Not by breadth alone: Imagining a Self-Organized Classroom

Authors

  • Inna Semetsky

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/cmplct8725

Abstract

This paper uses complexity theory as a means towards clarifying some of Gilles Deleuze’s conceptualisations in communication and the philosophy of language. His neologisms and post-structuralist tropes are often complicated and appear to be merely metaphorical. However their meanings may be clarified and enriched provided they are grounded in the science of complexity and self-organising dynamics. Reconceptualizing communication in a manner consistent with Deleuze’s philosophy enriches our understanding of the complexity involved in the process of learning and the whole of educational experience. The paper explores education as “becoming,” that is, a process of growth and becoming-other enabled by creative communication. While the mathematics of complexity is beyond the scope of this paper, some of its conjunctions with Deleuze’s philosophy will be examined for the purpose of addressing such problematic areas in education as, for example, specialisation and the breadth of curriculum. Finally, the paper moves to a practical level so as to construct an image of a (self-organised) classroom. Self-organising dynamics are posited as consistent with what Noddings (1993) called an excellent system of education. Education proceeds without any reference to an external aim. Rather, the “aim” is implicit in the experiential process of self-organisation and, as such, is conducive to students’ learning, creation of meanings, and eliciting broad curricula.

Author Biography

Inna Semetsky

Inna Semetsky is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Faculty of Education, Monash University, VIC. Australia. She completed her dissertation Continuities, Discontinuities, Interactions: Gilles Deleuze and the Deweyan Legacy (2002, Columbia University New York) under the advisement of Em. Professor Nel Noddings. Prior to her academic career, Inna taught mathematics and science. Her earlier MA is in the area of behavioural sciences and counselling psychology. She received the Kevelson Memorial Award from the Semiotic Society of America for her 1999 paper “The adventures of a postmodern Fool, or the semiotics of learning.” Her scholarship is across disciplines and includes the following articles published in 2005: “Learning by abduction: a geometrical interpretation” (SEMIOTICA); “From design to self-organization, or a proper structure for a proper function” (AXIOMATHES: An International Journal in Ontology and Cognitive Systems); “Peirce’s semiotics, subdoxastic aboutness, and the paradox of inquiry” (EPAT); “Words, things, signs: Semiosis and the memories of the future” (Synthesis Philosophica).

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Published

2005-12-01

Issue

Section

Research Articles