discrepancies

noted that the self assessment survey provided an anchor for

comparisons between “the style of teaching I thought I used

versus the way I actually teach.” Whether providing a

confirmation or a question, teachers commented consistently

on the fact that the process raised their levels of awareness

on many levels.

In examining various aspects of this process, 73% of

teachers surveyed reported that the self-assessment survey

was most useful, 66% found the observations most useful,

50% identified the nine educological profiles resulting from

the factor analysis most useful, and 36% ranked the

metaphor as most useful.

Teachers who found the self-assessment survey most

useful valued the precision, structure, comprehensiveness,

and the emphasis on the self. As one teacher observed, “the

survey helped me to review what, when, why and how.”

Another noted the importance of starting the process with

the self-assessment survey to ensure honest reflection. He

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

57

remarked that he would have been tempted to change his

responses if he had known where the process was heading.

This survey provided a baseline for the subsequent

activities.

Teachers reported that the classroom observations

provided validation, insights and surprises. In terms of

validation, teachers felt that the observations when linked to

specific theorists gave them “permission to teach in

particular ways.” The observations also reinforced positive

aspects of personal practice from multiple (peer, student,

administrator) perspectives. Many teachers were surprised

by the extent to which their educological practices were

content specific – as confirmed in Schulman’s (1987)

identification of the importance of “pedagogical [i.e.

educological] content knowledge.” Others noted the way in

which student population and physical constraints

dramatically affected their range of teaching options. The

observations also provided surprises when coupled with the

self assessment surveys, specifically in the areas of

prediction, control and shaping of classroom behavior and in

the prevalence of student talk. Teachers were surprised at

the levels of control they typically exerted, having assessed

themselves earlier as more open to serendipity. As one

teacher commented, “I teach with much more rigid

guidelines than I thought.” Many were also surprised by the

lack of active engagement on the part of students as

illustrated in the following: “I was surprised that my

observations didn’t show more student talk and interaction

in class.”

The most common educological profiles selected by

high school, middle school, and elementary school teachers

were Supportive Realism and Assisted Performance.

Teachers clearly saw their own practice reflected in the

varied class activities and emphasis on social relationships

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

58

characteristic of Supportive Realism and the sensitivity to

the needs of individual students characteristic of Assisted

Performance. Identity Building, with its emphasis on

individual performance as well as strong sense of self and

Progressive Independence with its emphasis on facilitation

and accidental discovery in the service of clearly specified

goals were selected least often. Teachers did not view these

two profiles as representative of either the practical or

theoretical commitments they felt they possessed after

completing the entire sequence. More high school teachers

than middle or elementary school teachers aligned their

practice with either Cooperative Convergence or Controlled

Convergence. While the level of group work varied, the

element of control in both of these profiles reflected the

expressed need to prepare students for standardized tests.

Teachers were also able to identify the ways their profiles

had changed over the course of their careers. Most reported

that they began their teaching careers with an emphasis on

behavior management. As they continued to teach they

began collecting strategies to enhance learning, but did not

systematically evaluate and integrate these techniques in

light of theoretical commitments or student needs. Later

they became more concerned with aligning curricular

outcomes with educological initiatives. The energy shifted

from maintaining classroom control to deliberately pursuing

“the best ways for students to learn and understand.”

While a few teachers found the metaphor activity to be

the most difficult and least enjoyable part of the selfreflective

process, the majority reported that they enjoyed

the “chance to be creative” and to look at teaching “in a new

light” using a new modality. The metaphors allowed

teachers to “shape . . . philosophy,” to achieve a “better

focus,” and to gain a greater sense of “what’s important in

teaching and learning.” The metaphors also provided an

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

59

opportunity for teachers to compare their profession to “the

rest of the world,” something many of them had never done.

As one teacher expressed it, metaphors “created a much

more colorful picture and it was inspirational to compare

myself to my metaphor.” Some were surprised at how

similar their jobs were to other occupations. Some felt that

the metaphors prompted them to “scrutinize” their personal

“teaching styles” while other gained a greater appreciation

for other professions by comparing them to teaching. Most

were intrigued by their colleagues’ metaphors; more than

any of the other activities, teachers reported enjoying

“listening to others’ metaphors.”

