GIDEON DISHON
Philosophy and Technology in Education Group
Our group’s research includes both theoretical and empirical studies along three central themes:
- Critical studies of educational technology (Critical EdTech).
- Learning sciences.
- Alternative schools.
The underlying rationale is that new technological and social developments do not have a predestined effect on education, but rather invite us to rethink, reframe and reimagine the educational endeavor. To learn more about specific studies, please see details about our research projects and publications.
Research Projects
Sociotechnical Imaginaries of AI in Education: Stories, Policy, Theory
This project centers on examining the sociotechnical imaginaries underpinning Generative AI in education. The importance of a nuanced understanding of technology’s function and portrayal has been set center stage since the introduction of ChatGPT. However, the calls for revolutionizing education through technology are far from new. Rather than examining how could be used in educational contexts, our group offers a broader lens, which explores the interplay between deep-seated cultural perceptions, pedagogical models, and technological features. To do so, we examine four key types of sources: fictional texts (prose or movies), policy documents, empirical studies of educational contexts, and theoretical work (funded by the ISF).
Alternative Schools, the Grammar of Schooling, and Reactions to Crises
This research is dedicated to theorizing broader conceptualizations of schooling, and how these interact with social and technological developments. Early on, this included a critical analysis of the aims of education in educational policy discourse, highlighting the limitations of ongoing attempts to reconceptualize the aims of education as the cultivation of ’21st-century skills’. Later, in a series of studies funded by the Israeli Ministry of Education, we explored the unique grammar of schooling of ‘alternative’ schools (Democratic, Waldorf, Open), and how it shaped their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We further developed this inquiry by examining how schools for evacuees structured their own grammar of schooling during the October 7th war.
Forest Schools
In a project co-led by Prof. Dana Vedder-Weiss (and funded by funded the NJF), we explore the bourgeoning phenomenon of Forest Education, an approach to schooling which has gained increasing traction since the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of the lacking theorization of this approach, we examined the pedagogical practices of one emerging strand of Forest Education, and the epistemology underpinning it. We then expanded this project to more broadly characterize forest schools’ pedagogical practices, and their impact on students’ sense of connection to nature, needs satisfaction, and prosocial conduct.
Dialogue and Perspective Taking
This project explores the cultivation of perspective taking in physical and digital environments, focusing on its dynamic and social nature. Perspective taking has long been acknowledged as key to interpersonal and intergroup communication in educational and civic contexts. Analyzing small group dialogues in middle- and high-school humanities classes, we offer a novel theoretical conceptualization of how perspective taking takes place in social interaction, describing it as a process of social anchoring and adjustment. In addition, we explored the conditions shaping the emergence of students’ voice in small group work, examining the complex interplay between social and pedagogical considerations. Finally, aiming to better operationalize and model these intricacies, we explored how epistemic network analysis (ENA) could provide unique insights concerning dialogue and perspective taking (funded by the ISF).
