Nonlinear Educational Theory: Nonlinearity, Critical Curriculum Theory, Self-Adaptive Complex Systems, & Educational Practice

Is there an underlying conceptual basis for dramatic revision of classroom practice? Is such a suggestion really necessary? Can such an idea be supported by a coherent educational philosophy? This document addresses these questions through an index to some of the work on nonlinear dynamics and its relationship to critical curriculum theory, educational theory and educational practice. It includes an in-depth treatment of the topic and links to both the scientific thinking and the philosophical thinking that have grown with this understanding. 

Threads of Research

A Critical Analysis of Educational Theory, by Robert S. Houghton, Ph.D., an in-depth study linking scientific discoveries in nonlinear dynamics and educational philosophy and curriculum development.

Further Selected Resources on Nonlinearity

 Use the terms nonlinearity, self-adaptive complex systems, fractals, chaos, chaos theory, and  soliton to search for more.
 
• Video of six laboratory demos of chaos and nonlinear phenomena.
• As part of the Dynamical Systems and Technology Project, we have developed several JAVA Applets for use in exploring the topics of chaos and fractals. These applets are designed to accompany the four booklets in the series A Toolkit of Dynamics Activities.
• Chaos theory, wikipedia.org
• Exploring Chaos and Fractals. "Exploring Chaos and Fractals is an electronic textbook which includes full text, work sheets, sound, video and animation. Parts of the material have been placed on this Web server as an experiment in electronic publishing of hypertext based material."
• After Darwin
• Organizations as Self-Adaptive Complex Systems, relating to management and business.
• The World-Wide Web and the Demise of the Clockwork Universe. "This paper discusses the problem of managing a large scale enterprise-wide information system. It builds on the technology embedded in the World Wide Web (WWW), complex adaptive systems, and object-oriented technologies to provide a framework within which an enterprise may construct an adaptive, evolutionary system which meets its needs in a cost effective manner."
• A House of Horizons and Perspectives ... our 'Cognitive Panoramas', a web site of thoughts by Heiner Benking - "These pages are about sharing and co-creation. How we can facilitate new forms of exchange and how we can foster new ideas.... After cultivating, listening and making transparent the dynamics in dialogue, we arrive at a certain point. How can we find understanding if we can not see where ideas are conceptually - on which level, in which contexts and with which lenses? ...Crucially, these explorations include the intuitive understanding that the mere process of "exploring" and "establishing  " automatically creates new environments as it goes along."
• International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos (IJBC). " The primary objective of this journal is to provide a single forum for this multidisciplinary discipline - a forum specifically designed for an interdisciplinary audience, a forum accessible and affordable to all. Real-world problems and applications will be emphasized."