A study on Carl Bereiter's conceptualization of education

The purpose of this study was to investigate Carl Bereiter`s conceptualization of education. In fact, the main aim was to critique his view of education and study its applicability in action. The method of research was empirical applicability in which essential components of a notion is criticized, formulated and examined in view of applicability. Findings showed that though, Bereiter`s educational notion has a relative consistent framework, it could be criticized. The difficulties of his notion lies in its problem in distinguishing between world II and III in relation to the concept of knowledge; lack of explanation on how to overcome the different situations; popularizing knowledge building;focusing on the integration of thinking skills with curriculum; and not specifying the interdisciplinary approach. The results indicated that Bereiter`s main idea for basing education on findings of cognitive science is verified by other researchers. Despite the fact that Bereiter has appropriately identified the issues and problems of education, arising from the dominance of folk theory on educational systems, and has provided opportunities for revising educational patterns and similarly reforming educational systems; however, some of his ideas like focusing on knowledge creation rather than learning seem to be less practical.