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Complexity

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Full-Text Articles in Education

Agential Cuts For Justice: Honoring Complexity In Research Through Intersectional Design Dimensions, Nadia Behizadeh Mar 2024

Agential Cuts For Justice: Honoring Complexity In Research Through Intersectional Design Dimensions, Nadia Behizadeh

The Qualitative Report

This article explores the complexity and challenges of making decisions regarding which theories and social categories (e.g. race, class) should be emphasized in justice-centered research that includes participants’ identities as key variables in the design. Drawing on theories of intersectionality, agential realism, and complexity, the author proposes four intersectional design dimensions to help justice-centered researchers honor complexity: reflection on self and purpose; making agential cuts; complexifying social categories; and intersectional and collaborative re-view. Each dimension is illustrated with theory and empirical examples, mostly drawing from the field of educational research. By attending to and continually revisiting agential cuts related to …


Keynote: Notions Of Writing Center Community And Some Challenges To Them, Carol Severino Nov 2023

Keynote: Notions Of Writing Center Community And Some Challenges To Them, Carol Severino

Writing Center Journal

It is crucial for writing center professionals who discuss community to ask ourselves what we mean by the term as applied to writing centers. In this keynote, I explore various notions of community that are influenced by writing center growth, expansion, and complexity, especially in relation to Iowa’s writing center. After relating a personal story about our new tutors’ traditional notion of community and an account of our own center’s expansion and growing complexity over the decades, which challenges their traditional notion, I discuss other obstacles to community, bringing in the critiques of writing center scholars. Finally, I synthesize what …


Understanding Leadership For Adaptive Change In Catholic Schools: A Complexity Perspective, Andrew F. Miller, Anna Noble, Patrick Mcquillan Jun 2022

Understanding Leadership For Adaptive Change In Catholic Schools: A Complexity Perspective, Andrew F. Miller, Anna Noble, Patrick Mcquillan

Journal of Catholic Education

In an era of decline and crisis, Catholic school leaders have been encouraged to find innovative ways to enhance a school’s operational vitality. Yet to this point, most research on educational change in Catholic schools has focused on the technical tasks school principals can take to “save” individual schools. In this article, we apply a complexity perspective to educational change leadership in Catholic education: leadership for adaptive change. Based on a new empirical analysis of the professional experiences of two Catholic school principals working at four different parish schools, we demonstrate in this article how leadership for adaptive change can …


Adventuring Into Complexity By Exploring Data: From Complicity To Sustainability, Tim Lutz Mar 2021

Adventuring Into Complexity By Exploring Data: From Complicity To Sustainability, Tim Lutz

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

Problems of sustainability are typically represented by major present-day challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental and social injustice. Framed this way, sustainable lives and societies depend on finding solutions to each problem. From another perspective, there is only one problem behind them all, stated by Gregory Bateson as: “…the difference between how nature works and the way people think,” and complexity provides a way to define and approach this problem. I extend Edgar Morin’s conceptions of restricted and general complexity into pedagogy to address problems of simplicity and reductionist teaching. The proposed pedagogy is based on long …


Emerging From The Deep: Complexity, Emergent Pedagogy And Deep Learning, Sue L. T. Mcgregor Dec 2020

Emerging From The Deep: Complexity, Emergent Pedagogy And Deep Learning, Sue L. T. Mcgregor

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

As indicated in the title – emerging from the deep – this paper proposes that an ability to face and deal with complexity can emerge from deep learning that is facilitated by pedagogies designed to ensure this outcome, especially an emergent pedagogy that instills deep education. Educators would view the classroom as a complex adaptive system (CAS) capable of self-organizing and operating at the edge of chaos where order emerges, just not predictably. Self-directed students would experience a learning environment that is appreciative of nonequilibrium, unpredictability, shifting and emerging patterns and co-evolution. Teachers would be coaches, activators and facilitators. Students …


The Implementation Of A Regional Education Network Through The Application Of The Developmental Evaluation Process: A Case Study, Amy Jane Griffiths, John Brady Dec 2020

The Implementation Of A Regional Education Network Through The Application Of The Developmental Evaluation Process: A Case Study, Amy Jane Griffiths, John Brady

