Getting to Bedrock: Diverse Perspectives on Emergence, Nonlinearity, and Relationality in Education

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

While Chaos and Complexity theories have remained a relatively small area of the educational research universe, many of the broader ideas of our field have become common (emergence, nonlinearity, relationality, etc.). In educational research informed by feminism, anthropology, indigenous studies, critical theory, and systems theory, the importance of these concepts has become recognized as essential to the study, design, and improvement of more effective and humane educational systems. This panel will bring together scholars who are not necessarily rooted in the traditions of Chaos/Complexity research and thinking, but whose work deals directly with some of these broader issues. Brief introductory remarks by each panelist will explain how their work orients itself to some of the big ideas of the SIG, and full group discussion will explore how these divergent understandings may alter and/or revise our own.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Chaos and Complexity Theories

Chair

• William E. Doll, The University of British Columbia

Papers

• Community Organizing-Based School Reform as Emergence - Dennis Lynn Shirley, Boston College

• Culture, Chaos, and Complexity: Catalysts for Change in Indigenous Education - Ray Barnhardt, The University of Alaska - Fairbanks

• Educational Change as a Complexity-Riddled Enterprise - Brian Robert Beabout, The University of New Orleans; Eugene Gary Kowch, University of Calgary

• French-Speaking Educational Sciences and the Contribution of Edgar Morin’s “Paradigm of Complexity” - Michel Alhadeff-Jones, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Do-It-Yourself Education as Pedagogical/Curricular Catalyst - Debra M. Freedman, University of Waterloo

Discussant

• Blane Despres, Ripple Deep Consulting