The evaluation of the overall process as well as specific

activities within the process revealed a range of responses

from reinforcement or confirmation to critical questioning

of patterns and assumptions. The process made teachers

more aware of their use of theoretical frameworks and

techniques, providing “reasoning” to their practice: “Every

time I teach, I think about which theorist I’m using.” The

process also provided some validation of selected

educological patterns: “The things I found out in my

observations were reinforced through the theory and I felt it

supported the practices that I feel are important. I felt like it

gave me the permission to teach the way I do.” While some

teachers confirmed educological patterns, others were led to

question their practice: “This process helped me see that I

need to broaden my range of theorists and that I need to be

more flexible, less Skinner-like.” In addition to questioning

practice, some teachers were prompted to question the role

of theory. As one teacher observed, “I think it is important

to link theory to practice; however, at times I think theories

are restrictive.” Interrogating the role of theory is crucial

for educologists and educators at all levels. As Clandinin

and Connelly (1998) have cautioned, teachers’ stories must

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

60

not become an end in on of themselves: “It is education that

is at the core of our enterprise and not merely the telling of

stories” (p. 246). The self-assessment-observation-metaphor

process can be most effective, not as a vehicle for revealing

teachers’ educological identities, but as a catalyst for the

“inquiry oriented conversation” (p. 252) which enlivens the

journey from untheorized practice to informed educological

practice.

Conclusion

In this study, teacher generated metaphors were closely

aligned with three major educological themes: behavioral

change, assisted performance, and radical constructivism.

Teacher observations, in contrast, revealed much more

complexity. A factor analysis of the follow-up survey

results exposed nine distinctive teacher practice profiles.

Each of these three strategies -- metaphor analysis,

observations, and survey data -- provided teachers with

unique topographical perspectives for uncovering the

subterranean landscapes of the mind. Rather than viewing

their work as an eclectic collection of strategies, teachers

were able to identify the components of their own

distinctive profiles and analyze their implications. Their

analyses revealed that daily activities did not always reflect

underlying patterns.

Too often reform efforts have focused exclusively on

daily surface activities, ignoring the teachers’ tacit

understandings of their educological identities. Recent

critiques of misguided reform efforts have prompted a closer

examination of teachers’ roles as integral to sustained

systemic change. This preliminary investigation suggests

that metaphor, as a vehicle for uncovering teachers’ tacit

constructions promotes “critical analysis, the shared

construction of knowledge, and renewed commitment to

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

61

action” (Brown & Moffett, 1999, p. 4). Providing teachers

with a strategy for focused critical reflection encourages

them to explore their “personal practical knowledge” within

the context of their own practice, translate insights into

metaphorical expressions of professional identity, and

integrate classroom educology into school renewal efforts.

It also heeds the warning from Hargreaves (1996) who

criticizes educologists and teachers of educology for

meeting teachers’ social and emotional needs while leaving

their practice unchallenged and unchanged.

This study suggests that the explicit concept of

educological content knowledge as developed by Shulman

(1987) and refined by Grossman (1990) can be

complemented by the exploration of its implicit dimensions.

In addition, these implicit dimensions appear to be more

complex than either learning theory frameworks or reform

models suggest. Externally conceived reform models which

are not grounded in teachers’ personal practical knowledge

do not align with teachers’ educological content knowledge

will not be effective in shifting the curricular landscape.

When school reform initiatives are grounded in teachers’

educological identities, educators can more effectively

reshape the landscapes that define their practice.

The original research which forms the basis for this

overall self-reflective process, resulted in three organizing

themes which clearly linked teacher practice with classic

educological theory: behavioral change, assisted performance

and radical constructivism.

While a factor analysis of the survey data produced nine

factors which accounted for 80% of the variance, the

purpose of this follow-up evaluation was to assess the

overall process, which included observations and metaphor

analysis in addition to the original survey data. The followup

evaluation of the process revealed that while teachers

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

62

derived significant benefits from this extended selfreflective

sequence, there were also some interesting

limitations inherent in the process.

Teachers reported that the overall process provided

structure, reinforcement and critical insight. Those who

responded positively to the structure felt that precise survey

questions kept them focused and encouraged reflection that,

in the words of one teacher, “we so often do not do.” In

fact, this teacher reported that she was “grateful for the

opportunity.” Another commented that it “forced me to

look at my teaching and my philosophy and see how they fit

into the big picture of learning.” For some, this “deeper

look” into the classroom confirmed that they were “on the

right highway.” Others were surprised by the lack of

congruence between their self-assessment surveys and their

observations. A teacher who found some discrepancies

noted that the self assessment survey provided an anchor for

comparisons between “the style of teaching I thought I used

versus the way I actually teach.” Whether providing a

confirmation or a question, teachers commented consistently

on the fact that the process raised their levels of awareness

on many levels.

