Ongoing Research Experiences AY 2008-2009

Dissertation Defenses

John Sullivan: Emergent Learning: Three Learning Communities as Complex Adaptive Systems

Research Conference Attendance

Boston College Philosophy Department Graduate Student Conference "On Education," Chestnut Hill, MA
New England Educational Research Organization (NEERO), Portsmouth, NH

Research Proposal Submissions

Education in Encounter: In Dialogue with Martin Buber on Education (BC Philosophy Conference)
Reflecting on the Urban Ecology Curriculum: Engaging Students and Teachers in Dialogue and Hermeneutics (NEERO)
Web 2.0 Supporting Dialogic and Hermeneutic Activities in Science Curriculum (NECC)

Research Conference Presentations

Education in Encounter: In Dialogue with Martin Buber on Education

I delivered a paper presentation at the Boston College Philosophy Department Conference "On Education" on the educational thinking and writings of Jewish thinker Martin Buber. I paid special attention to his dialogic philosophy and its impact on the purposes of education, curriculum, and pedagogy, as well as potential implications for addressing the alienation found within the educational system. As a philosophy—rather than educational research—conference, I did not use PowerPoint slides, and instead delivered the story of my paper orally, with some help from a chalkboard to illustrate a few key points.

Reflecting on the Urban Ecology Curriculum: Engaging Students and Teachers in Dialogue and Hermeneutics (NEERO)

This paper was written in cooperation with my advisor. We drew upon several related approaches to education—including Martin Buber's dialogic approach, Wolfgang Klafki's critical constructivist approach, and Aikenhead's humanistic approach—to introduce an activity to promote dialogue and meaning-making around the curriculum by curriculum developers, teachers, and students. We found that the activity shows much promise in terms of promoting meaning-making (hermeneutics) and has potential to promote genuine dialogue. It was found that this approach is a fruitful mode of planned formative assessment.

Review Submissions for Peer-Reviewed Journal

I reviewed a submission for the Journal of Science Education and Technology.

Other

I was invited to be a member of the Boston College Christian-Jewish Dialogue group, sponsored by the Center for Christian-Jewish Dialogue, comprised mainly of faculty members and a small number of graduate students.
I was invited to be the Chair/Discussant for a session entitled "Perspectives Of Teaching And Learning" at NEERO.