Complex Wholes and Holes in Schooling

• In Event: Education for Diverse Democracy: A Deweyan Complexity-Based Vision of Schools

Abstract

Profound differences in theory are never gratuitous or invented. They grow out of conflicting elements in a genuine problem—a problem which is genuine just because the elements, taken as they stand, are conflicting. Any significant problem involves conditions that for the moment contradict each other. Solution comes only by getting away from the meaning of terms that is already fixed upon and coming to see the conditions from another point of view, and hence in a fresh light. (Dewey, 1902, pp. 3-4)

John Dewey, throughout his career and publications, invites all to question, to consider, to ponder. He prods us to be open to difference, to diversity. This element of his philosophy is what, we argue, allows his work to continue as living, dynamic and complex.

In this presentation we offer re-considerations of schooling from a complex and Deweyan perspective. By complex, we mean a complexity theory perspective. Melanie Mitchell (2009) outlines what she sees as three common properties of complex systems: complex collective behavior, signaling and information processing, and adaptation (pp. 12-13). Using these constructs as different lenses to examine education and schooling, we conceive meanings and principles of schooling as complex systems of interpretations. Complex systems are not perfectly sealed and bounded entities; rather, they are structurally fluid and encompass both wholes and holes.

In the spirit of Doll’s (2013a) 3 S’s—science, story and spirit—we demonstrate how the emergence of new ideas and creativity occur when diverse perspectives are allowed in the conversation. The science is complexity theory; the story is schooling as systems; the spirit is John Dewey. The science is John Dewey; the story is complexity theory; the spirit is schooling as systems. The science is schooling as systems; the story is John Dewey; the spirit is complexity theory. Intertwining and interrelating all of these together prompts a way to imagine schooling as a space in which differences are encouraged, where meanings of terms are discussed, and how systems are continually emerging, interacting, and transforming.

There is momentum brewing in the field of education research related to ideas in complexity theory. Envisioning schooling from a complex systems perspective allows for examinations of the meaning of schooling and principles for democratic processes in schooling. Exposing both the wholes and holes generates differences of meaning and interpretations, in the spirit of John Dewey, with the science of complexity theory, sharing stories of schooling as systems.

Authors

• Sarah Smitherman Pratt, University of North Texas

• Randall Colvin, University of North Texas