Philosophy of Education

two cultures controversy

2010-08-12T09:33:00.001-07:00

Review: "The Two Cultures Controversy: Getzels, Jackson and Hudson"
From "Maps of the Mind" by Charles Hampden-Turner p. 104

Intelligence is a nebulous characteristic, consisting of the mind's ability to comprehend and gain knowledge through experience. Neither parts of this definition can be truly calculated, yet the school-boards around the US accept the results of the Binet IQ test as though it is an accurate measurement. Even Binet second guess the use of such a test to deliver desired data.

"Since, according to Binet, intelligence could not be described as a single score, the use of the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) as a definite statement of a child's intellectual capability would be a serious mistake. In addition, Binet feared that IQ measurement would be used to condemn a child to a permanent “condition” of stupidity, thereby negatively affecting his or her education and livelihood." (IQ Test: Where Does It Come From and What Does It Measure? by Jan Strydom)

Learning from experience would have to be measured after an experience, but can comprehension be measured with an IQ test? Getzels and Jackson showed that comprehension is a two step process of 'convergent' and 'divergent' thought processes; Convergent thinking, like deductive thinking, is when one takes in information and formulates an opinion. Divergent thinking is an unconventional and creative problem solving type, and includes reformulation, elaboration and play.
Getzels and Jackson found that although both processes occur during the solving of a problem, a person can rely heavily on just one type. Liam Hudson tested Getzels's and Jackson's theories in England, where he found students with strong convergent thinking tended towards the sciences, while those with a penchant for divergent thought steered towards the humanities. Yet Hudson thought the two criteria superficial and impercise indicators of a persons true intelligence. This is due to his finding that his test subjects claimed an 'inner' thought process opposite to their exterior perceived cognitive thinking (divergents were inner convergers and vis versa).

"An examination of the neurotic defenses and personal limitations of those in each major category revealed that both divergers and convergers tended to over-use their strong suits to escape being found out. Convergers learned to evade many issues by placing them 'outside sciences'. If a problem could not be formulated precisely enough to permit a technical solution it was no problem! They tended to take refuge from people in things. Divergers would often side-step unpleasant facts, by using their capacities for conceptual leaping to reach sager ground. By concentrating on problem presentation, the solution could be indefinitely postponed.
They tended to take refuge from things in people." (p. 107 Maps of the Mind)

The mind relies on which ever of the two types it feels more comfortable with, meanwhile creating a defense mechanism to hide behind - "that's not logical," says the convergent thinker. Yet, science relies on the imagination to consider solutions to the unknown just as much as the humanities rely on economics and biology to explain the imagination of authors. So, convergent and divergent categories are just another tool of the mind to deal with the world and not mere components of comprehension.
Perhaps the IQ test's merit was only in estimating the student's ability for convergent thought? If the two processes are occurring and learned from experience information is utilized, then how can an accurate measurement of one component be considered a valid measure?? Yet from another prospective, isn't it interesting that we rely on a test we consider scientific (convergent thought) to measure an abstract concept of intelligence (mared in the divergent).

Cram Sessions

2009-01-09T18:16:00.001-08:00

If you would like to Cram, if you are that sort of person, check it out here: CRAMBERRY

different than bowie

2009-01-03T20:08:00.000-08:00

Heterochromia of the eye (heterochromia iridis or heterochromia iridum) is of two kinds. In complete heterochromia, one iris is a different color from the other. In partial heterochromia or sectoral heterochromia, part of one iris is a different color from its remainder.

Seeing with Sound

2008-02-06T09:03:00.000-08:00

Seeing sound education

100 educational websites

2007-04-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

From the Online Education Database's 100 educational websites

mispronunciation

2007-04-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

100 most mispronounced words

Museum Debate

2007-03-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

Today's art museums are committed to completing major expansion and renovation projects, and vigorously carrying out their stated missions. ¹ These missions typically are concerned with processes of acquisition, preservation, exhibition, and education. The National Gallery of Art, for example, is dedicated to "preserving, collecting, exhibiting, and fostering the understanding of works of art." ² Similarly, the Getty Museum at the J. Paul Getty Center seeks to "delight, inspire, and educate the public by acquiring, conserving, studying, exhibiting, and interpreting works of art." ³ Such processes are strategic, of course, and give direction and purpose to the range of programs and services offered by these institutions. Ensuring that visitors are surrounded by works of art, "at the highest quality," these processes also give rise to a particular view of the museum as an "object of reflection, contemplation, and discussion." ⁴

