Introduction to the Hebrew Edition of Visions of Jewish Education—Medabrim Chazon (Talking Vision) 1

The following is a translation of the introduction to Medabrim Chazon (Jerusalem: Keter, 2006), the Hebrew translation of Visions of Jewish Education, edited by Seymour Fox, Israel Scheffler, and Daniel Marom (Cambridge, 2003).(See the Journal, volume 71, number 1, Levisohn and responses in volume 71, number 2.) Visions of Jewish Education is an effort by leading scholars to improve the quality of Jewish education through attention to its purposes and aims. We, the editors of Medabrim Chazon wrote this introduction for Israeli readers, who encounter in Medabrim Chazon not just a translation of Visions of Jewish Education, but the world of North American Jewish education. While Visions of Jewish Education assumes familiarity with this framework, it is likely to be foreign to the Israeli audience. Indeed, in order to convey some of the problems in translating Visions of Jewish Education for Israeli readers, we have decided to present a literal rendering of the introduction here. North American readers may be surprised to notice, for example, the need to explain the role of synagogues in Jewish education.

This special introduction to the Hebrew translation may also be valuable for North American readers of Visions of Jewish Education. First, it may be illuminating to see how issues of Jewish educational vision unfold in Israel; the introduction brings to light questions of language, identity, and institutional structure that are unique to Jewish education in Israel. At the same time, while Jewish education plays itself out differently in various parts of the Jewish world, the issue of vision is fundamental in each context, and we hope to identify some shared concerns across Jewish communities. Having identified these concerns, we hope it will be possible for the book's audiences from around the world to engage in a conversation. Finally, we believe that we can benefit from looking at our own communities from the vantage point of how we are perceived by different communities within the Jewish world. This can not only enhance the awareness of our very diverse Jewish world but also foster exchange within it.     

Mori Akira's Education for Self‐Awareness: Lessons from the Kyoto School for Mindful Education

What does it mean to educate for self‐awareness? How does this fit within education, with its other objectives, and other learning processes? These are key questions for more comprehensive versions of the mindful education movement. In order to provide some responses to these questions from a cohesive philosophical position, this article examines the philosophy of education of Mori Akira (1915–1976). It closely analyses his philosophy of self‐awareness (jikaku), while drawing comparisons with other Kyoto School philosophers. In order to fully understand Mori's particular conception of self‐awareness, it traces how this idea developed throughout his entire career: from his first book, The Philosophical Quest for Educational Ideals (1948), which focusses on the questing self‐awareness of the teacher, to the early–middle period (particularly The Practicality and Inwardness of Education, 1955, and Philosophical Anthropology of Education, 1961), which develops a systematic view of the self‐awareness of students, and to his final book, The Fundamental Principles of Human Formation (1977), which re‐examines generativity in light of uncertainty and death. What this trajectory shows is a view of education centred on self‐awareness and dynamically wrestling with key educational paradoxes, potentially deepening the philosophical grounding of mindful education.     

Research trends in science education from 2013 to 2017: a systematic content analysis of publications in selected journals

Following a series of reviews every 5 years since 1998, this fourth study presents the research trends in science education based on 1,088 research articles published in Science Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, and International Journal of Science Education from 2013 to 2017. The top three research topics, that is, the context of students’ learning, science teaching, and students’ conceptual learning were still emphasized by researchers in the period of 2013–2017. It is also evident that researchers have undoubtedly changed their preferences of research topics in the three journals within the 2 decades. For example, the topic concerning conceptual understanding, alternative conceptions, and conceptual change (Learning-Conceptions) was in continuous decline from 2003 to 2017, although it ranked as the top topic in the 1998–2002 period. The research topic of Teaching continuously ranked second in the 2008–2012 as well as in the 2013–2017 periods. Yet, the declining trend of Goals, Policy, and Curriculum reported in the last review was not observed in the latest period. The analysis of the top 10 most-cited papers unveiled that the issues such as inequality in science education, STEM education, and undergraduate research experiences were gradually highlighted.     

