•  89
    Philosophy, neuroscience and pre-service teachers’ beliefs in neuromyths: A call for remedial action
    with Minkang Kim
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 50 (13): 1214-1227. 2018.
    Hitherto, the contribution of philosophers to Neuroscience and Education has tended to be less than enthusiastic, though there are some notable exceptions. Meanwhile, the pervasive influence of neuromyths on education policy, curriculum design and pedagogy in schools is well documented. Indeed, philosophers have sometimes used the prevalence of neuromyths in education to bolster their opposition to neuroscience in teacher education courses. By contrast, this article views the presence of neuromy…Read more
  •  50
    Is 'development' a concept that properly belongs to mind and morality and, if it does, what account can we give of moral development now that Piagetian and Kohlbergian models are increasingly being abandoned in developmental psychology? In addressing this central issue, it is hoped that the paper will contribute to the quest for a new integrated model of moral functioning, called for in the September 2008 Special Issue of the Journal of Moral Education (37[3]). Our paper argues that the notion o…Read more
  •  27
    The neurobiology of trust and schooling
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 50 (2): 183-192. 2018.
    Are there neurobiological reasons why we are willing to trust other people and why ‘trust’ and moral values such as ‘care’ play a quite pivotal role in our social lives and the judgements we make, including our social interactions and judgements made in the context of schooling? In pursuing this question, this paper largely agrees with claims made by Patricia Churchland in her 2011 book Braintrust. She believes that moral values are rooted in basic brain circuitry and chemistry, which have been …Read more
  •  26
    Guest editorial: The ethic of forgetfulness
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 42 (2): 149-151. 2010.
  •  24
    Two conflicting visions of education and their consilience
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 51 (14): 1454-1464. 2019.
    Over the past two decades, two heavily funded initiatives of the Federal government of Australia have been founded on two very different and seemingly conflicting visions of education. The first, the Australian Values Education Program enshrines what may be called an ‘embedded values’ vision of education; the second, the National Assessments Program-Literacy and Numeracy enshrines a ‘performative’ vision. The purpose of this article is to unpack these two seemingly conflicting visions and to arg…Read more
  •  18
    Minds, brains, and difference in personal understandings
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 39 (5). 2007.
    If education is to make a difference it is widely acknowledged that we must aim to educate for understanding, but this means being clear about what we mean by understanding. This paper argues for a concept of personal understanding, recognising both the commonality and individuality of each pupil's understandings, and the relationship between understanding and interpretation, analysis and synopsis, and the quest for meaning. In supporting this view, the paper advocates an emergentist notion of p…Read more
  •  17
    The neuronal, synaptic self: having values and making choices
    Journal of Moral Education 35 (2): 163-178. 2006.
    Given that many in neuroscience believe all human experience will eventually be accounted for in terms of the activity of the brain, does the concept of moral or values education make sense? And, are we not headed for a singly deterministic notion of the self, devoid of even the possibility of making choices? One obvious objection is that this does not tally with our experience? we can espouse values and do make choices. But perhaps this is simply appearance and the language of values and choice…Read more
  •  15
    Identity and personhood: Confusions and clarifications across disciplines (review)
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 49 (13): 1292-1295. 2017.
  •  12
    The limits of motivation theory in education and the dynamics of value-embedded learning
    with Christopher Edwin Duncan, Minkang Kim, Soohyun Baek, and Kwan Yiu Yoyo Wu
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 1-25. forthcoming.
  •  12
    The Science of Learning and Development in Education
    with Minkang Kim
    Cambridge University Press. 2022.
    All teachers need to know how children and adolescents learn and develop. Traditionally, this knowledge had been informed by a mix of speculative and scientific theory. However, in the past three decades there has been substantial growth in new scientific knowledge about how we learn. The Science of Learning and Development in Education provides an exciting and comprehensive introduction to this field. This innovative text introduces readers to brain science and the science of complex systems as…Read more
  •  9
    Collaboration and Transition in Initial Teacher Training
    with Margaret Wilkin
    British Journal of Educational Studies 43 (2): 229-231. 1995.
  •  9
    The limits of motivation theory in education and the dynamics of value-embedded learning
    with Chris Duncan, Minkang Kim, Soohyun Baek, and Kwan Yiu Yoyo Wu
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 54 (5): 618-629. 2022.
    Over the past twenty-five years, or so, considerable advances have been made in understanding how learning occurs in the brain, though much of this research is still to make its way into education. One contribution it should be making is to furnish the philosophical critique of past and current theory with supporting empirical evidence. For example, motivation theory and its cognate expectancy-value theory continue to be taught in teacher education, even though their rational cognitivist foundat…Read more
  •  2
    Education Policy, Research and Neuroscience: The Final Solution?
    Australian Journal of Teacher Education 33 (3): 31-43. 2008.
    Taken as a whole, the findings of educational research are often inconclusive; far too many competing ideas and thus difficult for policy makers to decide what to believe, unless it says what they really want to hear. An alternative is to seek help from the much more ‘scientifically reliable’ findings of neuroscience. Perhaps this will provide a means of uniting education policy and research. For example, it should be possible to scan the brains of children to see whether they are likely to…Read more
  •  1
    Minds, Brains, and Difference in Personal Understandings
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 39 (5): 543-558. 2007.
    If education is to make a difference it is widely acknowledged that we must aim to educate for understanding, but this means being clear about what we mean by understanding. This paper argues for a concept of personal understanding, recognising both the commonality and individuality of each pupil's understandings, and the relationship between understanding and interpretation, analysis and synopsis, and the quest for meaning. In supporting this view, the paper advocates an emergentist notion of p…Read more
  •  1
    Guest Editorial: The Ethic of Forgetfulness
    Educational Philosophy and Theory 42 (2): 149-151. 2010.
  • The dynamics of emergent self-organisation: Reconceptualising child development in teacher education
    with Minkang Kim
    Journal of Teacher Education 35 (4): 79-98. 2010.
    For more than half a century, child development has endured as one of the main components of teacher education. But if children do develop, as developmentalists claim, what precisely is it that develops and how? Traditionally, within education, answers to these questions have drawn heavily on the theories of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Piaget advocated the progressive development of reasoning through identifiable linear phases or stages. Vygotsky emphasised the role of cultural mediation,…Read more