Perspectives on the craft of scientific research: A conceptual organizational framework for creating research pedagogy
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MATERIAL MATTERS
OPINION
Perspectives on the craft of scientific research: A conceptual organizational framework for creating research pedagogy By Frank W. Zok
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hat does pedagogy of scientific research involve? Pedagogy is usually portrayed as the creation and the practice of education processes that enable knowledge transfer to the learner. But in the context of scientific research, there is more: Pedagogy must include the creation and the practice of processes that lead to knowledge creation by the learner. Indeed, the latter represents one of the principal aims of advanced graduate studies in science and engineering. At a fundamental level, how do those of us who are scholars of science or engineering—not scholars of pedagogy itself—and who are responsible for teaching students the craft of scientific research even think about research pedagogy? And what language should we use? These types of
questions are rarely discussed in the science and engineering community. Many academicians would probably be hardpressed to articulate the goals they wish to achieve, not to mention the pedagogic tools they should use in achieving those goals. The easy and most common way out is to opt for the “show them how it’s done” approach. While teaching by example is one important component of research pedagogy, the cognitive psychological processes that are used in knowledge creation need to be identified, appreciated, and cultivated. So where do we begin? At a high level, the nature of scientific knowledge can be examined from several perspectives, including those of epistemology (theory of knowledge), human cognition, and knowledge utility. Here, some of
those perspectives are synthesized to suggest one possible conceptual organizational framework of the elements and processes involved in knowledge creation. It is a framework within which educators, learners, and other practitioners of the research enterprise in science and engineering can contextualize their work and within which they can discuss the craft of scientific research using a common language. Such a framework is essential if pedagogic tools that enable transfer of knowledge creation skills to others are to be developed.
The knowledge hierarchy: Building blocks of the research enterprise
Figure 1. A conceptual organizational framework of elements and processes involved in the creation of scientific knowledge: Synthesis of the knowledge hierarchy, human cognitive structures used in navigating the hierarchy, dimensions of quality and utility, and targeted outcomes of the enterprise.
A useful starting point, taken from the fields of information science and knowledge management, is the knowledge hierarchy.1–4 In its most familiar form, it comprises four elements: data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. The four elements are depicted in Figure 1 as an inverted pyramid. The arrangement conveys the notion that data flows into information, information flows into knowledge, and knowledge flows into wisdom. An additional element (not
Frank W. Zok, Materials Departmen
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