Challenges and promises of overcoming epistemological and methodological partiality: Advancing engineering education through acceptance of diverse ways of knowing

The purpose of this paper is to explore some challenges and promises when the epistemological diversity embedded in qualitative research traditions is introduced to research communities with one dominant research paradigm, such as engineering education. Literature is used from other fields and empirical data are used from engineering education, including the practices of the European Journal of Engineering Education and the Journal of Engineering Education, with the expectation that the ideas that are presented are relevant to a broad range of education disciplines. A number of challenges are identified as the epistemological diversity of qualitative research is introduced to the primarily positivist field of engineering education. Ultimately, embracing epistemological diversity holds the promise of researchers being able to ask: ‘What questions and answers become possible from these newly created positions and what can be learned from these alternative approaches?’.     

MAD HATTERS,JACKBOOTED MANAGERS,AND THE MASSIFICATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION

In this review of three recent books on higher education, Alexander Sidorkin shows how the disinterested discourse that appears to be anticapitalist and anticommercial is actually a way of obtaining income from state subsidies. What links the books under review—Cary Nelson's No University Is an Island: Saving Academic Freedom, Frank Donoghue's The Last Professors: The Corporate University and the Fate of the Humanities, and Jennifer Washburn's University, Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education—is their critical evaluation of the corporatization and commercialization of higher education. In his analysis of this common theme, Sidorkin considers discourse as a means of production, and he maintains that the semiotic fields produced by discourse may create inflationary bubbles unless they engage in innovative discursive practices. Higher education is shaped by the trend toward massification, which makes the innovative discourse essential. Sidorkin concludes that the discursive energy of proponents of higher education should be focused on solving the numerous problems that arise from the massification of higher education rather than trying to reverse the trend and return to some golden age of academia.     

Two decades of higher education

The coordinating editor provides a commentary by way of introduction to a complete list of all articles presented in Higher Education since its foundation in 1972. Information is supplied on the increases in frequency of publication and on the special issues which have appeared. The list of articles, by author, is supplemented by an index by geographical area, another by subject and an author cross-reference index to identify all authors to multiple-author articles. The article comments upon the changes which have occurred world-wide in higher education in the period under review and invites readers to judge to what extent the journal has achieved its aim of creating an international forum in which problems arising in higher education can be identified, described, analysed and discussed.     

Institutional Research Productivity in Science Education for the 1990s: Top 30 Rankings

The purpose of this study was to identify the major science education programs in the United States, where the science education researchers published their research. This research is the first study of the scholarly productivity of science education programs at domestic institutions of higher education. Each issue of the eight research journals (Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Science Education, International Journal of Science Education, Journal of Science Teacher Education, School Science and Mathematics, Journal of Computers in Math and Science Teaching, Journal of Science Education and Technology, and Journal of Elementary Science Education) published in the 1990s provided the author(s) and their institutional affiliation. The resultant ranking of raw and weighted counts for the top 30 science educations programs shows variation in journals where research was published. Overall, regardless whether the total number of publications (raw) or weighted rating there was 90% agreement among top 10 and 70% agreement among the bottom 10. Potential explanations for variations and uses for rankings are discussed.     

Appendix: Gender articles in History of Education since 1976

This appendix accompanies Ruth Watts' presidential address for the History of Education Society (UK), published in History of Education, May, 2005, vol.34, no.3, pages 225–241 under the title of ‘Gendering the story: change in the history of education’. The article in vol.34, no.3, looks over the history of women's and gender studies in the history of education from 1976 to the end of 2004 and examines the changes and effects of these studies in order to ask what historians of education can learn from this and where they should go next. The focus of the article is not just the presence of women or papers on them in history of education but whether the greater presence has changed both understanding of gender issues themselves and whether it has affected the whole field and if so, how? The article begins with a brief historiographical review of the field; second, it draws out key issues which represent the present state of affairs; and third, it provides a comparison of what is happening in gender history in a related field, science. It ends with suggestions for future research. The appendix printed below lists the articles published in History of Education from 1976 that formed the basis of the survey on which ‘Gendering the story: change in the history of education’ was based.     

