Enabling identity: The challenge of presenting the silenced voices of repressed groups in philosophic communities of inquiry

This article seeks to contribute to the challenge of presenting the silenced voices of excluded groups in society by means of a philosophic community of inquiry composed primarily of children and young adults. It proposes a theoretical model named ‘enabling identity’ that presents the stages whereby, under the guiding role played by the community of philosophic inquiry, the hegemonic meta-narrative of the mainstream society makes room for the identity of members of marginalised groups. The model is based on the recognition of diverse narratives within a web of communal narratives that does not favour the meta-narrative. It reports on the experiences of moderators and students from weak and excluded sectors of society in two countries whose participation in communities of philosophical inquiry gave them not only a “voice” but also a presence and identity

Schools of Education, Theory Production, and Institutional Reform

The purpose of this brief study is to examine the constraints on theory production in schools of education, especially relative to Christian schools of education

The Influence of the Idea of Progress on the Curriculum Theories of Experimentalism, Essentialism, and Reconstructionism

Abstract Not Available

Citizen Engineers: Leaders in Building a Sustainable World

As with the “citizen soldiers” of World War II, the engineering industry must produce “citizen engineers” who will accept the leadership challenge necessary to deliver a combination of technical, economic, social, and environmental values to its stakeholders that will truly improve people’s quality of life

On development of urban environment typology

Human nature, social values and structure of needs constitute the basis of the aesthetics therefore the integrated understanding of the individual and his vital activity is reflected in modern design. Relevance of this research lies in the development of an urban environment typology from the subjectivity point of view. This theme is considered in systemic integrity (human – society – humanity - biological species), which allows to identify the nature of the aesthetic measures. Subsequently, the following generalized types of environment are distinguished: naturecentric, anthropocentric, sociocentric and integrated. As a result, the research identifies the main tasks and key issues of reconstruction and humanization of the environment

Global Citizenship Education in Jordanian Universities

AbstractThis paper is an attempt to establish the foundations of education for global citizenship. It is mainly built on four themes: world citizenship education, key issues and challenges of contemporary human thought, philosophical and analytical approach, and then an attempt for global citizenship educational planning. This paper uses a descriptive qualitative approach in considering as Jordanian case study, in terms of the philosophy of National Education of Jordan. The paper concludes with the suggestion that to achieve the humanitarian component of global citizenship in education, one must start from the moral value system of human identit

Epistemology and conceptual resources for the development of learning technologies

The issues raised by the design and development of technologies to enhance learning has led to a demand for an appropriate language and form of conceptualisation. However we are insufficiently familiar with the way in which different types of mediated tool use occur, to develop the theoretical models needed for the development of this language and form of conceptualisation. In its absence a somewhat eclectic variety of concepts and research, such as the concept of affordance, are recruited in accounts of learning with new technologies. In looking briefly at the relevant area in philosophy this paper will consider whether or not the use of concepts such as affordance give adequate weight to social practice, meaning and knowledge in the design of educational technology. A fruitful source for work in this field which has not been sufficiently exploited is philosophy, particularly recent work in epistemology

A New Theory of Consciousness: The Missing Link - Organization

What is consciousness and what is the missing link between the sensory input and the cortical centre in the brain for consciousness? In the literature there are more than a million pages written about consciousness. The perspectives range from the field of metaphysics to those of quantum mechanics. However, no one today has produced a theory which is universally accepted. Consciousness is “something” which the majority of humans know that they posses, they use it when they want to understand their environment. However, no individual human knows whether other humans also posses consciousness. unless some tests such as she is looking at me, he is talking etc., are performed. We are caught in an intellectual sort of recursive carousel – we need consciousness to understand consciousness. To understand consciousness we have to understand the mechanism of its function, which is to effectively organize sensory inputs from our environment. Consciousness is the outcome of the process of organizing these sensory inputs. This implies that organization is an act which precedes consciousness. Since every activity in nature is to organize/disorganize, what is the element which compels this action? I am proposing that just like energy is the physical element that causes action, there is another physical element I have called it NASCIUM which has the capacity to cause organization. This is the missing link. Understanding the nature of organization, i.e. nascium, will enhance our capability to understand consciousness