Educational Research in the Twenty-First Century

2021 ◽  
pp. 000-000
Author(s):  
Kaitlin Torphy Knake ◽  
Hamid Karimi ◽  
Sihua Hu ◽  
Kenneth A. Frank ◽  
Jiliang Tang
Author(s):  
Margaret Somerville ◽  
Sarah Powell

This chapter takes the age of Anthropocene as the time of human entanglement in the fate of the planet, dated by some from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We propose, however, that the full awareness of the consequences of this entanglement will only be felt by children born in the twenty-first century into an entirely different world than the one we know and understand. Interestingly, in the light of this contention, early childhood leads the field of educational research in posthuman scholarship, which we associate with the rise of scholarly work galvanised around the notion of the Anthropocene. These approaches draw variously on Haraway's common worlds, Barad's new materialism, and Deleuze and Guatarri's nomadic philosophies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-356
Author(s):  
Robert Donmoyer

PurposeThis paper has a twofold purpose: (1) to demonstrate, largely with historical evidence, that, contrary to what some have argued, thinking about educational research articulated at the start of the twenty-first century was not really “new wine in new bottles” but, rather, a continuation of the so-called paradigm wars about, ultimately, unresolvable methodological and epistemological issues that occurred during the twentieth century; (2) to suggest a way members of the educational administration field might transcend, or at least circumvent, time-consuming and distracting battles about unresolvable methodological and epistemological issues in the future while keeping their focus on issues of practice.Design/methodology/approachThis is a quasi-historical essay that uses influential literature during the historical periods focused on as evidence to support the essay's arguments.FindingsThe paper demonstrates that twentieth century philosophical disagreements about research methods and the role that educational research can play in policy and practice decision making were not resolved but, rather, were largely reenacted during the first decade of the twenty-first century, again without a resolution. The paper proposes a way that administrators, policymakers and researchers can manage this situation and still use research to make policy and practice decisions.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests a new role for both school administrators and policymakers to play. If administrators/policymakers play this role successfully, all types of research can inform decision making about policy and practice, and researchers can concentrate on doing their research rather than engaging in unresolvable philosophical disputes.Originality/valueAlthough a great deal has been written about the twentieth century's theory movement and paradigm wars and the twenty-first century's so-called science wars, the link between these phenomena has not been discussed in the literature. In addition, there have been few attempts to articulate an operational strategy for managing unresolvable philosophical disputes about research methods and the role that research can play in decision making. This paper tackles both matters.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shayan Doroudi

In 1988, a book was published by the name of "Technology in Education: Looking Toward 2020." Its purpose was to have thought leaders in educational research envision what the role of technology should be in 2020's educational landscape. By reflecting on how the visions of the book's authors align with the current state of educational technology, I hope to draw insights for the path forward for research on technology in education. While the authors were fairly accurate in predicting the technological state of 2020 and laid out noble educational visions, by and large their visions have not come true. I draw on the analysis of two of the book's authors to show that to design productive educational technologies, we need to take socio-cultural factors, including the organization of schools and equity, into account. To mitigate these concerns, we must work together to design socio-technical environments that foster productive and equitable learning in the twenty-first century.


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