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 ...
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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.
Nematollah Fazeli
Abstract
This paper constitutes of two main sections: the first section examines academic disciplines in the world theoretically. This section deals with issues such as what are academic disciplines, how they emerged and evolved, what functions they have had, and finally, what problems and crisis they have in ...
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This paper constitutes of two main sections: the first section examines academic disciplines in the world theoretically. This section deals with issues such as what are academic disciplines, how they emerged and evolved, what functions they have had, and finally, what problems and crisis they have in terms of their functions. The second section of the paper deals with the state of academic disciplines in Iran. To examine Iranian academic disciplines I have studied social and historical context of emergence and development of academic disciplines in Iran. I have also compared similarities and differences of academic disciplines functions in Iran and the west. Finally, I tried to explain Iranian academic disciplines encounter which challenges and difficulties today. This paper examines academic disciplines from sociological and cultural studies approach. It is mainly a theoretical and conceptual analysis of the state of discipline in the academic system. Cultural studies, as Moran (Moran 2001) explains, is a kind of approach rather than a specific discipline. From this point of view, each discipline has its own interdisciplinary field and cultural studies. In addition, cultural studies approach explains and explores social and political context disciplines.