In examining various aspects of this process, 73% of

teachers surveyed reported that the self-assessment survey

was most useful, 66% found the observations most useful,

50% identified the nine educological profiles resulting from

the factor analysis most useful, and 36% ranked the

metaphor as most useful.

Teachers who found the self-assessment survey most

useful valued the precision, structure, comprehensiveness,

and the emphasis on the self. As one teacher observed, “the

survey helped me to review what, when, why and how.”

Another noted the importance of starting the process with

the self-assessment survey to ensure honest reflection. He

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

63

remarked that he would have been tempted to change his

responses if he had known where the process was heading.

This survey provided a baseline for the subsequent

activities.

Teachers reported that the classroom observations

provided validation, insights and surprises. In terms of

validation, teachers felt that the observations when linked to

specific theorists gave them “permission to teach in

particular ways.” The observations also reinforced positive

aspects of personal practice from multiple (peer, student,

administrator) perspectives. Many teachers were surprised

by the extent to which their educological practices were

content specific – as confirmed in Schulman’s (199)

identification of the importance of “pedagogical [i.e.

educological] content knowledge.” Others noted the way in

which student population and physical constraints

dramatically affected their range of teaching options. The

observations also provided surprises when coupled with the

self assessment surveys, specifically in the areas of

prediction, control and shaping of classroom behavior and in

the prevalence of student talk. Teachers were surprised at

the levels of control they typically exerted, having assessed

themselves earlier as more open to serendipity. As one

teacher commented, “I teach with much more rigid

guidelines than I thought.” Many were also surprised by

the lack of active engagement on the part of students as

illustrated in the following: “I was surprised that my

observations didn’t show more student talk and interaction

in class.” The most common educological profiles selected

by high school, middle school, and elementary school

teachers were Supportive Realism and Assisted

Performance. Teachers clearly saw their own practice

reflected in the varied class activities and emphasis on social

relationships characteristic of Supportive Realism and the

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

64

sensitivity to the needs of individual students characteristic

of Assisted Performance. Identity Building, with its

emphasis on individual performance as well as strong sense

of self and Progressive Independence with its emphasis on

facilitation and accidental discovery in the service of clearly

specified goals were selected least often. Teachers did not

view these two profiles as representative of either the

practical or theoretical commitments they felt they

possessed after completing the entire sequence. More high

school teachers than middle or elementary school teachers

aligned their practice with either Cooperative Convergence

or Controlled Convergence. While the level of group work

varied, the element of control in both of these profiles

reflected the expressed need to prepare students for

standardized tests. Teachers were also able to identify the

ways their profiles had changed over the course of their

careers. Most reported that they began their teaching careers

with an emphasis on behavior management. As they

continued to teach they began collecting strategies to

enhance learning, but did not systematically evaluate and

integrate these techniques in light of theoretical

commitments or student needs. Later they became more

concerned with aligning curricular outcomes with

pedagogical initiatives. The energy shifted from maintaining

classroom control to deliberately pursuing “the best ways

for students to learn and understand.”

While a few teachers found the metaphor activity to be

the most difficult and least enjoyable part of the selfreflective

process, the majority reported that they enjoyed

the “chance to be creative” and to look at teaching “in a new

light” using a new modality. The metaphors allowed

teachers to “shape . . . philosophy,” to achieve a “better

focus,” and to gain a greater sense of “what’s important in

teaching and learning.” The metaphors also provided an

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

65

opportunity for teachers to compare their profession to “the

rest of the world,” something many of them had never done.

As one teacher expressed it, metaphors “created a much

more colorful picture and it was inspirational to compare

myself to my metaphor.” Some were surprised at how

similar their jobs were to other occupations. Some felt that

the metaphors prompted them to “scrutinize” their personal

“teaching styles” while other gained a greater appreciation

for other professions by comparing them to teaching. Most

were intrigued by their colleagues’ metaphors; more than

any of the other activities, teachers reported enjoying

“listening to others’ metaphors.”

