History and Philosophy of Disciplines as Basis of Teachers’ Professional Knowledge & Life-Long

LearningMichael R. Matthews

University of New South Wales

Aims for this Talk• Value in studying the history of education. Not

all good educational ideas are modern.• Educators, as distinct from just teachers or

trainers or coaches, have a professional responsibility to understand the history and philosophy of the discipline (subject) they teach.

• Concern with history and philosophy of the discipline they teach promotes life-long learning by teachers.

Fredrick W. Westaway (1864-1946)Teacher, Administrator, Historian & Philosopher• 1864, born Cheltenham• 1881-87, St John’s Training

College, • 1887-90, graduated BA,

University of London• 1892, headmaster

Broughton High School• 1890s? Headmaster St

George’s High School• 1905 appointed HMI (His

Majesty’s Inspector of Schools)

• 1946, died, aged 81

• Combined administration with scholarship.

• Combined educational theory with teaching practice.

• Pursued wide-ranging, not narrow, scholarship.

• Overcame the separation of sciences from humanities; bridged the ‘two cultures’ gap of C.P. Snow.

• Sought intellectual coherence.

Westaway: A Life-long Learner(some of 16 books and other publications)

• Scientific Method: Its Philosophical Basis and its Modes of Application, (1912/1937).

• Science Teaching, (1929).• Science and Theology: Their Common Aims and

Methods, (1920/1932).• The Endless Quest: 3000 Years of Science, (1934).• Obsessions and Convictions of the Human

Intellect, (1938).• Science in the Dock: Guilty or Not Guilty?,

(1942).

F.W. Westaway books

Science Teaching (1929) Scientific Method (1919)

F.W. Westaway books

History of Science (1934) Science & Theology (1920)

Science Teaching: What it Was, What it Is, What it Might Be (1929)

• Widely used textbook in UK graduate teacher training courses.

• Reprinted 1929, 1934, 1942, 1947.

• Argues for a broad HPS-informed science programme.

• Informed by 25 years of being a HMI (‘1000s & 1000s of lessons’)

Westaway’s Account of a Good Science Teacher

• a successful science teacher knows his own subject . . . is widely read in other branches of science . . . knows how to teach . . . is able to express himself lucidly . . . is skilful in manipulation . . . is resourceful both at the demonstration table and in the laboratory . . . is a logician to his finger-tips . . . is something of a philosopher . . . is so far an historian that he can sit down with a crowd of [students] and talk to them about the personal equations, the lives, and the work of such geniuses as Galileo, Newton, Faraday and Darwin. More than this he is an enthusiast, full of faith in his own particular work. (p.3)

• Has 70 years of educational research added much to this understanding of

a good science teacher?• How ‘generalizable’ is the account to

good teachers in other disciplines and subjects?

A Good History Teacher?• a successful history teacher knows his own subject . . .

is widely read in other branches of history . . . knows how to teach . . . is able to express himself lucidly . . . is skilful in manipulation . . . is resourceful both at the demonstration table and in the laboratory . . . is a logician to his finger-tips . . . is something of a philosopher . . . is so far an historian that he can sit down with a crowd of [students] and talk to them about the personal equations, the lives, and the work of such geniuses as Herodotus, Hume, Hegel, Comte, Marx, Collingwood. More than this he is an enthusiast, full of faith in his own particular work.

A Good Mathematics Teacher ?• a successful mathematics teacher knows his own subject . .

. is widely read in other branches of mathematics . . . knows how to teach . . . is able to express himself lucidly . . . is skilful in manipulation . . . is resourceful both at the demonstration table and in the laboratory . . . is a logician to his finger-tips . . . is something of a philosopher . . . is so far an historian that he can sit down with a crowd of [students] and talk to them about the personal equations, the lives, and the work of such geniuses as Euclid, Archimedes, Descartes, Newton, Bernoulli, Euler, Gauss, Riemann, PoincaréMore than this he is an enthusiast, full of faith in his own particular work.