School Leadership Review

Abstract: One in three young adults with autism or developmental disability have never been employed within eight years of their leaving high school (Newman et al., 2011). These students graduate from schools and may then work with multiple services providers across agencies. Collaboration between these agencies is critical. This case study describes the successful efforts of a group of educational leaders, parents, individuals with disabilities, and service providers who came together to improve the transition outcomes of young adults with disabilities. The success of this large and complex effort was facilitated by the application of a developmental evaluation process which …


Looking At Environmental Consciousness Through The Lenses Of Morphic Fields And Systems Theory, Johara Bellali Nov 2020

Looking At Environmental Consciousness Through The Lenses Of Morphic Fields And Systems Theory, Johara Bellali

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This paper is an exploration of a space in which questions of self-determination and planetary crises can co-exist. It swims in uncomfortable seas of accepting that environmental consciousness is as innate as our existence, and at the same time not aligned to healthy ecosystems. In this paper, I will first explore environmental consciousness from an ecosystem perspective and present some self-organizing principles of our systems; then I will look into our perceptions, awareness, and sensing of them and finally propose an understanding of how the morphic fields in ecosystems and the creative flow of the life force co-exist in our …


A Patterning Approach To Complexity Thinking And Understanding For Students: A Case Study, Shae L. Brown Sep 2019

A Patterning Approach To Complexity Thinking And Understanding For Students: A Case Study, Shae L. Brown

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

Complexity thinking and understanding are vital skills for young people in these times of uncertainty and change. Such skills contribute to resilience and capacities for adaptivity and innovation. Within my teaching practice I have found students to be aware of complex dynamics, uncertainty and change, both in their lives and in the world. However, the current curriculum lacks language and process to conceptualise, articulate and develop complexity understanding. To address this problem, I developed and introduced a patterns-based design and process to a cohort of Australian secondary students. Comprising flowform patterning together with ecological metaphors, the design forms a conceptual …


The Complexity Of Learning To Teach News Media In Social Studies Education, Mardi Schmeichel, Jim Garrett, Rachel Ranschaert, Joseph Mcanulty, Shannon Thompson, Sonia Janis, Christopher Clark, Stephanie Yagata, Briana Bivens Nov 2018

The Complexity Of Learning To Teach News Media In Social Studies Education, Mardi Schmeichel, Jim Garrett, Rachel Ranschaert, Joseph Mcanulty, Shannon Thompson, Sonia Janis, Christopher Clark, Stephanie Yagata, Briana Bivens

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This research reports on data generated through an initial teacher certification program for secondary social studies teachers that introduced a specific and program-spanning focus on news media literacy. Growing out of the urgent need for pedagogies that address and promote critical engagement with the kinds of news media sources upon which civic decisions are made, our project follows teacher candidates from their initial certification coursework through the culminating student teaching semester. Our work with teacher candidates over this time was explicitly intended to intervene in and develop teacher candidates’ understandings of news media literacy, its place in social studies education, …


Classical Literature Gives Life To Business Paradox And Systems Integration, Robert A. Page, Samuel K. Andoh, Robert A. Smith Dec 2017

Classical Literature Gives Life To Business Paradox And Systems Integration, Robert A. Page, Samuel K. Andoh, Robert A. Smith

Administrative Issues Journal

Professors bemoan the great difficulty students have understanding the complexity of their disciplines or functional specializations. Many non-traditional students have work and family commitments that limit the time needed to reflect professionally and to master these concepts. This disconnect has persisted despite decades of work developing more integrated, interdisciplinary curricula. One potential, partial solution is to simply start sooner and partner with liberal arts courses to introduce business students to complexity and paradox before they arrive at the business school. Grounding these concepts in the Classics embeds them in great stories of passion, betrayal, commitment, and emotion normally absent in …


Generative Leadership: A Thematic Book Review, Rebecca S. Monroe May 2017

Generative Leadership: A Thematic Book Review, Rebecca S. Monroe

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This thematic book review looks at how four texts interweave the topic of generative leadership into a cohesive structure so the reader can bring about change in our educational system. The authors of these texts begin by defining generative leadership and complexity, then move on to discuss mirror neurons and empathy, relationships and the importance of feeling a part of something, and how experience equals learning, which in turns sculpts the brain physically. As you think of the leadership style you want to emulate as you build your own and your staff’s capacity, these resources may easily sum this up …


