The question of whether reasoning can, or should, be described by a single normative model is an important one. In the following, I combine epistemological considerations taken from Piaget's notion of genetic epistemology, a hypothesis about the role of reasoning in communication and developmental data to argue that some basic logical principles are in fact highly normative. I argue here that e...

Constructivist and conceptual change perspectives on learning have given rise to a number of models of constructivist classroom teaching. Motivation has been recognized as an important factor in the construction of knowledge and the process of conceptual change, so one could expect that motivation strategies would be integral components of constructivist-informed teaching. The purpose of this p...

In the past, few mainstream epistemologists have endorsed Bayesian epistemology, feeling that it fails to capture the complex structure of epistemic cognition. The defenders of Bayesian epistemology have tended to be probability theorists rather than epistemologists, and I have always suspected they were more attracted by its mathematical elegance than its epistemological realism. But recently ...

The purpose of the current study was to compare the use of virtual discussion boards in various educational settings in the United States and Costa Rica. Participants included professors of education, in-service and pre-service teachers in the United States and Costa Rica where a survey was used that included demographic, knowledge, attitude, and behavioral questions regarding the use of virtua...

This article is written in response to a recent report on a review of teacher education in Scotland undertaken by Graham Donaldson (2011). In particular it questions the recommendation that engaging teachers in professional enquiry and research-informed teaching is the way forward for developing the professional capabilities required of “21 Century teachers”. The report reflects an increasing e...

Gunver S. Kienle, MD, Institute for Applied Epistemology and Medical Methodology, Freiburg/Bad Krozingen, Germany. Harald J. Hamre, MD, Clinical Research Department, Institute for Applied Epistemology and Medical Methodology, Freiburg/Bad Krozingen, Germany. Emanuela Portalupi, MD, Medico Oncologo, ARESMA, Milano, Italy. Helmut Kiene, MD, Institute for Applied Epistemology and Medical Methodolo...

The nature of spirituality belonging to teachers in orthodox-Protestant education and how this infl uences the practice of education is portrayed in this study. In particular, attention goes to the role of religion in that spirituality. Spirituality is considered to be ‘the manner in which one – by orienting oneself on sources – relates experiences of inspiration and/ or transcendence, more or ...