• EDUC 800: Ways of Knowing
• Semester: Spring 2005
• Professor: Dr. Joseph Maxwell
• Syllabus

• Weekly Reflections
  • Review of Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo & Juliet"
  • Examples of the scientific method, empiricism, rationalism, and positivism
  • Pictorial representation of relationship among Eisner, Peterson, Rosenshine, Shaikh, and Shuy's approaches to analyzing Bennett's teaching
  • A conversation between Kuhn and Descartes
  • Reflections on Kuhn's perspective on how we come to know
  • Comparison of Ways of Knowing in Women's ways of knowing, Kuhn, and Descartes
  • Bruner's two ways of knowing, Descartes, and my own way of knowing
  • Reflections on Feuer, Towne, & Shavelson's "scientific" way of knowing vis-a-vis previously discussed ways of knowing
• Final Paper - Academic Writing as a New Way of Knowing
• Reflective Analysis on Ways of Knowing

• Belenky, M.; Clinchy, B.; Goldberger, N.; & Tarule, J. (1986). Women's ways of
          knowing. HarperCollins.
• Bruner, J. (1996). Actual minds, possible worlds. Harvard University Press.
• Descartes, R. (1637). Discourse on method and related writings. Penguin
          Classics.
• Gleick, J. (1987). Chaos. Penguin.
• Kuhn, T. (1976). The structure of scientific revolutions. University of Chicago
          Press.
• National Research Council (2002). Scientific Research in education.
          National Academy Press. Available online at
          http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10236.html

• American Psychological Association (2001). Publication Manual (5th ed.).
          Washington, DC.

        By the time I took this course, I was getting much more comfortable with my overall academic progress and integration into the college.   Before taking this course, I thought Dr. Brazer was the only one who made us write a lot, however, that perception changed when I took this course with Dr. Maxwell.   Actually, he took it even further, he made us not only write more but read more as well ... a lot more than I thought I would be asked to read in a single course.   Every week was the same ... there was too much to read, and something to write.  However, every activity, every reading or writing assignment exposed me to something I never knew or thought of before.  I wrote my final paper on "academic writing" as a new way of knowing.  Writing for this paper helped me develop a new perspective on the process and the benefits of academic writing.  Finally, the excercise of writing a short reflective analysis paper on ways of knowing helped me reflect on everything I learned about ways of knowing in this course.  This was by far the most interesting and informative course in the doctoral program.

        [Click here] to see the list of competencies achieved in this course.