FUNDAMENTALIST EDUCATION: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

A comparison is made of the contents and contributors to the British Journal of Religious Education (UK) and Religious Education (North America). A content analysis of each journal was conducted for a 10-year period between 1992–2002. A total of 20 volumes were analyzed, with attention given to types of research published, composition of review boards, authors' gender, affiliation, religious identity, position, geographic location, and number of contributions. The question of what each journal can learn from the other is addressed, and implications for the field are drawn.     

Engineering education research in European Journal of Engineering Education and Journal of Engineering Education: citation and reference discipline analysis

The authors, citations and content of European Journal of Engineering Education (EJEE) and Journal of Engineering Education (JEE) in 1973 (JEE, 1975 EJEE), 1983, 1993, 2003, and available 2013 issues were analysed. Both journals transitioned from house organs to become engineering education research (EER) journals, although JEE transitioned first. In this process the number of citations rose, particularly of education and psychology sources; the percentage of research articles increased markedly as did the number of reference disciplines. The number of papers per issue, the number of single author papers, and the citations of science and engineering sources decreased. EJEE has a very broad geographic spread of authors while JEE authors are mainly US based. A ‘silo’ mentality where general engineering education researchers do not communicate with EER researchers in different engineering disciplines is evident. There is some danger that EER may develop into a silo that does not communicate with technically oriented engineering professors.     

Analytic considerations in distance education research

Abstract

All articles submitted to The American Journal of Distance Education are subjected to a multi‐stage review process. One of the stages of review is an evaluation of methodology, including the appropriateness of any analytic procedures that are used. For this article, a number of empirical research reports submitted over the past several years were reviewed to identify common analytic problems and errors often overlooked by distance education researchers.     

Education and Policy: Changing Paradigms and Issues

The aim of the article is to consider the treatment of education and policy in the International Review of Education between 1955 and 2001. The article focuses on the changing prominence given to various topics in education and policy in IRE during the period and the way conceptual thinking in this area has changed and developed. An attempt is made to link both the shifts in focus on various educational planning policy themes and issues, and the major paradigm shifts in the area, to the changes in perceived education and policy needs and problems in each decade during the period.     

Education and Policy: Changing Paradigms and Issues

The aim of the article is to consider the treatment of education and policy in the International Review of Education between 1955 and 2001. The article focuses on the changing prominence given to various topics in education and policy in IRE during the period and the way conceptual thinking in this area has changed and developed. An attempt is made to link both the shifts in focus on various educational planning policy themes and issues, and the major paradigm shifts in the area, to the changes in perceived education and policy needs and problems in each decade during the period.     

Higher Education Literature Revisited: Citation Patterns Examined

The discourse of the field of higher education is complex, as is its analysis. Citation analysis is means of examining communicative processes. This study investigates citations in the papers of three core journals in higher education, Research in Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, and Journal of Higher Education. The results demonstrate that citation practices have remained relatively stable over time with regard to the format of cited items and the people and sources cited. The consistency applies, even with the electronic availability of a greater amount, and greater diversity, of materials. Some differences from past practices are also presented.     

Complex Systems Approaches to Educational Research: Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

To explore the movement toward increased complex systems (CS) research in education, this special issue of the Journal of Experimental Education was developed to identify some under-examined places where CS approaches have advanced research. The articles provide empirical examples of research leveraging methods and analyses from complexity science. In this introduction article to the special issue, we discuss the authors’ contributions to defining and explicating concepts and methods that fall under the umbrella of CS perspectives and how these methods were used to investigate complex processes in their topics of study. The articles capture the goal of the special issue to demonstrate how the research questions framed by CS assumptions can change our expectations about the very nature of the processes under study in education. We then take a more global perspective and acknowledge the commonalities amongst the papers, including (a) the reliance on intensive data to answer research questions, and (b) the use of dynamic approaches that yield findings about the stability and change of these systems and phenomena.     

WHAT DOES PHILOSOPHY HAVE TO OFFER EDUCATION,AND WHO SHOULD BE OFFERING IT?