A Good Music Teacher ?• a successful music teacher knows his own subject . . .

is widely read & practised in other branches of music. . . knows how to teach . . . is able to express himself lucidly . . . is skilful in manipulation . . . is resourceful both at the demonstration table and in the laboratory . . . is a logician to his finger-tips . . . is something of a philosopher . . . is so far an historian that he can sit down with a crowd of [students] and talk to them about the personal equations, the lives, and the work of such geniuses as Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, Bizet, Puccini, Gershwin

More than this he is an enthusiast, full of faith in his own particular work.

A Good Theology Teacher ?• a successful theology teacher knows his own subject . . .

is widely read in other branches of theology . . . knows how to teach . . . is able to express himself lucidly . . . is skilful in manipulation . . . is resourceful both at the demonstration table and in the laboratory . . . is a logician to his finger-tips . . . is something of a philosopher . . . is so far an historian that he can sit down with a crowd of [students] and talk to them about the personal equations, the lives, and the work of such geniuses as Augustine, Luther, Aquinas, Barth, Rahner, Kung, Niebuhr

More than this he is an enthusiast, full of faith in his own particular work.

Lee Shulman (Stanford University) • “Teachers must not only be

capable of defining for students the accepted truths in a domain. They must also be able to explain why a particular proposition is deemed warranted, why it is worth knowing, and how it relates to other propositions, both within the discipline and without, both in theory and in practice.” (Shulman 1986, p. 9)

Professor Israel SchefflerHarvard University, Philosophy & Education

Scheffler’s Claims for History and Philosophy of Disciplines in Education

• four main ways in which philosophies-of disciplines contribute to education: (1) the analytic description of forms of thought represented by teaching subjects; (2) the evaluation and criticism of such forms of thought;

• (3) the analysis of specific materials so as to systematize and exhibit them as exemplifications of forms of thought; (4) the interpretation of particular exemplifications in terms accessible to the novice.

• (1) the analytic description of forms of thought represented by teaching subjects

• Logic of Paradigms • Conceptual structure of

disciplines• Method of disciplines• Methodology of

disciplines• Truth tests in

disciplines• Legitimate and

illegitimate inclusions in a discipline

• (2) the evaluation and criticism of such forms of thought;

• Historical track-record of the discipline

• What, how and why have certain disciplines advanced

• Role of metaphysics, ideology, politics in formation and practice of disciplines

• Internal and external role of Ethics and Morals in discipline

Autobiographical Sketch:From science teaching to HPS

Roman Catholic Philosophy

• Irish Christian Brothers• Catholic Schooling• Introduction to

Catholic philosophy and tradition

Waverley College

Sydney University Science Degree (B.Sc. 16-19yrs)

• Geology major• Maths, chemistry,

physics, biology• Two years

philosophy• Logic, Ethics, David

Hume

Sydney Teachers College(Dip. Ed. 19-20 yrs)

Science method& Philosophy of Education

Richard Stanley Peters

Richard Peters on Education• Cognitive requirements

1. intellectual breadth (not narrow or specialised)

2. intellectual depth or understanding

• Ethical requirementsproceduresoutcomes

• “Nothing so practical as a good philosophy of education”

High School Science Teaching

Liberal Education Ideas• Science Teaching

(Yrs.7-12)

• Debating• General Studies

optional class• Rugby coaching• Part –time university

study

Dulwich High School

Part-time B.A. StudiesSydney University

Philosophy honours• Philosophy of

Religion• Philosophy of Mind• Philosophy of Science• Thesis on ‘Reasons as

Causes of Behaviour’

Psychology honours• Learning theory• Perception• Social psychology• Thesis on ‘Bar-press

Avoidance of Rats’• Behaviourist-

dominated period in psychology

Lecturer Sydney Teachers’ CollegePhilosophy of Education (1972-75)

• Analytic philosophy of education

• Compulsory requirement for all students

• Taught in subject groups (science, mathematics, history etc)

• Wide extra-curricula programme

Lecturer Philosophy of EducationUNSW (1975- )

