Pedagogy as a philosophy as well as science of teaching
- 1. According to Susan Wallace in her dictionary of education; Pedagogy as a professional practice and as a field of academic study, it encompasses not only a practical application of teaching or pedagogical skills but also curriculum issues and the body of theory relating to how and why learning takes place. Because it derives from a Greek expression referring to the education of the young, pedagogy is sometimes taken to be specifically about the education of the young people and children. Whereas the more recently coined term Androgogy is used in relation to education of adults. There are facts that shows how pedagogy is related to science as well as philosophy, these are shown as follows:- PEDAGOGY AS A SCIENCE The science of thinking The science of thinking is generally known as cognitive psychology. Physicists who have hardly stepped out of their own discipline, especially those over 50, may have some doubt that cognitive psychology qualifies as a science, In the last three decades cognitive psychology has undergone a major revolution in several directions at once. (1) The development of information processing theories and (2) The consolidation of developmental psychology. It cannot be overstressed, however, that there is much research along other lines with important implications for a science of teaching. Cognitive psychology is in a period of great ferment and rapid development, with diverse schools and research programs from which, nevertheless, the outlines of a comprehensive theory of cognitive processes has begun to emerge. Information processing (IPS) Models of a thinking human being as an Information Processing System (IPS) have evolved alongside the modern computer. Both the computer and the human being can be regarded as different species of the genus IPS. Both can operate on input with a well-defined symbolic structure to produce an equally well-defined output. The performance of each is determined by its hardware (physical structure) and its software (programming). Comparison of the two kinds of systems has vastly improved our understanding of both. On the other hand, computer science has developed a language that makes it possible to describe the processing powers of humans with a precision previously unknown to cognitive psychology. The general structure of the human IPS is indicated in relation to Philosophy Philosophers had identified its major components long ago by introspection. Thus, the old concept of consciousness refers to the Short-Term Memory (STM) while the Long-Term Memory (LTM) had been identified as an unconscious component of mind. These components of mind can now be described with some precision and detail, Developmental psychology Jean Piaget is the Charles Darwin of developmental psychology. He gave the subject its first comprehensive theory of cognitive growth and compiled a mountain of facts to support it. Piaget’s theory is no more the last word on cognitive growth than Darwin’s theory was the last word on evolution. Piaget has identified a sequence of four major stages or levels of cognitive
- 2. development, called the Sensorimotor, the Preoperational, the Concrete Operational, and the Formal Operational level. Each level is characterized theoretically by a set of specific cognitive processes and empirically by a set of Piagetian tasks to detect those processes. Teachers should become sensitive to the cognitive levels of their students, so they can match their methods to the capabilities of their students. They should become adept at recognizing reasoning skills required to process written materials and complete assignments so they can anticipate where students are likely to have difficulty. Most students in high school and college reason at the concrete or formal level, so it is especially important for science teachers to recognize the role of concrete and formal processes in understanding science. To determine specific educational implications of Piaget’s theory, we must examine the role of specific reasoning patterns in learning. Surely proportional reasoning is one of the most important reasoning patterns in science; one can hardly get started in physics and chemistry without it. It is commonly believed that proportional reasoning is taught in high school algebra courses when students are introduced to the formula a/b= c/d. On the contrary, Piaget’s theory implies that a student cannot comprehend the formula unless he is already capable of proportional reasoning. Proportional reasoning is carried out by programs in the LTM which coordinate a system of functional relations. No programs, no reasoning. Educational research In our brief review of cognitive psychology we have noted several steps that the individual science teacher can take to improve his effectiveness. He can further refine his insight into the teaching process by becoming familiar with research journals such as Science Education and the Journal for Research in Science Teaching. However, the teaching effectiveness of an individual is limited as much by the state of his profession as by his own ability and initiative. The teacher can no more develop effective new curricula and teaching techniques on his own than he can discover the basic principles of the science he teaches. If the profession of teaching is ever to transcend the folklore state of Gilbert Highet, it must be guided and supported by a program of profound educational research. What should be the domain of science education research? It should embrace at least the following three kinds of activities (1) Structural analysis. The structure of science must be analyzed from both logical and psychological points of view to identify the essentials that need to be taught and what it takes to understand them. Cognitive growth is a process of progressive differentiation and integration of mental structures (schemes). Accordingly, scientific knowledge must be organized into a series of well-defined levels of increasing complexity and sophistication if it is to be taught efficiently. (2) Methodological analysis. The development and the application of science require a variety of problem-solving techniques. The problem-solving strategies used by scientists must be identified and classified before they can be taught systematically. It is especially important to distinguish strategies with broad applicability from special techniques devised for particular problems. A study of problem solving in mathematics has been made by Polya, but without
