Special Issue: Proceedings of the Symposium on Complex Systems in Education

Abstract

The present special issue is yet one more collective endeavor in the area of educational research that demonstrates how the new science of complex dynamical systems could be applied in this domain. In social sciences, while the linear methodologies are, at the moment still the main stream, the appreciation of the new paradigm has already been growing, and a considerable body of research has been published recently in regular journals, special issues on complexity and edited book volumes. In physiology, behavioral sciences, economics and life sciences, complexity theory and nonlinear dynamics have been proven highly influential advancing the discipline. Education is no longer a late follower to those developments, but a privileged area where complex dynamical system (CDS) is by now an established paradigm. Complexity theory has inspired researchers and scholars working in education and curriculum studies to approach their subject matter from a different angle, and ask different questions, focusing on the processes through which things come to be what they are. It has also changed traditional ways of thinking, in qualitative as well as quantitative research, perhaps setting the stage for a paradigm shift. The foundation of the new science has been based on empirical studies that implement concepts of CDS,