ERIC Number: EJ763773
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-May
Pages: 15
Abstractor: Author
Reference Count: 28
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-4985
What Makes Interdisciplinary Research Original? Integrative Scholarship Reconsidered
Gordon, Mordechai
Oxford Review of Education, v33 n2 p195-209 May 2007
This paper focuses on the scholarship of integration in the field of education and argues that although it has gradually been moving into the mainstream of educational research, it is all too often judged on the basis of criteria more applicable to assess the scholarship of discovery. First, I examine the questions: what constitutes original research in education and what makes the scholarship of integration "original". I assert that the reluctance on the part of many educators to consider integrative scholarship as original research is in part a result of the prevailing conception of originality that is too limiting and often not relevant to evaluate this form of scholarship. Such a conception is incompatible with the valuable lessons that constructivism has taught us about knowledge and learning. Finally, I propose a number of criteria to evaluate integrative research studies, ones which are different from those that apply to other forms of scholarship.
Descriptors: Educational Research, Constructivism (Learning), Scholarship, Holistic Approach, Integrated Activities, Discovery Processes, Creativity, Evaluation Methods, Criteria
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/default.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers: N/A

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