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Neil Westcott

For: PME 811


Module 2: History of Teaching and Learning
The first article I read was the Tomkins article, which discussed the foreign influences on Canadian
curriculum and education from the 1700s onwards. The article outlined several of the most important
and prominent foreign factors that helped form the Canadian education system. Among them were
importing of a British curriculum, stewardship of education in Lower Canada by the Jesuits, and the
adoption of foreign teaching methods, and the use of foreign textbooks. Foreign universities also
attracted Canadians for graduate education, which was another means of introducing foreign ideas. The
close proximity of America to Canada also had an impact on our educational development, according to
Tompkins.
Teaching - One aspect of the article that struck me was importance of the effect of what universities
were teaching in the late 1800s. It was thought universities should not engage in the teaching of
trades. According to Tompkins, JG Hodgins, Ontarios Deputy Superintendent of education, believed
that Ontario was far behind European countries in the area of technical education, despite Ontario
winning awards at expositions in Philadelphia and a few years later in Chicago.
Learning One aspect of this article related to my definition of learning concerned the access to
information. Graduate students needed to relocate to other countries to have access to different
sources of knowledge than existed in Upper or Lower Canada at the time. I find this interesting, in part,
because this issue has existed quite a lot longer than I had imagined. I always viewed the problem of
brain drain being more of a financial cause than an educational one.
Innovation- Jesuits The article discusses the introduction of manual training, domestic science,
agriculture, health education and kindergartens as new ideas/aspects of education that were introduced
between the 1880s and 1920s.
Creativity The people who had a vision for an expanded social or pastoral role for high schools showed
creativity, although as I type this I am wondering whether it apply better as an innovation.
After reading this article, I am motivated to learn more about the impact of religion on education, which
I guess qualifies as a question.
The second article I read was The State of Tutelage in Lower Canada, 1837 1851 by Bruce Curtis. The
article describes the political situation and the nature of government in Lower Canada after the rebellion
of 1837. It focuses on the push to change and strengthen local government while establishing an
educational system that was to exist, in part, to control the populace of Lower Canada. As Curtis states
in his conclusion, anyone serious in studying this era should take note of the conjunction of inspection
and intelligence gathering, the construction of political alliances around local administration, and
schooling. They cannot usefully be studied in isolation. Indeed, the article discusses all the related
political entanglements that would be expected when a political and education system is foisted upon a
group of people, many of whom neither want nor support it.

Learning - In a quote from Lord Durhams report, it is noted that women showed more industry than
men in Lower Canada due to education from nuns for free. This gaining of knowledge easily fits into my
definition. According to Curtis, students would be required to learn in a system that was a copy of an
educational plan instituted in Ireland. My definition of learning as being able to better understand the
world fits my definition, but placing limits on learning, as the plan seemed meant to do, doesnt fit.
Teaching - The article mentions as one of the factors lack of local government as a training ground for
advancement of political men. This is supported by my definition, insofar as the teaching carried out
would perhaps allow for the individuals involved to see themselves as members of a different
class. Also, the new education system created was designed to force teachers to follow a plan. This fits
in with facilitating the understanding of new concepts, but is not a positive outcome for anyone
involved.
Reading about how education was used as a ploy to subjugate a whole group of people was sad. I
wonder how much influence what was done during this time period has had on the education system in
Quebec today.
Curtis, B. (1997). The state of tutelage in Lower Canada, 18351851. History of Education Quarterly,
37(1), 2543. doi: 10.2307/369903
Tomkins, G. (1981). Foreign influences on curriculum and curriculum policy making in Canada: Some
impressions in historical and contemporary perspective. Curriculum Inquiry, 11(2), 157166.

