Powerful knowledge, transformations and the need for empirical studies across school subjects

In this article, we explore the concept of 'powerful knowledge' which, from a curriculum studies perspective, refers to the aspects of content knowledge towards which teaching should be oriented. We then consider how the concept of 'powerful knowledge' can be developed and operat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inLondon review of education Vol. 16; no. 3; pp. 428 - 444
Main Authors Gericke, Niklas, Hudson, Brian, Olin-Scheller, Christina, Stolare, Martin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London UCL Press 2018
UCL IOE Press
Subjects
Adult Learning
Change
Curricula
Curriculum
Curriculum Development
CURRICULUM THEORY
Didacticism
Education
Educational Objectives
Educational Practices
Educational Research
Educational Work
Historia
History
Individualized Instruction
Instruction
Intellectual Disciplines
Knowledge
Pedagogik
Pedagogiskt arbete
POWERFUL KNOWLEDGE
SCHOOL SUBJECTS
SUBJECT DIDACTICS
TRANSFORMATION
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Summary:In this article, we explore the concept of 'powerful knowledge' which, from a curriculum studies perspective, refers to the aspects of content knowledge towards which teaching should be oriented. We then consider how the concept of 'powerful knowledge' can be developed and operationalized as a research framework within studies in subject-specific didactics across the curriculum by relating it to the analytical concept of 'transformation'. Transformation is perceived in this case as an integrative process in which content knowledge is transformed into knowledge that is taught and learned through various transformation processes both outside and within the educational system. We argue that powerful knowledge cannot be identified based on the discipline alone, but needs to consider transformation processes and be empirically explored. A variety of theories and frameworks developed within the European research tradition of didactics are described as ways to study transformation processes related to powerful knowledge at different institutional levels as well as between different subjects and disciplines. A comparative research framework related to subject-specific education is proposed around three research questions.
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ISSN:1474-8460
1474-8479
1474-8479
DOI:10.18546/LRE.16.3.06