In this review essay Stanton Wortham explores how philosophy of education should both turn inward, engaging with concepts and arguments developed in academic philosophy, and outward, encouraging educational publics to apply philosophical approaches to educational policy and practice. He develops his account with reference to two recent ambitious projects: The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Education, edited by Harvey Siegel, and the two‐volume yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE), titled Why Do We Educate? edited by Gary Fenstermacher (series editor), David Coulter and John Wiens (volume 1), and Mark Smylie (volume 2). These two projects initially appear to be opposed, with the Handbook emphasizing elite philosophy and the Yearbook emphasizing public engagement. Wortham argues that each project is in fact more complex, and that they are in some respects complementary. He concludes by making a case against a simple hierarchy of basic and applied knowledge and calling for a more heterogeneous philosophy of education.     

The New Journal of Jewish Education at Ten: An Appraisal

This article documents the Journal of Jewish Education’s acquisition by the Network for Research in Jewish Education, in 2004, and evaluates the contribution of the re-launched Journal to the field of Jewish education. I explore how the Journal contributed over the past decade in three discrete yet often overlapping areas, thereby realizing its editors’ vision. First, the Journal of Jewish Education became the venue for conversations between researchers, practitioners and funders about the direction of Jewish education research and policy; second, it became an outlet for the sharing of research and other Jewish education scholarship; and third, it became a venue where scholars introduced research and theoretical constructs from the field of general education and sought to demonstrate their relevance to Jewish education. Finally, I suggest some reasons why the editors had less success in realizing a fourth goal for the Journal; that is, making it a forum for new ideas and the charting of new directions in research and practice.     

A tale of two countries: comparing civic education in the Philippines and Singapore

This article provides a comparative analysis of citizenship education in the Philippines and Singapore. Through an analysis of historical contexts, citizenship education policy and curriculum, it examines Makabayan in the Philippines and National Education in Singapore. It identifies particular policy and curriculum trajectories as responses to national and global imperatives to demonstrate how countries are redefining the kinds of knowledge, skills and values deemed necessary for national citizenship in global contexts. This comparative case study illustrates some of the tensions and contradictions facing citizenship education in new global contexts and highlights the different ways countries try to manage these tensions through citizenship education policies and curricula. Findings point to different factors that shape and constrain the implementation of citizenship education programmes in both countries.     

Trends of Science Education Research: An Automatic Content Analysis

This study used scientometric methods to conduct an automatic content analysis on the development trends of science education research from the published articles in the four journals of International Journal of Science Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Research in Science Education, and Science Education from 1990 to 2007. The multi-stage clustering technique was employed to investigate with what topics, to what development trends, and from whose contribution that the journal publications constructed as a science education research field. This study found that the research topic of Conceptual Change & Concept Mapping was the most studied topic, although the number of publications has slightly declined in the 2000’s. The studies in the themes of Professional Development, Nature of Science and Socio-Scientific Issues, and Conceptual Chang and Analogy were found to be gaining attention over the years. This study also found that, embedded in the most cited references, the supporting disciplines and theories of science education research are constructivist learning, cognitive psychology, pedagogy, and philosophy of science.     

The Future of Sport Philosophy in Higher Education Kinesiology

ABSTRACT

Massengale’s Trends Toward the Future of Physical Education (1987) makes no reference to the existence of the philosophic inquiry of physical activity within higher education kinesiology programs—even though the sub-discipline had been formalized by academics in the early 1970s. In contrast, Massengale and Swanson’s The History of Exercise and Sport Science (1997) dedicated a chapter to sport philosophy’s development, including a prognosis of its future. Since then, there has been tremendous growth in the sub-discipline, including an increase in publication outlets, stand-alone monographs, and the creation of academic associations globally. Yet this growth has not necessarily secured sport philosophy’s place in higher education curriculum. In this article, we briefly review the history of philosophic inquiry into physical activity and review previous predictions of the sub-discipline’s future before offering our own prognostication of its future in higher education.