Pragmatism, Post-modernism, and Complexity Theory: The "Fascinating Imaginative Realm" of William E. Doll, Jr.

by Donna Trueit (Editor)

Overview

The first collection of the key works of the major curriculum studies scholar William E. Doll, Jr., this volume provides an overview of his scholarship over his fifty-year career and documents the theoretical and practical contribution he has made to the field . The book is organized in five thematic sections: Personal Reflections; Dewey, Piaget, Bruner, Whitehead: Process And Transformation; Modern/Post-Modern: Structures, Forms and Organization; Complexity Thinking; and Reflections on Teaching .

The complicated intellectual trajectory through pragmatism, postmodernism and complexity theory not only testifies to Doll’s individual lifetime works but is also intimately related to the landscape of education to which he has made an important contribution. Of interest to curriculum scholars around the world, the book will hold special significance for graduate students and junior scholars who came of the age in the field Doll helped create: one crafted by postmodernism and, more recently, complexity theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415808736
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/01/2012
Series:	Studies in Curriculum Theory Series
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

William E. Doll, Jr. is Emeritus Professor – Louisiana State University, College of Education and Adjunct Professor at University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Table of Contents

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: William F. Pinar

Part One: Personal Reflections

Introduction: Donna Trueit

2. A Path Stumbled Upon (2009)

3. Looking Back to the Future: A Recursive Retrospective (2008)

4. Struggles with Spirituality (2002)

5. Memory of a Mentor: John Steve Mann (2009)

Part Two: Dewey, Piaget, Bruner, Whitehead: Process and Transformation

Introduction: Donna Trueit

6. A Methodology of Experience, Part I (1972)

7. Developing Competence (1980)

8. Beyond Method (2002)

9. Crafting an Experience

10. Piagetian Thought (2010)

11. Modes of Thought (2003).

12. Keeping Knowledge Alive (2005)

13. Response to Proulx: Maturana Is Not A Constructivist – Nor is Piaget (2008)

Part Three: Modern/Post-Modern: Structures, Forms and Organization

Introduction: Donna Trueit

14. Modernism (2010)

15. Prigogine: A New Sense of Order (1986)

16. Post-Modernism’s Utopian Vision (1990)

17. Structures of the Post-Modern (2011)

Part Four: Complexity Thinking

Introduction: Donna Trueit

18. Recursions on Complexity (1998)

19. Complexity (2008)

20. Thinking Complexly (2010)

Part Five: Reflections on Teaching

Introduction: Donna Trueit

21. The Educational Need to Re-invent the Wheel (1981)

22. Complexity in the Classroom (1989)

23. Reflections on Teaching: Developing the Non-Linear (1999)

24. Classroom Management (2000)

25. "Looking Forward" (2006)

26. Da Xia Lecture (2011)

List of Contributors

Editorial Reviews

"A landmark and visionary book…. Doll’s work, collected in this single volume for the first time, demonstrates both his scholarly brilliance and pedagogical wisdom."

Hongyu Wang, Oklahoma State University, USA

From the Publisher