1. Dualism-Received Knowledge
(knowledge as objective facts)
View of Knowledge:
Knowledge is facts, information, and right answers.
View of Instructor:
Instructors are authorities who know the facts.
Teaching is telling students those facts.
View of Learning:
Learning is recording information in notes, committing it to
memory, and feeding it back as answers on the test.
Difficulties with:
Uncertainty or disagreement among authorities.
Multiple perspectives or more than one answer.
Questions or assignments which require independent
thought.
2. Multiplicity-Subjective Knowledge
(knowledge based in subjective experience)
View of Knowledge:
In some areas, truth is not yet known. Differences of
opinion are legitimate.
When the facts are not known, one theory or opinion is as
good as another so long as it makes sense.
Students gradually discover that academics have rules for
making sense.
View of Instructor:
Instructor's opinions are no better than students'.
However, instructors know how to make sense-how to support
their opinions-in academic settings.
Teaching is showing students how to think.
View of Learning:
Student's job is to learn how to play the academic game-how
to think and how to support opinions.
Difficulties with:
Assignments that call for informed opinions, reasoned
judgments, evidence and documentation.
Idea that some opinions are better than others.
Evaluation of student work.
|
3. Relativism-Procedural Knowledge
(knowledge as disciplinary, methodological)
View of Knowledge:
Knowledge is neither facts and right answers, nor is it
anyone's opinion.
Students now see complexity in problems and issues, the need
for systematic analysis, and the importance of evidence.
View of Instructor:
Instructor may not have answers but they know discipline's
methods of analysis.
View of Learning:
Learning is developing skills for dealing with
complexity:
-thinking about several factors or views
-looking at a situation from different
perspectives
-using systematic methods of analysis
-gathering evidence and supporting conclusions
-seeing strengths and limitations of analytic methods
Difficulties with:
Taking a position or choosing among alternatives.
4. Commitment In Relativism-
Constructed Knowledge
(knowledge as creative, critically-informed intersection
of facts, experience, method)
View of Knowledge:
Knowledge is still contextual and relative, uncertain and
tentative, yet it is possible to take positions, make
choices, commit oneself.
View of Instructor:
A model of someone who is fully aware of uncertainty yet has
the courage to make commitments.
Teaching is challenging and encouraging students to explore
complexities fully and then to take a stand.
View of Learning:
Students seek understanding of complexities not just as
academic pursuit but also in order to create a world view,
one from which they will make commitments and choices.
|