The evaluation of the overall process as well as specific

activities within the process revealed a range of responses

from reinforcement or confirmation to critical questioning

of patterns and assumptions. The process made teachers

more aware of their use of theoretical frameworks and

techniques, providing “reasoning” to their practice: “Every

time I teach, I think about which theorist I’m using.” The

process also provided some validation of selected

educological patterns:

The things I found out in my observations were reinforced through

the theory and I felt it supported the practices that I feel are

important. I felt like it gave me the permission to teach the way I

do.

While some teachers confirmed educological patterns,

others were led to question their practice: “This process

helped me see that I need to broaden my range of theorists

and that I need to be more flexible, less Skinner-like.” In

addition to questioning practice, some teachers were

prompted to question the role of theory. As one teacher

observed, “I think it is important to link theory to practice;

however, at times I think theories are restrictive.”

International Journal of Educology, 2003, Vol 17, No 1&2

66

Interrogating the role of theory is crucial for educators at

all levels. As Clandinin and Connelly (1998) have

cautioned, teachers’ stories must not become an end in and

of themselves: “It is education that is at the core of our

enterprise and not merely the telling of stories” (p. 246).

The self-assessment-observation-metaphor process can be

most effective, not as a vehicle for revealing teachers’

educological identities, but as a catalyst for the “inquiry

oriented conversation” (p. 252) that enlivens the journey

from untheorized practice to best practice informed by

sound educology.

This “epistemology of practice” combines reflection,

observation, and theorizing steeped in the day-to-day lives

of teachers. It encourages educators to question the

underlying assumptions which constrain them and consider

alternative ways of conceptualizing practice. To facilitate

professional development throughout an educator’s career,

in-service designs can incorporate teacher-guided inquiry

with ongoing opportunities for critical dialogue,

observation, and reflection. Such a process allows teachers

to develop educological theories which are grounded,

responsive, and tailored to meet the unique needs of students

in diverse settings.

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An Article in Philosophy of Educology

International Journal of Educology

2004, Volume 18, Number 2

64

The Educative Experience in Developing Democracies in the World

(An Essay in Philosophy of Educology)

James E. Fisher

President, ERA/USA

Columbia, South Carolina, USA

Introduction by Co-Editors

This paper is in philosophy of educology in that it inquires into knowledge about the educative

experience and its connection to the educational process.

Introduction by Author

The Institute of History and Philosophy of Educology for Developing Democracies in the World

(the Institute), an initiative of Educology Research Associates/USA, Columbia, South Carolina,

USA, has the mission of conducting and publishing the results of empirical philosophical research

into the nature of the educative experience and into how this experience is, and ought to be better,

integrated into the educational process as this process is conducted in homes, schools, and

communities in the cultures of developing democracies in the world.

At the Institute, the meaning of the words ‘educative experience’ is used to refer to the experience

of authentically learning of something, in contrast to the inauthentic learning of something, i.e. in

contrast to mis-educative experience, whereby, the educative experience is the outcome of

reflectively experiencing the correspondence, or lack of correspondence, between the imagined

and actual consequences of chosen actions in indeterminate situations, whether in personal,

occupational, or professional life endeavors. The presupposition is that educative experiences, as

the outcome of reflective thinking experiences, ought to be better integrated into the school

educational process in developing democracies in the world so that the youth, in their personal

life endeavors in schools, authentically learn from experiencing the actual, sometimes pleasurable

and sometimes painful, consequences of their chosen conduct within the organization of school

curriculum courses of study, selected and structured from the perspective of philosophy of

educology.

The philosophy of educology perspective is that the educative experience: (1) is the authentic

knowing experience; (i) conducted as the reflective thinking experience, and, (ii) organically

connected to, in, and with the general unified communication system in nature; (2) is involved in

and effects the open synergetic quality of nature, i.e. is involved in and effects the open

complementary relationship between the cooperative and competitive features in nature; (3) is the

experience through and from which cultures are made and changed by the bio-socio- semiosically

enculturalization of physical inorganic and organic, physiological organic, mental organic, and

dispositional organic circumstances in nature’s environment; (4) is the experience that is

integrated well or ill into the school educational process; (5) is the subject matter of educological

inquiry and this inquiry’s knowledge claims; (6) is, from the cultural perspective, the outcome of

the reflective thinking experience involving meaning as trans-actively conducted in the conscious

pursuit of knowledge by humans, with and amongst other humans, as persons, and; (7) is the

necessary experience for bettering the growth of the culture of developing democracies in the

world.

