Mirror Images: Popular Culture and Education is the first international and multidisciplinary effort to coalesce knowledge on education and popular culture studied as broad phenomena and not as a collection of case studies. In this volume, popular culture has been thematically treated as it appears in a variety of media, including movies, digital games, advertising, television, popular songs, and the internet. The book considers education in both formal and informal settings, and looks critically at the accepted dichotomy between education and popular culture. It argues that popular culture is capable of educating and that education shares many characteristics with popular culture, and tries to overcome these dichotomous relationships while also trying to clarify the reciprocal effects between the two. The book calls disciplinary and media boundaries into question in an effort to widen the possibility of enlarging the vocabulary and the verbs of all that stays unnamed by what is considered knowledge.

This volume offers an overview of the pragmatic understanding of knowledge and the acquisition of knowledge, and its implications for the conduct of educational research. Pragmatism and Educational Research focuses primarily on the work of John Dewey, and examines the relationship between pragmatism and educational research both in relation to research methodology and to a pragmatic educational theory. Biesta and Burbules provide examples of characteristic research questions and research methods and approaches, as informed by a pragmatist outlook. Further, they argue that the major benefit of a pragmatic approach to educational research lies in the possibility of promoting intelligent and reflective action by educational practitioners.

Three prominent Wittgenstein scholars introduce the broad educational significance of Ludwig Wittgenstein 's work to a wider audience of educational researchers and practitioners through provocative, innovative, and playful readings of his work. They vividly demonstrate the influence of his thinking and its centrality to understanding our contemporary condition.Wittgenstein fundamentally shaped contemporary theories of language, representation, cognition, and learning. The book also traces the pedagogical turn of his thinking during the period from 1920 to 1926. What is most radical about Wittgenstein 's later work is that it suggests learning and initiation into practices are fundamental to understanding his philosophy. The book not only provides a new and fresh interpretation of Wittgenstein 's thought but also explores a new way of thinking about education as a way of revealing the educational dimension of philosophical problems.

Three prominent Wittgenstein scholars introduce the broad educational significance of Ludwig Wittgenstein 's work to a wider audience of educational researchers and practitioners through provocative, innovative, and playful readings of his work. They vividly demonstrate the influence of his thinking and its centrality to understanding our contemporary condition.Wittgenstein fundamentally shaped contemporary theories of language, representation, cognition, and learning. The book also traces the pedagogical turn of his thinking during the period from 1920 to 1926. What is most radical about Wittgenstein 's later work is that it suggests learning and initiation into practices are fundamental to understanding his philosophy. The book not only provides a new and fresh interpretation of Wittgenstein 's thought but also explores a new way of thinking about education as a way of revealing the educational dimension of philosophical problems.

Globalization and Education explores the increasingly important dimensions of globalization as it affects educational policy and practice in nation-states around the world. Addressing such issues as feminism, multiculturalism, and new technology, this collection of original essays will broaden the context within which educational policy decisions are made.

Poststructuralism, and its implications for something called "postmodernism," is a major topic of discussion in social theory and research generally, including educational research. The works of the major authors in this tradition (Foucault, Lyotard, Cixous, Derrida, Haraway, to name a few) are challenging and difficult. Yet more and more theorists and researchers in educational scholarship use this term to describe their work. What does poststructuralism mean for these authors, and what significance does it have for educational inquiry? This book takes on these central questions and explores the impact of poststructuralism in language that makes the basic issues at stake accessible for a broad readership. Michael Peters and Nicholas C. Burbules highlight the implications of a poststructuralist stance for the conception of the research subject and examine its standards of validity and methods of investigation. They also lay out the distinguishing characteristics of this approach to educational inquiry, using as examples the particular ways in which writers (including Giroux, McLaren, Lather, and Ball) have tried to incorporate the poststructuralist perspective into their investigations of educational issues. The emphasis throughout this book will be on making these complex theoretical issues tangible and salient for the educational researcher.

Feminist theory has come a long way from its nascent beginnings-no longer can it be classified as "liberal," "socialist," or "radical." It has shaped and evolved to take on multiple meanings and forms, each distinct in its own perspective and theory. In Feminisms and Educational Research, the authors explore the various forms of feminisms, tracing their history and their relation to gendered knowledge and identity. Unlike other books on feminism, the authors do not attempt to push that a particular theory is more correct than another, but rather they give a complete overview of each of the forms of feminism. The authors then couple the philosophical and theoretical ideas of western feminisms with the aims and conduct of educational research, exploring how they interact and influence each other. Focusing on more recent feminists, both in education and related disciplines, the book highlights illustrative examples from research to form a basis of understanding how the different feminisms have changed education.

