Ignition for Education

As I build towards a discussion of curriculum writing, I’ve examined what knowledge is, how it is structured, how we come by it, and the relationship between knowledge and opinion. I’ve also written about what skills are and how people acquire them. Before I can sensibly discuss the making of a curriculum, however, I also…

In a previous post, I examined the structure of knowledge, the formation of knowledge, and the difference between knowledge and opinion, all of which should factor in a discussion of curriculum. But, before I can actually discuss curriculum, I need to examine skills—what they are, and how people acquire them. I also need to examine…

Ron DeSantis and others on the right have spent the current presidential term whipping up fear of “left wing” or “woke” indoctrination in schools. They have never provided evidence that this is happening. Not one time. They’ve just used the idea it to court conservative-minded voters and to pass bigoted legislation. Teachers are not teaching…

I’ve promised a discussion of curriculum writing. But before I can deliver it, I have to consider how knowledge works. This is covered by a branch of philosophy called Epistemology. As you’d expect, different epistemologists have different ideas about what knowledge is, what does and does not count as knowledge, and how knowledge is structured.…

In a post last week, I discussed the possibility of a cultural shift among teachers, to teaching our profession to and learning our profession from each other; to becoming, as I put it, “a community of students of pedagogy.” I suggested ways in which we could teach and learn from each other: informal discussions, observations,…

In a previous post, I suggested that teachers work together to, “patiently explore and discuss how to teach the curriculum.” I argued that, No pedagogical approach, whether Harkness or other Socratic methods, or project-based learning, or constructivism, is the answer. What works depends on the material to be taught, student demographics, what the students are accustomed…

Careful the things you say Children will listen Careful the things you do Children will see And learn Children may not obey But children will listen Children will look to you For which way to turn To learn what to be Careful before you say “Listen to me” Children will listen *** I heard these…

If, today, you met a genius, would you be able to tell? Would you know by their conversation? Or would you need more information, perhaps about their achievements, reading habits, or IQ? All of those approaches—evaluating a person’s intellectual ability by their oral expression, other kinds of output, interaction with the intellectual world, psychometric measurements—are…

Teachers like to tell people that their pedagogies are “research based” or that “research shows” something or other to be true. They seldom give detail of the research, and I’ve come to suspect that it may sometimes be of low quality or exist only in rumor. If one person tells another that a certain conclusion…

Teachers are the intended audience of this essay. It sets out a view of moral goodness and of “the good” for individuals, communities, and societies as a whole, and then it applies that view, the Creation Paradigm, to the questions of how to teach well. In Section 2, some of its points are more relevant…