- 3. attention to the psychological aspects considered by Newell and Simon. There is no comparable study of problem solving in physics or any of the other sciences. (3) Curriculum development. To be maximally effective, science curricula must be designed in accordance with sound scientific and psychological principles. The design must include teaching strategies as well as the selection and organization of subject matter; it must be concerned with the details of student and teacher activities. A specific curriculum is a kind of instructional model; it must be tested and compared with alternative models to determine its adequacy. As formulated here, science education research is obviously an interdisciplinary enterprise, so a few remarks on the roles of various disciplines are in order. A structural and methodological analysis of science should certainly be classified as philosophy of science. The philosophers have much to say about this. However, they have not developed an integrated view of the logical and psychological components or carried out the analysis in the detail that is necessary to determine its educational implications. The details cannot be worked out without the insight of the scientist and the psychologist, but they cannot be coordinated without a broad philosophical perspective. In educational applications philosophy of science may find the relevance to scientific activity that it has lacked in the past. We have seen that cognitive psychology has much to offer, but much less than what is needed for a satisfactory theory of scientific thinking. The teachers can’t wait for a better theory, nor should science education researchers leave the development of such a theory up to the psychologists. Scientists and science teachers know a great deal about effective reasoning strategies that have not yet been incorporated into psychological theory. Indeed, the main ingredients of Piaget’s theory are concepts which have been taken over from biology, mathematics, and physics. Physics is ideal for studying reasoning and learning strategies because the subject matter is well-defined and the concepts involved vary widely in kind and complexity. It would be most difficult for a psychologist to acquire the scientific insight needed for a deep study of scientific thinking. It is easier for a scientist to learn the relevant results and methods of psychology. Science education research is needed to link psychology with the natural sciences. Mathematics has been called "the language of science." A science can certainly not be separated from its language. The cognitive processes in science have so much in common with those in mathematics that it would be foolish not to integrate research in science education with research in mathematics education. Such specialists exist and they have formed a professional society, the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. Unfortunately, most of these specialists are located in schools of education so they are cut off from the well-spring of their discipline, the various scientific disciplines themselves. Consequently, their research suffers in quality, and is limited primarily to the teaching of science to young children. Science education research will not come of age until it is recognized and actively supported in the universities by
- 4. PEDAGOGY AS PHILOSOPHY Pedagogy is a philosophy in a sense that every instructor or teacher has his/her own beliefs of instruction. There are ideas that one belief that when he/she applies in teaching he/she can become very successful in his/her lesson and students will easily catch up the materials. These philosophical beliefs should be habored and governed by the students by student’s background knowledge and situation, experience and environments as well as the learning goals set by students and their teachers. Different philosophers gave out their views and philosophical beliefs on pedagogical skills Socrates The Socratic method (also known as method of elenchus, eclectic method, Socratic irony, or Socratic debate), named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas. It is a dialectical method, often involving an oppositional discussion in which the defense of one point of view is pitted against the defense of another; one participant may lead another to contradict him in some way, strengthening the inquirer's own point. The Socratic methods is a negative method of hypothesis elimination, in that better hypotheses are found by steadily identifying and eliminating those that lead to contradictions. The Socratic methods searches for general, commonly held truths that shape opinion, and scrutinizes them to determine their consistency with other beliefs. The basic form is a series of questions formulated as tests of logic and fact intended to help a person or group discover their beliefs about some topic, exploring the definitions or logoi (singular logos), seeking to characterize the general characteristics shared by various particular instances. The extent to which this method is employed to bring out definitions implicit in the interlocutors' beliefs, or to help them further their understanding, is called the method of maieutics. Aristotle attributed to Socrates the discovery of the method of definition and induction, which he regarded as the essence of the scientific method. The term Socratic questioning is used to describe a kind of questioning in which an original question is responded to as though it were an answer. This in turn forces the first questioner to reformulate a new question in light of the progress of the discourse. Socratic questioning is disciplined questioning that can be used to pursue thought in many directions and for many purposes, including: to explore complex ideas, to get to the truth of things, to open up issues and problems, to uncover assumptions, to analyze concepts, to distinguish what we know from what we don't know, to follow out logical implications of thought, or to control the discussion. The key to distinguishing Socratic questioning from questioning per se is that Socratic questioning is systematic, disciplined, and deep, and usually focuses on fundamental concepts, principles, theories, issues, or problems.
