Andrew John Davis

Ex- Primary Tchr Cambridge & Durham Unis (Hon Fellow) Philosophy of Ed Ed research Early reading Primary Maths Ed

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

Introduction to my novel Planet Meno: The Origin of Species published February 21st 2025 https://t.co/Uj6NtuH3eO

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

This used to be water.
I hope God has a sense of humour.
I found this quite funny..

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@sharemath Sigh. Many many times. The brain doesn't 'attend' or 'learn'. Human beings do that. Of course, human beings can't do that without brains being involved. This well-worn point doesn't undermine the value & importance of neuroscience. But it's important to speak sensibly about it.

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@3dancingfeet @DanaPalubiak By the time Hirst was at Cambridge he'd undergone a radical change of heart, believing that starting points for educational knowledge were practical detailed contexts in schools and HE. He claimed not to think that curriculum organisation should mirror the Forms of Knowledge.

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@BarbaraBleiman Perhaps some people's social media posts have always been 'very poor use of time', but I mustn't generalise here. Decent educators don't generalise, especially about phenomena open to a huge range of interpretations, such as 'group work', 'pair work', 'inquiry teaching/learning'

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@dperkinsed The main problem with saying inquiry teaching doesn't work is that the phrase 'inquiry teaching' doesn't identify one specific identifiable approach. You might as well try to generalise about taking pills, being born in Birmingham or having a face like Michael Gove's..

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

Generalising about the lack of efficacy of 'group work' in schools resembles generalising about the heritability of the gene for being a witch.

Or saying that taking pills is good/bad for your health.
Or saying that games are a waste of time....

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@3dancingfeet @DanaPalubiak I knew Paul Hirst fairly well, though not really close. He was HOD of Education at Cambridge Uni when I worked there. Had dinner with him in college early in my time there. I asked him about the 'Forms of Knowledge'. He said, irritably, 'I've never been allowed to forget them.'

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@archer_rs I've seen ten healthy people over the last few weeks, each of them over 90 years old, and each one of them smokes heavily. I've always known that smoking doesn't cause cancer. This just proves that yet again... Evil medical people. Nearly as bad as some of those climatologists.

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@llewelyn20 Yes - 'opinion-based evidence' is crucial these days. I have much evidence to prove that claim.

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@dperkinsed Paradoxically, one of the ways of becoming 'aware' that there's no such thing as critical thinking in the absence of content knowledge, is engaging in critical thinking about the very issue. The truth is that much critical thinking is indeed content-specific, but *not all of it.*

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@DanaPalubiak @3dancingfeet Why assume that an appropriate sequence for one student would be just as appropriate for another? What empirical research could possibly establish such a thing? See 'Knowing and learning: from Hirst to Ofsted'

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@3dancingfeet @artsonthemoveco My attitude to PE:
January 1963 Ferociously cold winter. Secondary school. School pitch covered with nearly a foot of snow. Rugger impossible. So we had to 'run' round the pitch in our PE shorts, plimsolls, etc. Some days max temperature only 21°F. Teacher orders. Did he have to?

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@3dancingfeet @artsonthemoveco 🤪

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

Judging the effectiveness of teaching approaches with labels such as 'inquiry learning', 'discovery learning', 'direct instruction', project-based learning, student-centred learning, etc.

But each label is applied to various things.

Would you say 'all drugs are healing'?

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

For instance, this 'woke' reaction to some schools sports days made many trads very cross indeed.

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@3dancingfeet @artsonthemoveco Thanks for this. School sports days often a 'political' trigger in the UK in recent decades, sports events in which all could succeed not popular with some. I asked students what they'd think of a compulsory competitive music school event that parents attended. They weren't keen.

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@3dancingfeet @artsonthemoveco Thanks for this. School sports days often a 'political' trigger in the UK in recent decades, sports events in which all could succeed not popular with some. I asked students what they'd think of a compulsory competitive music school event that parents attended. They weren't keen.

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@3dancingfeet @artsonthemoveco Wrote about this kind of thing once.. in
Do Children Have Privacy Rights in the Classroom?
Studies in Philosophy and Education 20: 245–254, 2001.

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

Preach the gospel, but only use language if absolutely necessary. (Attributed to St Francis)

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@artsonthemoveco @3dancingfeet How do you count PE teachers? Which part of the anatomy is crucial in this context?

[Andrew John Davis @ded6ajd]

@3dancingfeet Teachers would shout every now and then,
"Come on, you wet, Davis!" This went on for years.
I'm not sure what they thought they were achieving. Ever. They were PE teachers....

(Sorry.. apologies to all the excellent and highly intelligent PE teachers throughout the world.)