«'Chaos, Complexity, Curriculum, and Culture: A Conversation' is a landmark text in the history of educational ideas. It has a simple focus: the new science that established the technical rationality of modernism, and that survives, variously, in the Tyler rationale for curriculum development, in the paradigm of the audit society adopted in public management, and in the high-stakes quality-assurance rituals of public schooling. Yet this volume also engages because it has a recursive dimension. It also takes new science as its emblem. The contributors suggest that it is defensible to realise the Enlightenment project of liberty, equality and fraternity in other ways. They show us a way, not with a guarantee of success but by engaging us
iteratively in their conversation.» (David Hamilton, Umeå University, Sweden)
«'Chaos, Complexity, Curriculum, and Culture: A Conversation' is a must read for anyone concerned about education and learning. It is extremely well written, intertwining history, pedagogy and scholarship. Although there are many ways to define complex systems, the contributors understand and embrace 'systems thinking' and nonlinear concepts in a series of 'conversations' resulting in a fascinating and truly landmark work. It encourages the reader to think differently about learning and educational methods. Most impressive about these iterative 'conversations' is that they discuss the importance of understanding the evolvability and fluidity of educational methods. It demonstrates the emergence of new ways of thinking about education and learning as a complex cycle of social and dynamic, versus static and rigid, processes. This book should be required reading for all students interested in entering the field of education and is a must for all college and university libraries.» (Ellen Goldberg, Santa Fe Institute Research Professor and Consortium Director)
