Group items tagged

Importantly, they saw that CK and SK scores were not related to performance and thus concluded that 'ways of knowing' were more reflective of a learning style or approach rather than a reflection of ability or intellectual capacity (Gallotti et al., 1999)

Research in personal epistemology looks into ways of knowing, focusing on the nature of knowledge (certainty, structure and source of knowledge) and beliefs about learning (speed and ability to learn). The exploration of different learning or cognitive styles and in particular the relationship between gender and epistemological beliefs in tertiary education contexts is an area of much current research focus.

Students' separate knowing and connected knowing scores, however, did predict preferences for different kinds of teaching.

Separate knowing scores were always higher in males whereas females had always higher connected knowing scores. The connected and separate knowing scores of males were not significantly different, whereas females typically showed significantly higher connected scores.

, learning occurs in different ways for different people in different situations, and may be affected by the learning styles of others who are present. According to Gallotti et al. (1999), students tend to prefer teachers whose style reflects their own. Schommer-Aikens and Easter (2006) find it likely that teachers' personal epistemological paradigms would impact on their decisions about forms of instruction, curriculum and evaluation. Should this be the case, an awareness on the part of the teacher and the learners of the predominant or favoured ways of knowing within a learning context might be seen as a useful tool in designing classroom activities which take into account student diversity.

ecognize the limitations of a mono-cultural education system,

While western science and education tend to emphasize compartmentalized knowledge which is often de-contextualized and taught in the detached setting of a classroom or laboratory, indigenous people have traditionally acquired their knowledge through direct experience in the natural world.

The incongruities between western institutional structures and practices and indigenous cultural forms will not be easy to reconcile

The complexities that come into play when two fundamentally different worldviews converge present a formidable challenge.

As a concept, indigenous knowledge benchmarks the limitations of Eurocentric theory — its methodology, evidence, and conclusions — reconceptualizes the resilience and self-reliance of indigenous peoples, and underscores the importance of their own philosophies, heritages, and educational processes. Indigenous knowledge fills the ethical and knowledge gaps in Eurocentric education, research, and scholarship (2002:5).

The study of indigenous knowledge systems as it relates to education falls into three inter-related research themes: documentation and articulation of indigenous knowledge systems; delineating epistemological structures and learning/cognitive processes associated with indigenous ways of knowing; and developing/assessing educational strategies integrating indigenous and western knowledge and ways of knowing.