Philosophy of Education
A Mosavi; P Valavi; J Hasshemi
Abstract
Thisstudy attempts to investigate teachers’ experience as educational philosophers based on theexperiences of elementary school teachers. Research method is qualitative. The population consisted of all elementary school teachers of Ize City. The samplesize was not determined in advance, but, using ...
Read More
Thisstudy attempts to investigate teachers’ experience as educational philosophers based on theexperiences of elementary school teachers. Research method is qualitative. The population consisted of all elementary school teachers of Ize City. The samplesize was not determined in advance, but, using a purposive method, samplingcontinued to the point of saturation which occurred after interviewing fortysubjects (participants) who were willing to beinterviewed. Semi-structured interviews were used to collectthe data.Data from the interviews were analyzed based on van Manen’sphenomenological method. The gathered data were analyzed in order to explainthis lived experience. Then theresultant processed findings were returned to participants for validation. Thefindings include 20 themes which were categorized in 4 major axes. The firstaxis comprising major tasks of the teacher included 7 themes: goal setting, friendly relations, and attention toindividual differences, motivating, strengthening team spirit, strengtheningaccountability, and assessment of students. The second axis under the title offostering critical thinking subsumes 5 themes: creating a challengingenvironment, posing the question or issue, opportunities forcontemplation and reflection, participatory methods and criticism. The thirdaxis covering creative thinking includes 6 themes: discovery methods, creatingopportunities for practical activities, encouraging students' creativity,creative patterns, and creative curiosity. In the fourth axis called deepeningof knowledge 2 themes were identified: research and teaching aids. Sinceit is the teacher that copes with the actual conditions of teaching and hasfirst hard knowledge of students’ interests, demands needs and abilities, hecan provide grounds for an autonomous learning process. Also, if the teacher isto be successful in teaching thinking, he should be a philosopher - teacher whocan make use of all the factors that support the cultivation of criticalthinking in students.