Part 1

The Open Synergetic Quality of Nature and

65

the Educative Experience, as the Knowing Experience, and, as the Outcome of the Reflective

Thinking Experience

The open synergetic quality of nature, as the open complementary relationship between the

cooperative and competitive features in nature, inheres in: (1) the physical existence aspect of

nature: (i) as the physical organic aspect of nature, (ii) as inter-connected with the physical

inorganic aspect of nature, (iii) as the established subject matter of the science of bio-ecological

inquiry, and, (iv) as the established object of bio-ecologically oriented proportionate knowledge

claims, and; (2) the bio-socio-semiosical cultural making, aspect of nature, as involving meaning

existing, (i) as the established subject matter of the science of bio-socio-semiotical inquiry, and,

(ii) as the established object of bio-socio-semiotically oriented proportionate knowledge claims,

whereas; (3) both natural aspects of which, from the philosophy of educology perspective, are

synergetically involved, in and effected by the educative experience, as the outcome of the

reflective thinking experience, however well or ill it is culturally integrated into the educational

process as this process is conducted in homes, schools, and communities in developing

democracies in the world.

The Physical and Bio-Socio-Semiosical Cultural Aspects of Nature as they Inhere in the Open

Synergetic Quality of Nature

The physical existence aspect of nature will be considered, immediately below, as it is involved

in the open synergetic process of trans-duction and the bio-socio-semiosical culture making

aspect of nature will be considered later as it is involved in a synergetically unified

communication system.

The physical existence aspect of nature, as inhering in the open synergetic quality of nature, as

this quality is involved in and effected by the reflective thinking experience, the outcome of

which is the knowing experience, i.e. the educative experience, from the bio-ecological

perspective, exists as the energy involved in the trans-ductive process in nature as a process of

human body behavior in its physical organic open synergetic inter-connection with the physical

inorganic circumstances of nature’s inter-actively behavioral environment.

The Trans-ductive Process as Involved in and with the Open Synergetic Quality of Nature

The trans-ductive process is an open synergetic process in nature’s inter-actively behavioral

environment, whereby, physical energy is changed from one form to another, i.e. it is a process

involving the trans-formation of physical energy to other forms of physical energy and the transmission

of this energy to a source. From the bio-ecological perspective, used at the Institute,

trans-duction synergetically functions: (1) to trans-form physical inorganic energy into physical

organic energy, and; (2) to trans-mit the physical organic energy to the physical organic nervous

system internal to the human body, out of which external human body inter-active behavioral

movements arise.

A model case of the open synergetic trans-duction of physical inorganic energy into physical

organic energy is that of the trans-formation of the physical inorganic energy of light as it is

changed into the physical organic energy of electrical impulses, whereas, these impulses exist as

internal to human body behaviors. The physical inorganic energy of light, as waves and/or

particles, is emitted from the sun and detected by the surface of the human body, specifically, by

the physical inorganic light sensory receptor cells located in the physical organic organ of the

human body’s eyes, whereby, in these sensory receptor cells, it is trans-formed and trans-mitted

66

by neural cells, i.e. by neurons, located in the physical organic nervous system of organs internal

to the human body, wherein, it becomes physical organic energy in the form of electrical

impulses. The physical inorganic energy of light, then, is trans-formed into electrical organic

energy through physical organic sensory organs of the body and becomes physical organic

energy, in the form of an electrical impulse, that is trans-mitted to and through neural cells to

synapses where it continues its trans-mission by neurotrans-mitting chemicals, i.e. by physical

organic chemical inter-active events, that form a continuity of inter-connections with and between

the neural cells of the nervous system as internal to human body behavior.

The point is that trans-duction is a open synergetic process in nature that functions, and only

functions, for example: (1) in the case of the experience of the eyes detecting physical inorganic

light waves and/or particles, as well as; (2) in the cases of the experience of the ears detecting

physical inorganic sound waves, the nose detecting physical inorganic odor molecules, the skin

detecting physical inorganic contact points, and the tongue detecting physical inorganic taste

molecules, i.e.: (3) in the cases of the experience of the five sensory oriented receptor organs

located on the surface of the human body; to trans-form physical inorganic (nonliving) energy in

nature’s external to the human body’s physical inorganic (nonliving) behavioral environment into

physical organic (living) energy in nature’s internal to the human body’s physical organic (living)

behavioral environment.

