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Contemporary approaches to a pedagogy of process

  • Thomas E. Peterson EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 6, 2016

Abstract

This essay explores the bases for a process theory of learning applicable across the disciplines in today’s academy. First it traces the modern history of process pedagogy beginning with Kant and leading through Cassirer and Whitehead to an array of contemporary approaches that favor the symbiosis of art and science over the lingering Cartesian dichotomy of “subjective” mental processes and “objective” forms of knowledge. Second, it examines the case of science education, specifically as regards habit formation, ethical instruction, and qualitative research. Thinkers as diverse as Whitehead, Bourdieu, Serres, Latour, and Dewey are seen to oppose the neoscholastic myth of scientific objectivity and favor a language of relations that fosters an “anastomosis” between the disciplines. Lastly, the essay examines the pedagogical role played by logical abduction, as articulated by Peirce and developed further by later scholars. Thus the essay’s three sections – starting with the historical discussion, moving to the field-specific problem of science education, and finally the issue of abductive reasoning – reinforce one another and aim to exemplify the dynamic integration of the general and specific, of mind and nature, that is a goal of process pedagogy.

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Published Online: 2016-7-6
Published in Print: 2016-9-1

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