Module 2: Historical Thinking


The first article I read was The Great Unsolved Mysteries of Canadian History: Using a webbased archives to teach history by Ruth Sandwell. This article discusses the use of primary
sources to teach high school and university history courses. Sandwell and her colleague, John
Lutz, have collaborated to produce online connections of historical primary source materials
that are presented in such a way as to intrigue learners to peruse the source materials in order
to draw conclusions and solve the mystery that each collection of sources presents.
This concept would definitely be an innovation. Collections of historical primary sources have
existed at least from the 1970s as I can remember them from my primary school days, and
probably were available long before that. Also, webquests and other controlled searches that
ask students to pilot their own journey through information predate Sandwell and Lutzs webbased learning initiative. However, combining those concepts with the idea that students would
respond better to a mystery provides a possible enhancement to how students learn history. As
Sandwell claims in the article, this method is an attempt to change the way history is taught.
In terms of teaching, the presentation of source materials and a set of skills that students may
or may not need to engage with the subject on a given level indicate that an interaction
between teacher and learner will take place. That each learner might access different
information or need less or more support to achieve their learning goals indicate that
facilitation embedded within the sequence of lessons plans presented in the article.

The text touches upon the concept of what primary sources might exist to represent someone
50 years from today. Reading this article has made me wonder about not only what primary
sources I might use to represent me, but also how technological change might affect the
accessibility and permanence, or lack thereof, of many primary sources 50 years from now.
From a more practical standpoint, I wonder about how high school teachers might assess such a
body of work, and what that assessment might look like.

The second article I read was The Teaching of History and Democratic Citizenship by Ken
Osborne. It discusses the concept of citizenship and how teachers might foster democratic
principles in their students. Osborne outlines how both the writing and teaching of history have
undergone momentous changes in the past generation due to a variety of reasons. Some
aspects that have contributed to this change include the purpose and style of history texts, the
proliferation of alternative views to history as well as the development of different aspects of
historical study.
Theres a definite connection between my two articles in the sense that teaching students in a
new or different way impacts on their perceptions of what history is. Learners gaining
knowledge of themselves or the world around them is less uniform if there exist many different
versions of history from which to choose. However, as Osborne states, history is, or should be
about, about looking at evidence and making your own sense of it intellectually. Experiencing
logical reasoning about issues, conducting debates and engaging in thoughtful discussions are
all aspects of how Osborne sees history teaching helping to develop democratic citizens.
One aspect of the article that I found interesting was Osbornes portrayal of how Canadian
history is perceived when judged through our school textbooks. His assertion that learners of
history are presented with a view that great individuals and groups of people build Canada,
rather than the collection of normal people who had a hand in it as well. In reconsidering my
definition of learning, perhaps challenging the status quo, synthesizing information or proving it
to show learning might be necessary.
One question I had after finishing the article was wondering whether history teachers try to
guard against letting their own political views filter into their teaching. And if they do, how do
they manage it or whether they should?
Osborne, K. (2008). The teaching of history and democratic citizenship. In R. Case & P. Clark
(Eds.), The anthology of social studies, volume 2: Issues and strategies for secondary teachers
(pp. 314). Vancouver: Pacific Educational Press.
Sandwell, R. (2005). The great unsolved mysteries of Canadian history: Using a web-based
archives to teach history. Canadian Social Studies, 39(2). Retrieved from
http://www2.education.ualberta.ca/css/Css_39_2/ARSandwell_unsolved_mysteries.htm

Module 3: Philosophical Thinking


The first article I read was, Philosophy of Education is Bent, by Cris Mayo.
This article is primarily about the position of philosophy in education and its relevance, or lack
thereof, to present day educational thinking. The article suggests that educational philosophers
should be able to work toward a common goal, despite coming from radically different
beginnings. While I do not know much about the philosophy of education, I should think that
they would have more in common with each other than with those on Mayos opposite side.
Mayo discusses the need to reorient the discussion in terms of education and assessment.
Focusing on measurable statistics obscures the real issues that should be looked at by institutes
of higher learning. A creeping obsession with data and quantifiable results has taken hold of
practically every aspect of teaching in the primary school where I teach and I am certain that
learning will suffer as a result.
That the philosophy of education should maintain its problem posing approach (Mayo)
relates to both teaching and learning. Given that problems of the world that exist without easy
solutions, it makes sense that teaching should mirror that likelihood and give students
opportunities to think about and grapple with wicked problems.
The article mentioned that financial and accountability issues have lessened the influence and
importance of the humanities in post-secondary education. I cant help but think that the quest
for wealth and luxury that Thoreau wrote about is exactly the same point Mayo is trying to
make. I hope that in making this connection, I have not queered the premise of her article.
The second article I read was, What Philosophy Can and Cannot Do For Education, by Paul
Smeyers.
The article presents the thinking of Wittgenstein as it applies to educational theory and the
philosophy of education and then extends it a more general discussion of philosophy and
education.
In my first reading of this article, I struggled with understanding this article in a way that I see
my Kindergarten English Language Learners struggle when I present them with new vocabulary
that lacks context. A case in point: Smeyers quotes Wittgensteins assertion that, the aim is to
teach someone to pass from a piece of disguised nonsense to something that is patent
nonsense. After a few readings, the sense I have of this quote is that it is demonstrating the
importance of perspective and that changing how something is viewed, changes your
understanding of it. Elsewhere in the article he speaks about being able to see patterns which
comes about as a result of making correct judgments about related phenomena.
The article also discusses language and its usage in a manner that identifies the written word as
a somewhat imperfect design that is leading towards perfection but never arriving. According
to Smeyers, (i)f language and reality coincided there would be no enigma. The idea that