The Experience of the Trans-ductive Process as it is Involved in and with the Open Synergetic

Quality of Nature

From the bio-ecological perspective, trans-duction establishes the open synergetic quality in

nature of the cooperative, inter-dependent, and inter-active connection of: (1) the organic physical

circumstances as internal inter-active behavior of the human body, with; (2) the inorganic

physical circumstances as external to the human body inter-active behavior.

Bio-ecologically, the human body is organically and synergetically a part of nature’s inter-active

behaviors, whereby, trans-duction synergetically and physically inter-connects the physical

inorganic circumstances of nature’s environmental inter-active behavior of the human body with

the experience of the human body’s five sensory organs as the surface of human body inter-active

behavioral experiences, which are, from the perspective of the Institute, that which is referred to

by the meaning of the word ‘sensception’.

Sensception, then, as, and only as, the inter-active behavioral experience of the physical organic

seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting sensory organ experiences of the human body’s

surface, involving the physical organic nervous system in the trans-formation of physical

inorganic energy into physical organic energy, is a physically organic (living) natural inter-active

behavioral experience. The meaning of the word ‘sensception’, at the Institute, then, is used to

refer to, and only to, physical organic (living) inter-active behavioral experience, as inter-active

behavior of the human body in its open synergetic and inter-active behavioral connection with the

physical inorganic inter-active behavioral circumstances of nature’s environment, so as to make a

distinction between the existence of the sensceptual experience, as a natural form of experience in

nature’s inter-active behavior, and the recognizing experience, i.e. the experience of identifying

what exists in nature’s environment, as inter-dependent conduct of the human body and human

reflexive awareness in their synergetically oriented inter-active and trans-active connection with

the inorganic circumstances of nature’s environmental behavior, as the existence of another

organic (living) and natural form of experience in nature’s behavior referred to by the meaning of

the word ‘perceptual experience’.

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At the Institute, the distinction, between the meanings of the words ‘sensceptual experience’ and

‘perceptual experience’ is made: (1) through the distinction between the meanings of the words

‘signal’ and ‘sign’, and; (2) within an inter-related viewpoint of inter-active human behavior and

trans-active human conduct as involved in the open synergetic quality of nature.

At the Institute, then, the viewpoint that distinguishes, and then inter-relates, inter-active human

behavior and trans-active human conduct, as they are inter-dependently and inter-actively

involved in the trans-ductively oriented open synergetic quality of nature’s behavior and effected

by reflective thinking experiences of which the outcome is knowing experience, i.e. educative

experiences, is a viewpoint that is set in the context of bio-ecological knowledge about the

internal to the human body’s nervous system as a physical organic system of internal to human

body inter-active behaviors: (1) composed of a central physical organic nervous sub-system and a

peripheral physical organic nervous sub-system, and; (2) accounted for, from the perspective of

physically oriented information theory, as inter-related with the perspective of physically oriented

energy theory.

Physically Oriented Information Theory as Synergetically Connected with Physically Oriented

Energy Theory

Behavioral movement is the common factor in both of these theories and it is this factor that

inter-relates them. From the physically oriented energy theory perspective, the physical

inorganic energy: (1) of light waves and/or particles from the sun, as their source; (2) of sound

waves from physical events, as their source; (3) of odor molecules from physical objects, as their

source; (4) of contact points from physical objects and events, as their source; (5) of taste

molecules from physical events, as their source, and; (6) all inter-actively and behaviorally move

within and create the physical inorganic external to human body environment of nature and

become synergetically, inter-actively, and behaviorally connected with internal to human body

inter-active behavioral movement by being detected by the sensceptual experiences of the surface

of the human body’s sensory organs and transformed, through the open synergetic process of

trans-duction, into physical organic energy of electrical impulses as internal to the human body

inter-active behavioral movements. Whereby, then, from the physically oriented energy theory

perspective, the electrical impulses, as physical organic energy arising from the source of the

sensceptual experience, are entered into the body’s internal nervous system, from which external

human body inter-active behavioral movements arise.

This synergetics, then, of the physical inorganic energy in the physical environment of nature’s

inter-active behavioral movements as involved in being trans-ducted into physical organic energy

as internal to and inter-active behavior of the human body, from which external human body