Poststructuralism, and its implications for something called 'postmodernism, ' is a major topic of discussion in social theory and research generally, including educational research. The works of the major authors in this tradition (Foucault, Lyotard, Cixous, Derrida, Haraway, to name a few) are challenging and difficult. Yet more and more theorists and researchers in educational scholarship use this term to describe their work. What does poststructuralism mean for these authors, and what significance does it have for educational inquiry? This book takes on these central questions and explores the impact of poststructuralism in language that makes the basic issues at stake accessible for a broad readership. Michael Peters and Nicholas C. Burbules highlight the implications of a poststructuralist stance for the conception of the research subject and examine its standards of validity and methods of investigation. They also lay out the distinguishing characteristics of this approach to educational inquiry, using as examples the particular ways in which writers (including Giroux, McLaren, Lather, and Ball) have tried to incorporate the poststructuralist perspective into their investigations of educational issues. The emphasis throughout this book will be on making these complex theoretical issues tangible and salient for the educational researcher.

Mirror Images: Popular Culture and Education is the first international and multidisciplinary effort to coalesce knowledge on education and popular culture studied as broad phenomena and not as a collection of case studies. In this volume, popular culture has been thematically treated as it appears in a variety of media, including movies, digital games, advertising, television, popular songs, and the internet. The book considers education in both formal and informal settings, and looks critically at the accepted dichotomy between education and popular culture. It argues that popular culture is capable of educating and that education shares many characteristics with popular culture, and tries to overcome these dichotomous relationships while also trying to clarify the reciprocal effects between the two. The book calls disciplinary and media boundaries into question in an effort to widen the possibility of enlarging the vocabulary and the verbs of all that stays unnamed by what is considered knowledge.

This volume offers an overview of the pragmatic understanding of knowledge and the acquisition of knowledge, and its implications for the conduct of educational research. Pragmatism and Educational Research focuses primarily on the work of John Dewey, and examines the relationship between pragmatism and educational research both in relation to research methodology and to a pragmatic educational theory. Biesta and Burbules provide examples of characteristic research questions and research methods and approaches, as informed by a pragmatist outlook. Further, they argue that the major benefit of a pragmatic approach to educational research lies in the possibility of promoting intelligent and reflective action by educational practitioners.

Feminist theory has come a long way from its nascent beginnings-no longer can it be classified as "liberal," "socialist," or "radical." It has shaped and evolved to take on multiple meanings and forms, each distinct in its own perspective and theory. In Feminisms and Educational Research, the authors explore the various forms of feminisms, tracing their history and their relation to gendered knowledge and identity. Unlike other books on feminism, the authors do not attempt to push that a particular theory is more correct than another, but rather they give a complete overview of each of the forms of feminism. The authors then couple the philosophical and theoretical ideas of western feminisms with the aims and conduct of educational research, exploring how they interact and influence each other. Focusing on more recent feminists, both in education and related disciplines, the book highlights illustrative examples from research to form a basis of understanding how the different feminisms have changed education.

This volume presents in a forthright and lively way, an account of the philosophical position generally identified as 'Postpositivistic' that undergirds much of mainstream research in education and the related social sciences. The discussion throughout is informed by recent developments in philosophy of science. Authors D. C. Phillips and Nicholas C. Burbules cite a number of interesting examples from the educational research and evaluation literature to illustrate the value of a scientific approach. Many educational researchers aspire to carry out rigorous or disciplined inquiry aimed at producing accurate (and generally 'truthful') accounts of educational phenomena and the causal psychological or social processes that lay behind them. However, many recent critics have argued that it is a mistake to believe that research can yield theories, or advance claims that are true, objective, and value-neutral. In other words, that researchers always work within frameworks that embody important (and often questionable) assumptions about values and the nature of human knowledge. This book argues that, while there is much to be learned from recent critiques, traditional scientific values and assumptions are not outmoded. The authors show students how to implement and benefit from the scientific method in ways that take into account recent critiques.