Philosophy of Educations
P. Najarian
Abstract
Complexity theory is a new theory originally introduced in natural sciences; however, recently it has been widely used in social sciences, and has been of great interest to educators in the last two decades. Since complexity theory is yet fairly unknown in the majority of fields of science in Iran, especially ...
Read More
Complexity theory is a new theory originally introduced in natural sciences; however, recently it has been widely used in social sciences, and has been of great interest to educators in the last two decades. Since complexity theory is yet fairly unknown in the majority of fields of science in Iran, especially in education and curriculum development, it is necessary to describe its concepts and implications. The objective of this paper is to determine how the complexity theory and its implications can provide solutions for the current curriculum problems. This work presents a basic research approach, in which two philosophical research methods of “conceptual analysis: conceptual structure assessment” and “deductive method: practical syllogism” have been used. The results of this paper show that the application of philosophical features of the complexity theory can enable us to improve the current curriculums. Some of the implications of the complexity theory are: paying particular attention to the complex aspects of learners and their interactions with the universe; developing general mental abilities, applying trans-disciplinary approaches and problem-based curriculums, promoting contextualized knowledge and selecting educational resources and materials related to ecological problems; replacing distributed, participatory and negotiating knowledge with controlled-based and hierarchy-based one; promoting lifetime learning and distance learning, emphasizing learning through feedback, connection and network interaction by applying the new complex network-based technologies, and being prepared for continuous changes in unpredictable situations.
Alireza Mahmoodnia; Parvaneh Najarian; Saeid Zarghami; Mohammad Yamani
Abstract
Edgar Morin believes that the contemporary education systems get in crisis, which due to a simplified and separate approach to science and breaking it down to separate disciplines and putting overemphasis on specialization and super specialization. He suggests a transdisciplinary approach to challenge ...
Read More
Edgar Morin believes that the contemporary education systems get in crisis, which due to a simplified and separate approach to science and breaking it down to separate disciplines and putting overemphasis on specialization and super specialization. He suggests a transdisciplinary approach to challenge this crisis. The goal of this paper is explaining the philosophical foundations of Morin's idea. Therefore, by using the analytical method, this article is going to discuss Morin’s explicit emphasis on the necessity of reforming thought and explain his contrivance named “transdisciplinary approach”. From Morin's point of view, the transdisciplinary approach not only respects separation and detection of different disciplines, but also breaks down the boundaries between different disciplines and offers a unified, unique and integrated knowledge. As a conclusion, the transdisciplinary approach is a problem-center education and research that noting the wide range of knowledge can avoid the mono- dimensional education and alienation of disciplines.It seems that this approach prevents neglecting the problems of society and has the potential to evolve the educational systems.
