Grab Bag

At some point this semester, please post a link to an article, video, website, etc. that made you think about something we’ve done in class. Also, please provide a brief discussion about whatever you submitted. This has no due date, but my hope is that you will check it periodically and read what your classmates are posting (feel free to comment, too).

December 4…Humility and Educational Research

Humility is a word that has been thrown around a lot during our time together. What does it mean to you in the context of educational research and, more specifically how might it relate to your field of study/discipline?

October 23…Writing, Identity and this Course

This week’s readings feature empirical research on writing groups for doctoral students. This is a conscious effort on my part to blur the lines between the facets of the course that relate to technical aspects such as building writing skills and the more theoretical parts of the course (e.g., talking about ideas). Comment on whether these readings shed light on any aspects of this course.

October 16…Pragmatism and Educational Research

Please share any questions raised by this book and any other thoughts you have. While I hope you learned a lot about pragmatism, I am particularly interested in how the book served to get you thinking about the nature of knowledge, what there is to know and how all of this relates to educational research.

October 9…Becker and Writing

Comment on the first chapters of Becker. Any surprises? Think about and share any links you see between this book on writing and the other stuff we have been doing in class, thus far.

October 2…Biesta and Burbules (On Inquiry)

Discuss whether the authors’ depiction of inquiry jibes with your understandings of how social science research works. 

September 25…Biesta and Burbules (Knowledge and Experience)

What does this chapter suggest about the nature of knowledge? What are some implications for educational research? 

September 18…Biesta and Burbules

Ask a question about Dewey/pragmatism. Ask another question that the chapter provoked related to educational research. If you are able, comment on someone else’s question (note: this was posted late, so this last step is not required).

September 11…Philosophies of Educational Research

      If possible, relate something in the Bredo reading to something you learned elsewhere (e.g., a class, a book, a movie, your experience). If this is completely foreign, then write about something interesting/surprising that you learned while reading Bredo.  

September 4…On Labaree’s Scholar-Practitioner Tension

Note something from this article with which you disagree (note: I assume that reading this paper was a different experience for those with P-12 experience and those without.  That said, he made a sufficient number of bold claims so I’m sure everyone can disagree with something he said). Why do you disagree with it?  Did Labaree give words to any tensions that you feel as you head down the road of the educational researcher?  

August 28…On the Nature of a Discipline or Field of Study…Steward of What?

Have you ever thought about any potential unintended consequences in acquiring disciplinary expertise?  Discuss any possible risks and why, presumably, you see the rewards as worth the risks. One could read Richardson as pushing back against narrow disciplinarity when she advocates for “stewardship.” Feel free to discuss any of this or anything else you found interesting in the readings.