Chaos Theory

Paper Summary:

This paper explains chaos theory and looks at how it can be applied to the educational field, noting that the classroom is a place where the initial state is one where students know nothing of the class ahead of them, and teachers are faced with a group of students that are, in the beginning, completely foreign to them in their backgrounds, behavior, and the way they learn. By employing methods set out in "Chaos in the Classroom: A New Theory of Teaching and Learning" by E. Davis and D. Smith, the paper examines both the pros and cons of the practical introduction of chaos theory in the area of education.

From the Paper:

"The "cons" of the chaos theory in its application to education are minimal, if they exist at all. Though one can be considered the fact that all students learn differently and therefore the chaos theory can not possibly encompass all students' needs, the work done by the authors of Chaos in the Classroom have accounted for this in their theory by describing the innate uncertainty and variety of students' functioning in the classroom. The authors state that students come to class with their own unique set of experiences, beliefs, problems, and assumptions. There is no way to truly coordinate every student's needs, but the authors say that this should set teachers free of the worry and belief that they can meet every need. Instead, teachers must approach their job by expressing the educational material in a way that mimics how we receive information in the "real world". "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Davis, Elizabeth. Leflore, Dorothy. Smith, Thomas. Chaos in the Classroom: A New Theory of Teaching and Learning (2008). Carolina Academic Press: Durham.
• Gollub, Jerry and Solomon, Thomas. "Chaos Theory." (1996) Academic American Encyclopedia V. 4 (pp. 282, 283). Danbury, CT: Grolier Incorporated.

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