A deconstruction and reconstruction of learning, development and schooling that urges teachers to explore and create new educational opportunities for themselves and their students. The text asks the following questions: can we create ways for people to learn the kinds of things that are necessary for functional adaption without stifling their capacity to continuously create their growth? Can schools become environments that support children to perform not only as learners but as developers of their lives? This book challenges educators to look at the deeply-rooted assumptions about schooling, learning and development and urges that the way psychology and education have constructed our conceptions of what it means to teach, to learn and to grow may be the most serious impediment to the learning and developing of children. Beyond the criticism, the author presents a methodological reformation of what learning and development are as relational activities and then takes readers on a visit to three radical independant school settings.
Arguing that current educational models have been misguided by scientific psychology, the author states that the dominant model of human development actually hinders development. Moreover, as learning theory has become infused with development theory over the past 30 years, the overly cognitive manner in which psychologists have come to think about thinking, learning and development have become further insinuated into education. The prevalent mode of education - aquisitional learning - is grounded in a world view that gives primacy to knowledge and knowing which Holzman believes is inconsistent with ongoing developmental activity. The author discusses educational projects that are self-concious attempts to break with key elements of modern epistomology and the dominant psychologial paradigm as they are perpetrated in contemporary educational theory and practice. Their specific philosophies and practices highlight important methodological issues raised in the attempt to create "postmodern" schools - schools that are more concerned with growing and knowing.
A deconstruction and reconstruction of learning, development and schooling that urges teachers to explore and create new educational opportunities for themselves and their students. The text asks the following questions: can we create ways for people to learn the kinds of things that are necessary for functional adaption without stifling their capacity to continuously create their growth? Can schools become environments that support children to perform not only as learners but as developers of their lives? This book challenges educators to look at the deeply-rooted assumptions about schooling, learning and development and urges that the way psychology and education have constructed our conceptions of what it means to teach, to learn and to grow may be the most serious impediment to the learning and developing of children. Beyond the criticism, the author presents a methodological reformation of what learning and development are as relational activities and then takes readers on a visit to three radical independant school settings.
Arguing that current educational models have been misguided by scientific psychology, the author states that the dominant model of human development actually hinders development. Moreover, as learning theory has become infused with development theory over the past 30 years, the overly cognitive manner in which psychologists have come to think about thinking, learning and development have become further insinuated into education. The prevalent mode of education - aquisitional learning - is grounded in a world view that gives primacy to knowledge and knowing which Holzman believes is inconsistent with ongoing developmental activity. The author discusses educational projects that are self-concious attempts to break with key elements of modern epistomology and the dominant psychologial paradigm as they are perpetrated in contemporary educational theory and practice. Their specific philosophies and practices highlight important methodological issues raised in the attempt to create "postmodern" schools - schools that are more concerned with growing and knowing.
Contents: Part I:Current Educational Models: Misguided By Scientific Psychology. Can Schools Be Growthful in a Non-Growthful World? Development and Learning: What Psychology Has Constructed. Part II:A New Cultural, Performatory Psychology. Vygotsky's Promise: The Unity Learning-Leading- Development. Performing Development: Non-Epistemological Learning. Part III:Radical Educational Alternatives and Their Developmental Potential. Project Golden Key: A Russian Experiment in Developmental Education. When Democratic Education is Developmental--The Sudbury Valley School Model. The Barbara Taylor School--A Development Community Where Children Learn. Not a Conclusion.
Lois Holzman
"Holzman passionately argues that educators need to dismiss a
traditional emphasis on knowledge and concentrate on 'activating
the human capacity to perform--to create ourselves by being who we
are not'....This text packs much information in its 150 pages, both
theoretically and practically....would serve as a worthwhile course
text....[recommended] to any educators interested in rethinking the
role of language, communication, epistemology, and performance in
their own classrooms....prods us to stretch beyond our current
selves and practices."
—Communication Education"...this volume merits inclusion for
graduate students and researchers intent on understanding how
learning takes place."
—CHOICE"...the book offers a fresh and unusual perspective on
Vygotsky that is likely to stimulate discussion and
disagreement."
—Contemporary Psychology"It is refreshing to read the writing of a
theorist who puts her theory into practice in a very public
way....the book lives up to its title in that it presents three
institutions which offer an education operating within a model
different from the dominant one. These case studies give hope to
practitioners seeking evidence of successful alternatives to
conventional school."
—British Educational Research Journal"...advances a passionate
critique of the premises on which schooling rests and presents an
original alternative that is synthesized from the psychology of
Vygotsky and the philosophy of Wittgenstein. The book is smoothly
written and its argument is well-grounded in the current literature
in the neo-Vygotskian sociohistorical school of
psychology/education. The notion that education should be primarily
performative is distinctive and intriguing....The book will appeal
to an audience seeking radical alternatives to current models of
schooling."
—Steven Gelb
University of San Diego
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