Relevance in Education: A Deweyan Perspective

• In Event: Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Why Dewey Now?

Abstract

Motivational scientists have recently revitalized a classic discussion concerning how educators should make education “relevant to...students’ cultural backgrounds and personal experiences” (National Research Council, 2003). In response to the renewed imperative, researchers in education and psychology have targeted “relevance” as a motivational outcome. Some have posited that relevance is a form of subjective task value, while others emphasize cognitive aspects of relevance and its appraisal. Problematically, little has been done in education and psychology to produce an explicit and comprehensive definition of the concept. The current paper draws on John Dewey’s philosophical work for guidance to inform a more rigorous, multidisciplinary motivational science and demarcate the theoretical role of relevance in cognition, emotion, and motivation.

Author

• Jeffrey R Albrecht, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor