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Research into Teaching and Learning: Beginning Philosophy

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Contemporary Themes in Humanities Higher Education
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Abstract

This chapter, a version of a paper first published in a journal for teachers of Philosophy in higher education in the US, concerns current conceptions of the teaching of the discipline and makes many recommendations for change. The analysis is based on questionnaire and interview studies of (some 1,000) mainly adult students of the subject at introductory level, and draws on the author’s experience as a student and tutor of Philosophy and as an educational adviser working with subject specialists to create undergraduate courses in distance education mode. The chapter is included in this volume as an example of the kind of contribution researchers into humanities higher education may make to pedagogic understanding and practice, through interpretation of students’ experiences of study and mediation between them and ‘front-line’ teachers of undergraduates; accordingly, the chapter directly addresses teachers of Philosophy. It also provides an instance of critical humanistic practice in action and the application of pedagogic theories of discourse (see Chapter 1 of this volume).

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© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Chambers, E. (2001). Research into Teaching and Learning: Beginning Philosophy. In: Chambers, E.A. (eds) Contemporary Themes in Humanities Higher Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9678-7_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9678-7_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5608-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-9678-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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