poetry and poetic composition is the written form that comes closest to perfection is an ideal
for learning. Paying attention to the economy of words and the subtlety of their meaning is part
of striving for the ideal.
Perhaps the most poignant part of this article for me, though, is that of an image of a problem
as a knot, as Smeyers speaks about unravelling educational issues that continue to arise.

Module 3: The Philosophy of Teaching and Learning


The first article I read was Chomskys, The Responsibility of Intellectuals, Redux: Using Privilege
to Challenge Power.
The main point of this article is that depending on an intellectuals position related to the ruling
class, they are either exalted or reviled. Chomsky tracks the historical persecution of valueoriented intellectuals, as he calls them, beginning with Socrates and ending with the individuals
critical of the state-sanctioned murder of Osama bin Laden. I find it sad that the litany of abuses
of Chomskys recollection have left the American consciousness like so much water flowing
downstream, even as they ready themselves to elect yet another morally-bankrupt president.
Who knows what Donald Trump would be capable of accomplishing? Or Hilary Clinton for that
matter?
Another aspect of this article that I found intriguing is the following quote from education
theorist Edward Thorndike in 1939:
It is the great good fortune of mankind that there is a substantial correlation between intelligence
and morality including good will toward ones fellows..Consequently our superiors in ability are
on the average our benefactors and it is often safer to trust our interests to them than to
ourselves.
Chomsky spends the article explaining how and why the opposite is true. In fact, the morals
mentioned are seemingly absent in the myriad of examples Chomsky cites. His examples relate
to both teaching and learning in different ways. I think that a discussion of learning necessitates
being able to see the world with a critical eye, as Chomsky suggests that intellectuals do. I
think that learning involves being able to balance different perspectives to an issue and decide
for oneself how to weigh each one.
If people who know better do not question the version of history that they are presented with,
then who will?
The other article I read was Hadots, There Are Nowadays Professors of Philosophy But Not
Philosophers.
The article begins by stating that the main point of Thoreau from Walden is that man leads a
senseless life. Life, as Thoreau defined it, is despair or resignation, and is absorbed by
artificial worries and unnecessarily harsh tasks. As Hadot claims, Thoreau felt that

philosophers from various ages, be they Greek, Indian, Chinese, Hindu, or Persian, grappled
with problems in a real way, not an artificial one. In his eyes, people that concern themselves
more with comfort and luxury, and less with the real challenges that life has to offer, are
misguided.
Connections between Thoreaus approach to philosophy and education are quite striking.
Discrete subject teaching, endless worksheets, busy work, overly defined curriculum outcomes,
and teaching to the test are all symptomatic of the same artificial worries that concerned
Thoreau. And who in education can say they have never felt despair about what they were
teaching and whether students were learning?
In the same way that Hadot would have us enjoy the simple pleasure of the beauty of the
world, taking that same simple pleasure in learning is what should define it. I think that
viewing, or living, in the world in a way such as the one that Thoreau ascribes to is an attempt
to know more about the world, or an understanding of his position in it.
Perhaps, then, this article is about how teaching by modelling is what instruction should be, as
Thoreau would seem to have it. In learning by contemplation or by doing, is the luxury, or stuff,
of what we are teaching is obscuring what students are learning?

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