Doctoral Degrees (Educational Psychology)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Educational Psychology) by Author "Blackie, Margaret A. L."

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    Towards knower awareness in chemistry and chemistry education
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Blackie, Margaret A. L.; Wolff, Karin; Adendorff, Hanelie; Fataar, Aslam; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this work I develop the concept of knower awareness and argue for its significance in both the practice of chemistry and in chemistry education. Knower awareness requires making the person who holds the knowledge visible. This has been achieved using a theoretical foundation of critical realism. In critical realism the scientist is not a passive observer but an active agent in the practice of chemistry. A conception of the practice of chemistry as the interplay of the physical world at the molecular level, the conceptual world and the community of chemists has been derived from critical realism. The key insight here, is that the community of chemists are profoundly important in shaping the field of chemistry and how it is practiced. It is on this basis that the notion of ‘knower awareness’ is developed. This foundation is explored in three ways. Firstly, the appropriate situating of the objectivity of scientific knowledge in the realm of the real, means that the individual creativity of the researcher comes into view as a distinct asset. The necessary logical extension to this is the substantial advantage to the practice of chemistry that is afforded by diversity. Diversity in this sense is both diversity of training and diversity of identities. This has direct implications for teaching. A conception of teaching that remains as knowledge transfer as opposed to a dialogic process cannot be intellectually sustained. It also has implications for hiring practices in higher education. Secondly, this conception of the practice of chemistry allows a clarity of distinction between chemistry as science and chemistry as technology. When chemistry is practiced as a science, the conceptual world is the field of investigation and the physical world is taken as constant. When chemistry is practiced as a technology, the conceptual world is taken as constant and is used to effect change in the physical world. This insight may be the bait for the hook required for chemists to engage with this work. Thirdly, one example of the way in which knower blindness may be actively eroded is elaborated. The epistemic assessment framework is a tool which can be used by students to foster self-reflection and to make knowledge building in chemistry visible. Thus the student is encouraged to become an active agent in the process of their own learning. This is congruent with the agency of the scientist in the practice of chemistry.