• Analytic philosophy of education

• Theories of knowledge and theories of learning

• Connecting philosophy to psychology for teachers

• Philosophy of education for science teachers

• Beginning of HPS & ST research

Boston University Centre for History and Philosophy of Science (1978)

• Stellar quality and pluralistic department

• Robert Cohen, Marx Wartofsky, Abner Shimony, Alastair McIntyre, John Finlay, Michael Martin

• Tradition of joint appointments

• Philosophy of science course on Galileo

• Connection of philosophy of science to history of science

The Beginning of Pendulum Studies: Galileo (1564-1642)

• 1) Period varies with the square root of length; the Law of Length.

• 2) Period is independent of amplitude; the Law of Amplitude Independence.

• 3) Period is independent of weight; the Law of Weight Independence.

• 4) For a given length all periods are the same; the Law of Isochrony.

The Pendulum’s Central Role in Early Modern Science

• Establishing the Laws of Free Fall (Galileo)• Establishing the Conservation of Energy Laws

(Newton)• Determining value of the gravitation constant, g

(Newton)• Determining the speed of sound (Newton)• Establishing that the moon ‘falls’ at the same

rate as earthly bodies; that the law of gravitation is universal; the synthesis of terrestrial and celestial mechanics (Newton)

The Pendulum’s Central Role in Early Modern Science

• Enabling accurate time-keeping (Huygens)• Solving the ‘Longitude Problem’ and hence

facilitating European exploration and colonisation (Huygens, Harrison)• Establishing an international unit of length

(Huygens)• Determining speed of bullets and

projectiles (Robins)

The Pendulum’s Central Role in Early Modern Science

• Ascertaining the oblate shape of the earth (Huygens)

• Proving the rotation of the earth (Foucault)

• Ascertaining earth’s structure and mass (Eötvos)

Two Pendulum Books

2000 2005

The Pendulum & Integrated Curriculum

Scientific Background to Modern Philosophy (1989)

• The history of serious philosophy is intertwined with the history of science; philosophy and science are in continual engagement.

• Selections from Aristotle, Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, Huygens, Descarte that had philosophical ramification.

HPS&ST Program (1994)• For all its faults, the

scientific tradition has promoted rationality, critical thinking and objectivity. It instils a concern for evidence, and for having ideas judged not by personal or social interest, but by how the world is; a sense of ‘Cosmic Piety’, as Bertrand Russell called it.

Photosynthesis: An Historical-Philosophical Approach

• Matthews, M.R.: 2009,

‘Science and Worldviews in the Classroom: Joseph Priestley and Photosynthesis’,

Joseph Priestley(1733-1804)

Dissenting MinisterTheologianChurch HistorianEducatorScientistPhilosopherEnlightenment FigurePublic IntellectualChampion of Liberalism‘Polymath’

HPS & Integrated CurriculumJoseph Priestley & Photosynthesis

• a Theories of Revelation

• b French Revolution• c Composition of Air• d Materialism• e Soda water• H Doctrine of the Trinity• g The Enlightenment• f Epistemology

The Interaction of Science & Culture: Science, Worldviews and Education (2009)

• If students do not learn and appreciate something about science – its philosophical and metaphysical assumptions, its epistemology and methodology, its history, its interrelationships with cultures and religion – then the opportunity for science to enrich culture and human life is diminished.

Implications for Teacher Training & Lifelong Learning

• Inclusion of Foundational subjects (philosophy, psychology, sociology, history) in teacher education.

• Using ‘History and Philosophy of the Discipline’ as a relevant and engaging way into foundational thinking and understanding

• Limitations of ‘in-school’, ‘apprenticeship’ models of teacher training

History and Philosophy of Disciplines

•INTERNATIONAL HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY &

SCIENCE TEACHING GROUP [IHPST]

WWW.IHPST.NET•

m.matthews@unsw.edu.au

Matthews biographical story:• http://www.pesa.org.au/03mee.htm