Although unstated, I shall argue that art museums typically have other missions that are actively, if insidiously implemented through processes of representation (re-presentation), socialization, institutionalization, and commodification.The museum functions as a "socializing institution," that both represents and presents cultural assumptions, as well as social and aesthetic values to young and old alike. ⁵ These processes succeed in establishing an "ideology of aesthetic autonomy — the compartmental conception of fine art that segregates it to the separate realm of the museum." ⁶ Simultaneously, they present "ideology in material form." The museum itself is a representation that tends to take on an independent and ultimately self-reflecting existence. In a Debordian view, "it is a spectacle, which, in its generality, is a concrete inversion of life, and as such, the autonomous movement of non-life." Through processes of representation and commodification, the spectacular museum is constructed as a frame that influences the public perception of art and society. Moreover, this ideological frame influences how the public experiences constructs of time and place, and how it comes to know about art in relation to the real world.

For more information on this article: Museum as Process

The Journal of Aesthetic Education 37.1 (2003) 107-119

Carol S. Jeffers

If you find more on the debate -please add here

Questions for Higher Education

2007-03-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

(a)Voice: Does the construct treat members of each cultural group not as objects but as people who have "subject position" and can author their own cultural histories? (Feminist theory, queer theory, and multiculturalism)

(b) Power: Does the construct include within its scope a recognition that power and knowledge are interconnected? (From poststructural critique)

(c)Authenticity: Is construct validity maintained by locating students in their own time and history? (From postcolonial or transnational anthropology)

(d)Self-reflexivity: Does the construct promote self-knowledge for the researcher by making his or her culture and social location a part of the analysis? (From postmodern theory)

(e)Reconstitution: Is the researcher urged to use personal story to reveal needed change in the structures and reward mechanisms of his or her own discipline and academic department? (From critical race theory)

For more information: The Journal of Higher Education 73.2 (2002) 263-296
Higher Education's Self-Reflexive Turn
Toward an Inter-cultural Theory of Student Development
Greg Tanaka

Philosohpy of Language

2007-02-25T09:02:00.000-08:00

Many may have heard of such a branch of philosophy - but few mention it, other than the dedicated philosophers of the analytical school.... Yet I have found the questions raised in this field to be most interesting, and wholly relevant. Try: Wittgenstein Or Russell
Of course there are others -- let me know which has tickled your fancy.

Philsophy made Easy

2007-02-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

There should be more sites that attempt to bring philosophy into the world of anyone who is interested in it. Here are a few that I have managed to track down:

Physics, Philosophy and Metaphysics of Space

Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

and finally a webpage debating the role of philosophy in education - Here

If anyone finds any interesting philosophy websites, databases or debates, let me know.

Language

2007-02-19T08:53:00.000-08:00

Language resources are hard to come by, especially those that will hold one's interest or be utilized for something other than a reference.

Language Log
Has made such an event possible with the use of humor.
Language and Linguistic for the laymen at Verbatim

How about a visual dictionary? Curious?

If you find any other word or language sites, please let me know.

Creating Interest

2007-02-19T08:13:00.000-08:00

History is interesting for hundreds of reasons, but, like other humanities, it is sometimes overlooked as unimportant. Sometimes, even those who advocate for the subject construct their interests ahistorically or without chronology.
Below are some internet tools to provoke historical interest:

Oxford Biographies
(click on underlined words)
Biographies are often an easy way to gain empathy for a historical figure and through that historical figure come to understand the time period. It is true also of novels set in historical time frames, films and such. This site offers a biography a day, while this ONE searches archives of articles for relevant information about these persons from The Royal Historical Society, Irish History Online and London's Past Online.

A historical Timeline
Often places the names, dates and events into a general perspective. Seeing the world change and interact, even before the existence of the internet may remind us that we are very social creatures.

Sometimes interest is peeked because that which we are interested-in's history adds to our understanding of it: Writing papers? Roller Coasters? Food?

Or more serious topics like Religion, War and Art.

And finally, even philsophical history doesn't have to be intimidating when one looks at it from the vantage point of influence!

Introduction

2007-02-16T16:13:00.000-08:00

Every society has a fairly complicated education system. In today's internet society information moves so fast, it is more a matter of collection than teaching. To some extent. Our minds work the same as our ancestors and it is my belief that our education continues to utilize their understanding of understanding to gain access to information. In this website I would like to start a dialogue about 'education' and 'education systems,' specifically college and university but not confined to. The interest, other than information and its movements, is on resources and language. Language is of specific interest to me, its uses and capabilities. The way questions provoke answers or confusion, the construct of sentences, poetics and aesthetics.