- 5. Socratic questioning is referred to in teaching, and has gained currency as a concept in education particularly in the past two decades. Teachers, students, or indeed anyone interested in probing thinking at a deep level can and should construct Socratic questions and engage in these questions. Pedagogy When teachers use Socratic questioning in teaching, their purpose may be to probe student thinking, to determine the extent of student knowledge on a given topic, issue or subject, to model Socratic questioning for students, or to help students analyze a concept or line of reasoning. Students should learn the discipline of Socratic questioning so that they begin to use it in reasoning through complex issues, in understanding and assessing the thinking of others, and in following-out the implications of what they, and others think. In teaching, then, teachers can use Socratic questioning for at least two purposes: To deeply probe student thinking, to help students begin to distinguish what they know or understand from what they do not know or understand (and to help them develop intellectual humility in the process). To foster students' abilities to ask Socratic questions, to help students acquire the powerful tools of Socratic dialogue, so that they can use these tools in everyday life (in questioning themselves and others). To this end, teachers can model the questioning strategies they want students to emulate and employ. Moreover, teachers need to directly teach students how to construct and ask deep questions. Beyond that, students need practice to improve their questioning abilities. Socratic questioning illuminates the importance of questioning in learning (indeed Socrates himself thought that questioning was the only defensible form of teaching). It illuminates the difference between systematic and fragmented thinking. It teaches us to dig beneath the surface of our ideas. It teaches us the value of developing questioning minds in cultivating deep learning. Integrating Socratic questions this is the following manner in the classroom help develop active, independent learners: 1. Getting students to clarify their thinking e.g., ‘Why do you say that?’, ‘Could you explain further?’ 2. Challenging students about assumptions e.g., ‘Is this always the case?’, ‘Why do you think that this assumption holds here?’ 3. Evidence as a basis for argument e.g., ‘Why do you say that?’, ‘Is there reason to doubt this evidence?’ 4. Alternative viewpoints and perspectives
- 6. e.g., ‘What is the counter argument for?’, ‘Can/did anyone see this another way?’ 5. Implications and consequences e.g., ‘But if what happened, what else would result?’, ‘How does...affect...?’ 6. Question the question e.g., ‘Why do you think that I asked that question?’, ‘Why was that question important?’, ‘Which of your questions turned out to be the most useful?’ Critical thinking The art of Socratic questioning is intimately connected with critical thinking because the art of questioning is important to excellence of thought. What the word "Socratic" adds to the art of questioning is systematicity, depth, and an abiding interest in assessing the truth or plausibility of things. Both critical thinking and Socratic questioning share a common end. Critical thinking provides the conceptual tools for understanding how the mind functions in its pursuit of meaning and truth; Socratic questioning employs those tools in framing questions essential to the pursuit of meaning and truth. The goal of critical thinking is to establish an additional level of thinking to our thinking, a powerful inner voice of reason, that monitors, assesses, and reconstitutes—in a more rational direction—our thinking, feeling, and action. Socratic discussion cultivates that inner voice through an explicit focus on self-directed, disciplined questioning. John Dewey (1858-1952) is just one of many educational leaders who recognized that a curriculum aimed at building thinking skills would be a benefit not only to the individual learner, but to the community and to the entire democracy. Dewey believes in participatory methods rather than traditional methods of teaching and learning which were mainly subject based, curriculum and teacher dominated education. The key to seeing the significance of critical thinking in academics is in understanding the significance of critical thinking in learning. There are two meanings to the learning of this content. The first occurs when learners (for the first time) construct in their minds the basic ideas, principles, and theories that are inherent in content. This is a process of internalization. The second occurs when learners effectively use those ideas, principles, and theories as they become relevant in learners' lives. This is a process of application. Good teachers cultivate critical thinking (intellectually engaged thinking) at every stage of learning, including initial learning. This process of intellectual engagement is at the heart of the Oxford, Durham, Cambridge and London School of Economics tutorials. The tutor questions the students, often in a Socratic manner (see Socratic questioning). The key is that the teacher who fosters critical thinking fosters reflectiveness in students by asking questions that stimulate thinking essential to the construction of knowledge.
- 7. Therefore he proposed more diversified curriculum that opposed to method that only allowed time tabling of few subjects at the expense of others. Dewey’s ideas on the role of the teacher were intended to enhance participatory method. REFERENCE Allen, N and Herbert, S. (1972), Human Problem Solving, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. G. Polya, (1978), How To Solve It (Princeton, NJ, 5th printing,); Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, 2 Vol., (Princeton, NJ, 1975). Gilbert Highet, (1950), The Art of Teaching, Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Thungu, J, et al,(2008), Mastering PTE Education, Oxford University Press. Wallace S. (2008), Oxford Dictionary of Education, Oxford University Press Inc, New York.
- 8. JORDAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE A CONSTITUENT COLLEGE OF ST. AUGUSTINE UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA-(SAUT) FACULTY : BACHELOR OF ARTS WITH EDUCATION COURSE : PEDAGOGY COURSE CODE : TYPE WORK : GROUP ASSIGNMENT SUBMITED BY : GROUP NUMBER FOUR SBMITED TO : LECTURER SARAH EDMUND DATE : March, 2012 QUESTION : Discuss the fact that pedagogy is a philosophy as well as a science MEMBERS NO NAME REGSTRATION NO SIGNATURE 1. MODEST ERICK. R BAED 22443 2. GASPAR TIMOTHEO BAED 22286 3. THOBIAS PAUL BAED 22556 4. SAID MWANAHAWA BAED 22518 5. HABYAKARE FRIDA BAED 22299 6. FELICIAN RENATUS BAED 22280 7. CHALES AMAN. W BAED 22260 8. MASENGA PAUL. P BAED 23711 9. KAMWELA NOAH. A BAED 22355