The Influence Of Creativity Inhibitors And Collectivist Dynamics, Anthony Abidemi Olalere Sep 2016

The Influence Of Creativity Inhibitors And Collectivist Dynamics, Anthony Abidemi Olalere

Journal of Research Initiatives

This study examines the mediating influence of creativity inhibitors on collectivist dynamics and faculty creativity in higher education organizations. Complexity theory was employed to frame how collectivist dynamic (Complexity Interaction) and creativity inhibitor foster faculty creativity in higher education. The Partial Least Square of Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze data using the PLS algorithm, and mediating effect to assess the predictive accuracy on creativity among 73 tenure and tenure-track faculty members in a south east research-based university in the United States. The result showed that creativity inhibitors have positive influence on the interaction between complexity interaction (collectivist) …


The Missing Elements Of Change. A Response To "Youth Change Agents: Comparing The Sociopolitical Identities Of Youth Organizers And Youth Commissioners", Matthew L. Goldwasser May 2016

The Missing Elements Of Change. A Response To "Youth Change Agents: Comparing The Sociopolitical Identities Of Youth Organizers And Youth Commissioners", Matthew L. Goldwasser

Democracy and Education

By establishing a set of theoretical frameworks to view and compare the work of youth organizers and youth commissioners, and through personal interviews, the authors of the paper “Youth Change Agents: Comparing the Sociopolitical Identities of Youth Organizers and Youth Commissioners” presented their explanation of the development of the sociopolitical identities and civic commitments of each group. This response paper asks questions about the authors’ limited use of context and complexity to explain how their youth arrived at their opinions, perspectives, and ultimately their sociopolitical identities. Their work also raises questions of how and why civic engagement and social activism …


Dead Certainty? The Case For Doubt In Teacher Education., Sandy Schuck, John Buchanan Aug 2012

Dead Certainty? The Case For Doubt In Teacher Education., Sandy Schuck, John Buchanan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In this conceptual paper we discuss the value of doubt in teacher education for ourselves and, by implication, more broadly. We develop an argument for the value of doubt in teacher education that grows out of the recognition of the complexity of teaching. We interrogate meanings of doubt in this context and debate the value of doubt and certainty. We also indicate the challenges of fostering and nurturing doubt in teaching and teacher education. We suggest that doubt is a necessary element of teacher education as its presence helps to prepare our students for their careers as teachers in a …


Complexity, Knowledge And Structure: A Systemic Understanding Of Organizational Learning, Justin D. Walton Oct 2011

Complexity, Knowledge And Structure: A Systemic Understanding Of Organizational Learning, Justin D. Walton

Administrative Issues Journal

Organizations are among the most socially complex institutions within modern culture. As corporations face the challenges of technological change and globalization, it becomes essential that they find new ways and forms of fostering knowledge sharing and creativity. Challenging the age-old belief that employees should “dominated and directed,” complexity theory challenges the classic machine metaphor of organizational structure with a view that conceptualizes them as nonlinear systems that fluctuate between conditions of stability and chaos. This model offers new and exciting opportunities for exploring the dynamics of organizational learning. Toward this end, this paper examines the systemic features of organizations with …


A Mathematician Weighs In On The Evolution Debate, Kris H. Green Jul 2011

A Mathematician Weighs In On The Evolution Debate, Kris H. Green

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

There are a variety of reasons underlying the lack of public acceptance for the theory of evolution in the United States. An overlooked cause is related to problems with the mathematics curriculum in the K-12 setting. In this essay, we examine this relationship and propose changes to the mathematics curriculum that could improve mathematical thinking while also providing a basis for understanding theories, like evolution, that are poorly understood.


Another Acid Test (Postcards With An Edge), Michael J. Emme Jan 2001

Another Acid Test (Postcards With An Edge), Michael J. Emme

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

That Merry Prankster of postmodernism, Jacques Derrida, introduced the mind altering drug of significant play into theoretical culture's discourse around meaning and text. Like his prankster predecessors, Derrida's mindful but seemingly anarchistic intervention resulted in insight (into the complexity of text in culture) for some, and chaos (in the guise of abject deconstructive relativism) for others. What follows is a compilation of texts that is both mundane and complex.