Melvin NG Han Wei
Department of Philosophy,
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), NUS
Ng, M. H. W. (2024). Putting dispositions at the heart of teaching collaborative inquiry-based discourse [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-mhwng/
SUB-THEME
Opportunities from Engaging Communities
KEYWORDS
Thinking dispositions, inquiry, discursive pedagogy
CATEGORY
Lightning Talk
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Most accounts of intelligence are “ability-centric”, reducing intelligence to some measure of intellectual aptitude, e.g. IQ. However, intelligent behaviour “in the wild”—everyday situations where there are no carefully framed tests to indicate the intellectual task to be attempted—depends largely on thinking dispositions. That is, the main determinant of everyday intellectual activity is not ability, but the disposition to use the relevant ability. I argue that higher education should focus on developing dispositions, as opposed to merely training skills or imparting content knowledge. This is the only way to take seriously the role of higher education to give students the tools to apply advanced knowledge and skills across varied environments throughout their lives, in order to lead creative, productive careers.
I explain Perkins et al. (1993)’s “triadic” theory of thinking, which divides dispositions into three elements: inclination to use the relevant abilities, sensitivity to the occasion where one can use the relevant abilities, and the abilities themselves. I then use the triadic model to make suggestions on how one might put dispositions at the heart of teaching collaborative discursive-based inquiry, as exemplified by the community of inquiry (COI) described in Matthew Lipman’s (2003) Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme. As I see it, collaborative, discursive-based inquiry is more than just a pedagogy but embodies dispositions (understood triadically) necessary to participate in social discourse in a public sphere increasingly characterised by free contestation of ideas. As such, it embodies a vital set of dispositions for engaging in communities, however we define them, and performing the associated social intellectual activities “in the wild”, including listening empathetically, clarifying and extending ideas, and seeking common understandings and compromises. While tailored to K-12, the P4C model, not least how it envisions a COI, can certainly be adapted to higher education, and serves as a useful vehicle for developing critical discursive dispositions. I offer suggestions on how this can be done, focussing on the changes that have to be made to conceptualising lessons, role of the teacher and assessment.
For many, putting on a “dispositions-lens” when teaching—as opposed to a “content-” or even “ability-lens”—will require a paradigm shift. Though I will focus on the teaching of collaborative inquiry-based discourse, it is my hope that the suggestions I offer will inspire dispositions-centred thinking in the teaching of other disciplines.
REFERENCES
Lipman, M. (2003). Thinking in Education (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Perkins, D., Jay, E., & Tishman, S. (1993). Beyond abilities: A dispositional theory of thinking. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly-Journal Of Developmental Psychology, 39(1), 1–21. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23087298
Perkins, D., Tishman, S., Ritchhart, R., Donis, K., & Andrade, A. (2000). Intelligence in the wild: A dispositional view of intellectual traits. Educational Psychology Review, 12(3), 269–293. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009031605464