The Noddings Center

Caring for Ideas

    “Pedagogy should begin with the purposes, interests, and capacities of students. But some students have a passionate interest in particular subjects. These students should have an opportunity to learn those subjects in considerable depth” (Noddings, 2005b, p. 150).

 

     Noddings (2005b) described caring for ideas using mathematics and the arts as examples. There are several pedagogical ideas common to both descriptions. These common ideas can be used to build a curriculum around caring for ideas in most content areas and subjects.

 

• “Classes should be totally open….Teachers should talk with students about the receptivity required in caring about [a subject]” (p. 152).

• “Any student who wants to tackle the work and has at least minimal prerequisite experience should be allowed to do so. The key here is that we accept students’ legitimate aims and desires” (p. 152).

• “… the idea is for teachers and students to establish relations of care and trust so that valuable information can be effectively exchanged, advice given, and challenging projects undertaken” (p. 153).

• “…every discipline has an aesthetic dimension, a history, a mode of evaluation or critisicm, and all of these activities are conducted in and help to define a variety of contexts…. These dimensions are central to caring for ideas” (Noddings, 2005b, p. 168).

• "...this level of interest cannot be demanded, and students...should be respected and encouraged to choose what is useful for them in each subject" (p. 172).