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Epistemological Development Essay example

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Everything in education is impacted by the perspective of a biblical worldview because educating a child is teaching them to know and find truth. According to Knight, “Much truth exists outside of the Bible, but no truth exists outside the metaphysical framework of the Bible.” (2006, p. 226). The concepts of the Bible are used to give a unifying foundation for all subjects taught. The Bible also becomes the integration point. All content knowledge is contextually interpreted with the Bible because God is the source of all truth and the one who unifies all truth in Himself. The Bible can be compared to leaven that permeates all subjects. This gives all subjects significance and all subjects then give significance to a child’s life. …show more content…

Postmodernism is the rejection of universal truth, logic and reasoning. The view that truth is subjective and personally defined creates a world without a meta-narrative or overarching story to give meaning or significance to life. Meta-narratives, or stories that give definition to a culture or nation, are power plays based upon deceit, in which leaders use language to create their own interpretation of truth, for the purpose of domination over others. Human beings, as products of an evolutionary system, are going nowhere, and are incapable of knowing or discovering truth. Individuals can only pragmatically create a personal truth with no greater purpose than a truth that works for them (Hoffecker, 2007).
Epistemological Development in Middle School Students
An important component of a biblical worldview is personal epistemology. An individual’s understanding of how knowledge is achieved and truth discovered. As students progress through school, they progress through specific stages of epistemological development, evolving increasingly more sophisticated ways of accepting, justifing and understanding truth.
If worldview development is part of cognitive development, then it will be a gradual process by which reasoning becomes more sophisticated and complex. At each stage, children will actively structure and restructure their understanding in a significantly different way. According to Jean Piaget, at sixth grade, a child’s

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