The problem of knowledge in the study of educational practice

Abstract

There are enough reasons to fully justify that studies about knowledge are relevant to interpret educational practice, though this argument is not recognized in great part of this educational research, in our midst. In this respect, first of all, this article poses the question about the meaning of the competence approach arguing that it leaves aside, precisely, the reconstruction of the objects of knowledge during the process of school learning. Secondly, this work argues about the strong trend – in many contemporary works about teaching - to study the relationship between teacher and student without considering the knowledge that is transmitted in the classroom. Thirdly, and most importantly, the article focuses on the direct transfer of the research results about the processes of teaching and learning carried out in different disciplines, sometimes with a prescriptive frame. The work shows that such transfer is particularly significant in the case of developmental psychology and neurosciences. Moreover, the article argues that this application has been responsible of the unawareness of the problems that knowledge poses in the present educational research.