Return-Path: <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id i53JxD920580; Thu, 3 Jun 2004 15:59:23 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2004 15:59:23 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <20040603195606.8A79C5DF06@skat.hubris.net> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Karen Stange <stange@gcnet.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:1472] Re: Change X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.0 Status: O Content-Length: 6059 Lines: 109 The PD that has the strongest effect on me demands follow-up and/feed back, if it is nothing more than a SASE to the presenter/s given out at the end of the session. One shot, hit and run workshops may be a cause of change for some, but generally not for me. Just the act of picking up that postcard can cause reflection and be the impetus for action. All true change/improvement seems to come about through a certain amount of trial and error. Personal adjustments give a participant a chance to adapt and utilize what is learned. The chance to share results and actions with others makes it easier too. Karen At 08:12 AM 6/3/04 -0400, you wrote: >George, regarding the causes of change, you write, "In terms of pd, it >was a combination of evolution, discovery, paying attention to a hunch >that beckoned me, but wouldn't have gone too far unless I acted upon it, >active experimentation, reading, and discussion with others." > >I hear you saying that thinking change does not go too far unless it is >acted upon. Is this correct? If so, what do you and others think it is >about taking action that seems to facilitate lasting change? > >Hi Jackie, > >I don't know about "lasting" change, but anything we conceive of is only >partially worked through until we act on our thoughts. The action >sometimes helps to confirm our idea. More often, action, which is a type >of knowing, results in a modification or refinement, however sometimes >slight, in that the felt experience enables us to know in a manner that >thinking alone can't, what actually worked (at least in a given >situation) and what didn't, or didn't so well, which in turn suggests >some modification in both the action next time around, but also in the >articulation of the idea. > >In an article on post positivist science that I'm in the early stages of >working on, I say the following in summarizing Dewey's views of inquiry >as articulated in his Logic: A Theory of Inquiry: > > "Once a problem is identified, the critical next stage calls for an >initial hypothesis as a >potential solution to guide both the collection and analysis of relevant >data. This process of concept building informed by data analysis and >tightly correlated to the "functional fitness" (p. 114) of the case at >hand continues as long as the investigation endures, though taking on >different hues as the process unfolds. What is critical is that >whatever stage of investigation that is underway that the forming >concepts represent the best possible hypothesis consistent with the data >that the researcher can access at the given time in its potential problem >resolution function. The focus at any given time may be on either >emergent idea formation or concentrated data collection and analysis in >the testing out of the functional fit. The underlying motivation is that >maximal efforts to resolve the problem are operative throughout all the >stages of the process." > >Here's Dewey himself in his critical 6th chapter, "Patterns of Inquiry: > > "Facts are evidential and tests of an idea in so far as they are capable >of being organized with one another. The organization can be achieved >only as they interact > [italics in original] with one another. When the problematic situation >is such as to require extensive inquiries to effect its resolution, a >series of interactions intervenes. Some observed facts point to an idea >that stands for a possible solution. The idea involves more observation. > Some of the newly observed facts link up with those previously observed >and are such to rule out other observed things with respect to their >evidential function. The new order of fact suggests a modified idea (or >hypothesis) which occasions new observations whose result again >determines a new =order of facts until the existing order is both unified >and complete. In the course of this serial process, the ideas that >represent possible solutions are tested and >proved" (p. 117) > >This to and fro from idea formation to experimentation and to fresh data >which the experiment provides, back to refined idea formation, >stimulating, in turn, more focused experimentation and additional data, >and further idea articulation, is more or less continuous at the least >until something enduringly stable emerges resulting in something like a >relatively secure theory, which even then can be de-stabilized, but not >easily. In my view, this kind of active experimentation in the >refinement of ideas is one of the key dynamic which stimulates >increasingly insightful knowledge. > >Thus, even when we work with a potentially fruitful concept like balanced >reading theory, while the theory provides a certain stability to the >extent that it has successfully integrated other theories and works >toward the resolution of significant problems, its refinement is an ever >ending process of increasing appropriation at the level of theory and >practice. Its durability is always subject to falsification, which >doesn't discount its relative effectiveness in providing a satisfactory >explanation. Between certainty and falsification are degrees of >refinement and modification, along with a broad array of appropriations >from which much fruitful work can come. > >These comments, I believe, have application both to practice and research >in related, but in different ways. Though in practice we don't typically >go through this degree of probing back and forth, the process with the >methodology that Dewey suggests is similar in both critical practice and >in formal research grounded in application based on the resolution of a >problematic situation. Moreover, this postpositivist thesis could have >applicability in the still very much emerging field of practitioner-based >inquiry. > >George Demetrion > >___________________________________________________________________________ >Earn $20 for every new person you bring to Juno Platinum or Juno >SpeedBand. To learn how, go to http://www.juno.com/refer >--------- End forwarded message ---------- >
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