Toward a theory of pedagogical reduction : selection, simplification, and generalization in an age of critical education

Lewin, David (2019) Toward a theory of pedagogical reduction : selection, simplification, and generalization in an age of critical education. Educational Theory, 68 (4-5). pp. 495-512. ISSN 1741-5446 (https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12326)

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Abstract

In this article, David Lewin examines the processes of educational representation, simplification, and selection, proposing the term "pedagogical reduction" in order to clarify the role these processes play within pedagogy. Although this term is virtually unknown among Anglo‐American educational theorists, it reflects a substantial theoretical basis in the related German concept didaktishe Reduktion. Drawing on sources from the hermeneutic tradition, Lewin argues that education is fundamentally an interpretive exercise because selection and simplification require the interpretive judgment of educators, and that the hermeneutic constraints applied to education entail forms of reduction. He then examines pedagogical reduction within the curriculum areas of history, science, and philosophy in order to illustrate the generative and generalizing nature of pedagogical reduction, which takes students from particulars (objects, exercises, or events) to general or universal principles. Lewin discusses Comenius's 1658 textbook Orbis Sensualium Pictus in order both to illustrate pedagogical reduction as a historical form and to draw attention to a key historical moment in the development of educational representation and reduction. He then turns to an examination of skepticism of pedagogical reduction from progressive and critical pedagogies. The argument culminates in the suggestion that educational theory is too often presented with a false dilemma: either accept the need for a contrived educational experience disconnected from the experiences and concerns of life, or react against this flattened educational aspiration by seeking something authentic and progressive that meaninglessly conflates education and life. Understanding the proper place of reduction in education, Lewin concludes, is vital in mediating this dichotomy.

ORCID iDs

Lewin, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5205-8165;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:67489
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    2 April 2019
    Published
    2 February 2019
    Accepted
    Notes:© Board of Trustees, University of Illinois 2019. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Educational Theory, Vol 68, issue 4-5 pp. 495-512. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/edth.12326.
    Subjects:Education
    Department:Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) > Strathclyde Institute of Education > Education
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:04 Apr 2019 09:35
    Last modified:19 Nov 2024 13:50
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/67489
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