Theoretical and Conceptual Understanding

Artifact 3: Theoretical and Conceptual Understanding

The overall concept of theoretical and conceptual understanding is truly taking the information that you have learned and making sense of it within yourself. Within the school of educational studies, we are constantly taught different theories, frameworks, and learning how to apply them to our own work. With theoretical and conceptual understanding, we are taking those theories and frameworks, and truly understanding what we are taught.

Throughout my time being a graduate student, having to truly make sense of the topics we are taught can sometimes be the most difficult part. With a lot of the topics we learn, there are multiple definitions to them. From these definitions, you almost have to find the definition that makes most sense to you, then break it down. This concept has made me think harder and look for more of the finer details, that I wasn’t necessarily looking for before I started this program.

For this artifact to demonstrate theoretical and conceptual understanding, I have chosen an essay from the course “Special Topics in Education”. The title of this essay is “Seminar Paper”. One of the biggest takeaways from this seminar paper was to address every topic we had talked about in class and do deeper research. This deeper research was us making sense of the topics discussed and putting those theories and frameworks into our own words. By doing this seminar paper, I was able to address certain topics (like critical pedagogy and critical race theory), and it allowed me to think more like a scholar.

For the learning goal of theoretical and conceptual understanding, there are two main components that are implemented within the artifact. Below are the two components, along with a description of how they are being shown.

Acknowledge and engage with the traditions and ideological orientations of theories and conceptual knowledge across educational texts.

One of the ways I have implemented this component is by talking about the concept of red pedagogy. Within red pedagogy, it is a concept of having there be an awareness to the history of Indians within the United States. By acknowledging the beginning of the theory and where red pedagogy came from, I am able to explain this theory from the start. After acknowledging where this theory began, I followed by engaging with the text and discussing my own personal deeper dive of questions that are related to red pedagogy. One of these questions include “How can educators make sure that history is being told, not repeated”?

Demonstrate engagement with theoretical and conceptual knowledge in an area of concentration informed by educational research and practice.

My biggest example of this component is when I talk about the pros and cons of alternative education, and how it directly applied to what I had experienced while student-teaching. One of the cons that I had discussed in this seminar paper is that this concept might not be applicable with every grade level. I go on to talk about my student-teaching experience, and how it may be more difficult to implement alternative education when the children are younger. In my last paragraph of that section, I do start to give suggestions on how alternative education might work, and what would need to be implemented in order for it to work.

Overall, this artifact was my first true experience of doing a really deep dive into research, and creating information that was more understandable. Throughout this artifact, it can sometimes sound like an opinion piece, but it truly is a research paper. By doing this seminar paper, I was able to learn about various topics at a deeper level, and it overall helped me tremendously as an educator.