2.2 Changes in Education
Throughout history, there have been changes in how students are educated. Commonly, the focus is on the best pedagogical practices that are based on the best combination for the student and the educator. Perhaps that is not enough. Nel Noddings discussed educating the whole child by recognizing the uniqueness of each individual. He understood familial relationships, and went beyond the boundaries of school, and combined standardized methods with holistic methods[7]. Noddings also made a philosophical connection to education and schooling, by showing that there is a moral and ethical impact on society through fundamental democratized participation[7]. The objectives of this method are to apply positive reinforcement, reflection, and connection, as well as to develop a stronger sense of community. However, these ideas present challenges in the differentiation of teaching methods, acquiring resources, and active cooperation.
Learning that should be founded in practice. Foundational learning is an understanding of the basic concepts required to fully participate in society in such things as relationships and employment. The Calgary Learns organization describes foundational learning as skills and competencies for participation and “the ability to participate as neighbours and citizens, have satisfying employment and prepare to pursue further learning”[8]. Recognizing uniqueness through individual learners is fundamental for developing policies and pedagogy around individualities. Of course, it goes without saying that policies need to be uniform in order to maintain and enhance a collective goal-oriented approach to education. However, the interventions of foundational uniqueness, as well as relational aspects, need to be taken into account.
As previously mentioned, constructivism is based on experiences and reflections of an individual or group. Larry Lesser, from the University of Northern Colorado, reviewed Ernst Von Glaserfeld’s 1995 book on radical constructivism. According to this, radical constructivism follows the two principles that knowledge is constructed, and that cognition is adaptive and organizational[9]. This is a radical idea, as it goes against the concepts of foundationalism and the ability to form foundational knowledge. However, it could be argued that the concept of a foundation outside of education allows the egocentricity concept for which Von Glaserfeld via Lesser argues. This leads to a concept of community learning in relation to educational practice. Farnsworth, Kleanthous, and Wenger-Traynor outlined a social theory of learning, citing that boundaries within power structures are inherent and that thinking differently outside of foundational understandings is essential[10]. If that is true, that means the egocentric concept of power is outside of the construction and cannot be changed, or that foundational principles of knowledge and epistemology create the social and constructivist paradigms for analysis. In many ways, Von Glaserfeld’s radical constructivist theory and Farnsworth et al. theories about social construction are not possible without a foundational principle.
To unpack foundational principles even further, Clarence Irving Lewis and his formulation of rationalization through a foundational principle need to be considered:
“There are no other sources of knowledge than: on one hand data of sense and on the other hand our own intended meanings. Empirical knowledge constitutes the one class; all that is knowable independently of sense experience – the a priori and the analytic – constitutes the other, and is determinable as true by reference to our meanings.”[11]
What Lewis states here is that sense and understanding create an experience. For example, if you are in a room with three other people, what is the a prior (independent from experience) response? Sure, many of you have had different experiences before entering the room, but the sense of time and intention are all the same. What are some examples of this sense of intention? Well, the first thing might be that you are all being managed by gravity. That is a foundational truth, even if some senses are damaged, such as sight and sound. The sense that you are existing in a gravitational domain is foundational.
This may be difficult to digest, but it is important to critically look at theories presented either in a constructivist or social paradigm and scrutinize the topic based on certain universal principles.