Education's Ecosystems

Bertram C. Bruce has a Ph.D. in Computer Science and is currently a Professor Emeritus in Information Science at the University of Illinois. He has worked on education in many countries, across grade levels, and in diverse areas of the curriculum. His work contributes to a tradition of democratic education, asking “How can we guide the educational enterprise by an ethical vision, not simply a technocratic one of transmitting isolated facts and skills?”

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1: Ecosystem Learning FrameworkChapter 2: The Whole FrogChapter 3: Why Do We Educate?Chapter 4: Diversity in Ways to LearnChapter 5: NetworkingChapter 6: Emergent PropertiesChapter 7: Finding and Constructing Learning NichesChapter 8: Interpretation of Learning SpacesChapter 9: Education’s EcosystemChapter 10: The Ecosystem CurriculumConclusionCaptionsNotes

With this publication, the philosophy of education has finally evolved to fit its contemporary ecosystem, in which life, social structures and technological artifacts constantly reconfigure the nature of knowledge, learning and understanding. Bruce’s conceptualization of education—inspired by the ecological model—provides the kind of liberating approach needed to shake off the ossified assumptions and practices of the past. This is a lively, accessible, grounded, comprehensive and inspiring stroll through a new educational environment, richly illustrated with insightful stories from the author’s exemplary lifelong learning adventures. Sure to stimulate any student of education to envision innovative escapes from schooling’s quagmire.