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Key research themes
1. How can diverse cognitive frameworks enhance problem solving and innovation in STEM and beyond?
This research area investigates integrative cognitive frameworks and their roles in complex problem solving, particularly within STEM education and interdisciplinary contexts. It emphasizes the adaptation and development of critical, systems, and design-based thinking to foster innovative and adaptive approaches. Understanding these interconnected thinking modalities can improve educational practices and societal responses to complex challenges, such as public health crises and sustainable development.
Key finding: Analyzes the dominance of singular perspectives in crisis response (e.g., COVID-19) and advocates for recognition and integration of multiple cognitive and strategic ways of looking at problems. Builds on concepts like Edward... Read more
Key finding: Utilizes an innovative metaphor linking the 3D spike configuration of coronavirus to psychosocial and systemic patterns, proposing a cognitive framework for exploring global strategic complexities. This approach encourages... Read more
Key finding: Presents a dual-process model of creative thinking distinguishing spontaneous (automatic, unconscious) and intentional (conscious, deliberate) cognitive routes. Emphasizes the intentional route as teachable and applicable for... Read more
Key finding: Articulates the need to transcend habitual, sedentary thinking by cultivating extraordinary cognitive strategies that balance creativity and conservatism. Introduces an academic experimental initiative focused on empowering... Read more
2. What historical and philosophical understandings underpin contemporary concepts of ‘ways of thinking’ and their evolution?
This theme explores the genealogy and philosophical foundations of the concept of ‘ways of thinking,’ tracing its evolution from Enlightenment thought through historical epistemology to modern philosophy of science. It investigates how the concept has been variously expressed as worldviews, modes of reasoning, or mental attitudes and how these notions shape contemporary understandings of knowledge, rationality, and scientific progress.
Key finding: Provides a comprehensive historical account of the 'ways of thinking' concept from Vico through French historical epistemology to figures like Lévy-Bruhl, Kuhn, and Hacking. Demonstrates how these diverse notions, such as... Read more
Key finding: Chronicles the historical development of principles and standards for good thinking, from Socratic methods and Aristotelian logic through medieval and Renaissance shifts toward critical inquiry. Highlights the evolution of... Read more
Key finding: Argues for dialectical thinking as a bridge from modern to post-modern psychology, recognizing contradiction, change, and synthesis. Reviews traditions from Russian, Neo-Piagetian, and Asian perspectives, emphasizing... Read more
Key finding: Develops foundational principles for semiotics as an interdisciplinary framework linking semiotic sciences, emphasizing the Principle of Paradigm Inversion and Interdisciplinary Translation. Proposes a meta-cognitive... Read more
Key finding: Reassesses the 17th-century debate on innate ideas by juxtaposing Locke’s empiricism and Cudworth’s Platonic rationalism, revealing that the argument was more nuanced and intertwined with religious epistemology than... Read more
3. How can educational practices and epistemologies be transformed by fostering new paradigms of thinking and reasoning?
This area examines educational theory and practice seeking to cultivate advanced thinking skills, creative reasoning, and epistemic innovation. It addresses challenges in teaching thinking, the development of reasoning skills among students, and the need to transcend traditional rote learning by encouraging inquiry, interconnectivity, and reflective cognitive engagement compatible with evolving scientific paradigms.
Key finding: Finds that students can overcome procedural misconceptions through problem-solving environments that encourage reasoning, justification, and communication. Highlights the role of teacher interventions and task design in... Read more
Key finding: Charts the last sixty years of teaching thinking initiatives, identifying three theoretical strands from psychology, philosophy, and brain physiology. Examines the influence of pioneers like Feuerstein (mediated learning),... Read more
Key finding: Analyzes the ideological and epistemological underpinnings of teaching thinking movements since the 1980s, exposing challenges such as theory inflation and inconsistent methodologies. Calls for critical reflection on... Read more
Key finding: Advocates for educational paradigms aligned with emergent scientific worldviews that emphasize wholes, dynamic patterns, and integrative thinking. Critiques outdated Cartesian-Newtonian models in education and stresses the... Read more