a s t u D E N t s u c c E S S s t O R y
ways — less coloured by the assumptions that statisticians ( as authors ) and ideologues ( as those who superimpose their ideas on both the author and reader ) bring to these inanimate squiggles on a page . What was missing was the perspective of the reader , who wants to / has to make practical sense of things numeric without having the time or background or inclination to accomplish detailed calculations . Now , I start all teaching / research / scholarship / class discussion / lectures with a ) a well-formulated question and b ) clarity of purpose which seem central to interpreting both prose and numeric text .
4 . What aspirations do you have regarding what your research might accomplish in the field of education ?
I have several goals : a ) to open up the field of numeracy without making impossible demands on the reader , analogous to the way we now foster literacy without demanding that students first become experts in literature b ) to point out recognized and influential North American philosophers in education , without continually recycling Eurocentric ideas which originate from socio-educational milieux very different than those surrounding North American schools ; b ) to foster a better informed , healthier and saner discussion about assessment and evaluation matters in educational and academic circles
5 . Was it difficult to achieve your research goals ? How did you overcome obstacles ( if any ), whether personal or professional ?
The Faculty of Education at the University of Regina has unfailingly , always flexibly , and often enthusiastically supported my academic excursions into less-explored and sometimes controversial territory . As always in research matters , the primary barriers are insufficient time and over-generalized stereotypes . Over the 18 years I was a public servant , I oscillated ( some might say ricocheted ) back and forth from daytime positions in the Ministry of Education to evening classes , teaching at the university--that is back and forth between actual administrative practice to the home of theory . My committee members recognized that assessment processes and research methods are complementary , one serving decision-making and the other satisfying curiosity . Both are forms of inquiry , with different audiences .
because I could concentrate full time on research . At the same time , I knew what I was looking for before I designed and carried out my research : what is the actual link between thought and action with numbers ? My supervisor , Dr . Rod Dolmage , was absolutely committed and key to removing blockages on the road to inquiry .
6 . Abstract / Excerpt :
“ Whatever else it produces ,” Kahneman ( 2011 ) has declared , “ an organization is a factory that manufactures judgements and decisions ” ( p . 418 ). In Canadian schools , thousands of such professional judgements are routinely made during a school year by teachers with direction from school principals — when appraising student performances , when constructing assignments and marking student work , and when preparing reports for multiple audiences . To manage the meaning of these statistics , school administrators consider average student achievement not with the inferential patterns assumed within contemporary cognitive science ’ s notions of heuristic irrationality , but rather as a reasoned form of inquisitive thinking and behaviour which has been formalized and comprehensively described in North American philosophy for over 100 years . To adequately understand the meaning of the statistical average , we must avoid succumbing to what William James ( 1890 ) called the “ great snare ” of the psychologist ’ s fallacy : “ the confusion of his own standpoint with that of the mental fact about which he is making his report ” ( p . 290 )— superimposing our own categories on those of others .
Committee :
Dr . Rod Dolmage ( Supervisor ), Dr . Larry Steeves , Dr . Ron Martin , and Dr . Katherine Arbuthnott ( External Examiner )
In many ways , I found my doctoral research to be less onerous than my Master ' s thesis--primarily
Dr . Darryl Hunter receiving the Governor General ’ s Award at the University of Regina 2015 Spring Convocation . Photo credit : U of R Photography
Faculty of Education Education News Spring / Summer 2015 Page 7