Knowing and Learning as Creative Action: A Reexamination of the Epistemological Foundations of Education

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Aaron Stoller

   Pages 1-5

3. Bildung and the Hidden “S knows that p”

   • Aaron Stoller

   Pages 6-27

4. Bildung Reconstructed

   • Aaron Stoller

   Pages 28-54

5. Knowing and Learning as Creative Action

   • Aaron Stoller

   Pages 55-75

6. Emergent Pedagogy

   • Aaron Stoller

   Pages 76-102

7. Back Matter

   Pages 103-111

   PDF

In Knowing and Learning as Creative Action, Aaron Stoller makes the case that contemporary schooling is grounded in a flawed model of knowing, which draws together mistakes in thinking about the nature of the self, of knowledge, and of reality, which are contained in the epistemological proposition: 'S knows that p' (SP). To the contrary, Stoller argues that the German conception of Bildung must replace SP thinking as the guiding metaphor of knowing within educational research and practice. Central to this reconstruction is a theory of creative inquiry which claims that knowledge emerges from embodied, social engagement in the world and therefore knowing is a form of creative action. Stoller constructs a new paradigm of knowing and learning as an emergent process of creative making, the goal of which is the cultivation of what he calls maker's knowledge, which is the capacity for and habit of creative action.

• Epistemology
• learning
• education reform
• inquiry
• Bildung
• John Dewey
• Hans-Georg Gadamer
• action
• education
• research

"In this insightful and well written work, Stoller recreates the idea of Bildung in terms of knowing and learning as creative action. Identifying similarities in Hans-Georg Gadamer and John Dewey, Stoller's vision cuts through to essentials. The result is an original approach to teaching, learning, and knowing which presents an exceptional corrective to the increasing demands for educational conformity in the twenty-first century." - Jim Garrison, Professor of Philosophy of Education, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA

"Stoller utilizes epistemology to show how most schools operate on the assumption that knowledge is something transmitted from teachers to students an age-old myth that continues to harm both students and teachers by limiting what it means to know, to learn, and to teach. This is a must-read for anyone who is serious about reconstructing schools for active inquiry and authentic knowing." - Deron Boyles, Professor of Philosophy of Education, Georgia State University, USA

• University Honors Program, North Carolina State University, USA

  Aaron Stoller

Aaron Stoller is Associate Director, University Honors Program at North Carolina State University, USA.

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