Melbourne Graduate School of Education Centre for the Study of Higher Education

Clinton Golding

Clinton is seconded to the CSHE for 2009 to support teaching and learning in the University Breadth Subjects. He is an interdisciplinary researcher, applying his postgraduate qualifications in philosophy to address issues relating to teaching and learning. He joined the University of Melbourne in 2004 as an academic staff member with a special focus on philosophy, critical and creative thinking, inquiry and problem solving across the disciplines.

Clinton has a particular interest in the phenomenon of ‘making sense’ where inadequate or incongruous conceptions ‘fall into place’ and become congruous and adequate. Making sense is an interdisciplinary research area that is a key aspect to the process of teaching, researching and knowledge transfer.  The theory of making sense is the theory of how we learn, research and transfer knowledge. Clinton’s studies of how we research informs how we teach, and his studies of effective teaching informs what it means to make sense in research. He also investigates making sense by looking at how different disciplines and organisations make sense or by investigating how we can make sense in an interdisciplinary context.

As well as his interdisciplinary research interests, Clinton also brings his strength in teaching to the CSHE. He received the 2009 Barbara Falk Award, given to an outstanding teacher across the Arts, Education, Music or Law faculties, and was also the recipient of the individual Teaching Excellence Award from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education in 2008. He has taught in a range of styles (lecture, tutorial, classroom teaching and public discussion), in a range of tertiary faculties (Medicine, Business, Education and Arts) and in all disciplines in primary and secondary education. He has been invited to develop numerous teaching and mentoring consultancies in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore with educational, corporate, cultural and government organisations, especially in the areas of thinking, ethics and leadership. In particular he has strong links with Museums, Galleries and Zoos in New Zealand and Australia, with a focus on thinking and dialogue in the cultural institutions.

Prior to his appointment to the University of Melbourne, from 1999-2003 Clinton held the position of ‘Thinking Coordinator’ in two schools in New Zealand, where his job was to help develop the thinking of staff and students from every discipline.

Selected publications

Golding, C. (in press for 2010) Educating Philosophically: The Educational Theory of Philosophy for Children, Educational Philosophy & Theory

Golding, C. (2009) Epistemic Positions and Philosophy for Children, Farhang, 22.

Golding, C. (2009) Ross Phillips’ Logic Game, Critical and Creative Thinking: The Australasian Journal of Philosophy in Education, 17(1), pp.15-24

Golding, C. (2009) The Many Faces of Constructivist Discussion, Educational Philosophy and Theory, pre-published on line

Golding, C. (2009) Making Sense, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 41(7), pp.814-817

Golding, C. (2008) Philosophical Questions: Their Nature and Function. In C. Tan (Ed.), Philosophical Reflections for Educators, Singapore: Cengage Learning, pp.193-204

Golding, C. (2008) Dissemination of Knowledge and Autonomous Student Inquiry: The Case of the Philosophical Community of Inquiry. In 37th Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) Conference: The Ownership and Dissemination of Knowledge, December 4-7. Brisbane.

Golding, C. (2007) Leadership as Inquiry. In P. Duigan & D. Gurr (Eds.) Leading Australia’s Schools, Winmalee, NSW: Australian Council for Educational Leaders, pp.5-12

Golding, C. (2007) Types of Philosophical Questions, Critical and Creative Thinking: The Australasian Journal of Philosophy in Education, 15(1), pp.36-48

Golding, C. (2007) Pragmatism, Constructivism and Socratic Objectivity: The Pragmatist Epistemic aim of Philosophy for Children. In 36th Annual PESA Conference: Creativity, Enterprise and Policy – New Directions in Education, December 6-9. Wellington. (Electronic proceedings, http://www.pesa.org.au/html/04papers.htm, pp.1-11)

Golding, C. (2006) The Nature of Philosophical Questions. In M. Freund, J. Mackenzie & M. O'Loughlin (Eds.), 35th Annual PESA Conference: Politics, Business and Education Nov. 23-26, Sydney. pp.143-151

Golding, C. (2006) What is Philosophy in Schools? Critical and Creative Thinking: The Australasian Journal of Philosophy in Education, 14(1), pp.1-21

Golding, C. (2005) A Philosophy for Children Approach To Social Studies. In P. Benson & R. Openshaw (Eds.), Towards Effective Social Studies, Palmerston North: Kanuka Grove Press, pp.113-129

Golding, C. (2005) Truth or Making Sense - What is More Important in Education? In M. Mason (Ed.), 34th PESA Conference: Critical Thinking and Learning. Nov. 24-27. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Institute of Education. pp.143-151

Golding, C. (2004) Philosophy for Children & Multiple Intelligences, Critical and Creative Thinking: The Australasian Journal of Philosophy in Education, 12(1), pp.16-31

O’Brien, A.J. & Golding, C. (2003) Coercion in Mental Health Care: The Principle of Least Coercive Care, Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 10(2), pp. 167-173

Current research projects and contracts

Golding, C., (2010) Investigating conceptions of progress in philosophy and the fine arts, Early Career Research Grant, University of Melbourne

Golding, C., James, R., Jennings, C. (2009) A travel guide to the disciplines for interdisciplinary teaching and learning, Melbourne University Learning and Teaching Initiatives Grant

Drysdale, L., Gurr, D., Golding, C. (2006-2009) Educational Leadership: Shaping Pedagogy, Competitive contract tendered by the Department of Education & Training

Text-books

Golding, C. (2005) Developing a Thinking Classroom: A Workbook for Professional Learning Teams, Melbourne: Hawker Brownlow Education (republished in NZ, (2005) Nelson NZ: Thinkshop)

Golding, C. (2005) Thinking with Rich Concepts: Rich Concepts for Philosophical Questioning in the Classroom, Nelson NZ: ThinkShop, 63 Pages (republished in Australia, (2006) Melbourne: Hawker Brownlow Education)

Golding, C. (2002) Connecting Concepts: Thinking Activities for Students. Melbourne: ACER

Reviews

Golding, C. (2008) Ethics and the Community of Inquiry: Education for Deliberative Democracy, by: Burgh, Field & Freakley. Reviewed in Educational Philosophy & Theory, 40(3), pp.460-462

Golding, C. (2006) Inquiry is Thinking is Democracy. Review of Cam, ‘Twenty Thinking Tools’ and Burgh, Field and Freakley, ‘Ethics and the Community of Inquiry’. Reviewed in Critical and Creative Thinking: The Australasian Journal of Philosophy in Education, 14(2), pp.84-87

Golding, C. (2005) Enquiring Minds: Socratic Dialogue in Education, R. Saran and B. Neisser (Eds.) reviewed in Studies in Continuing Education, 27(1), pp.92-94

Golding, C. (1997) Textbook of Healthcare Ethics, reviewed in Health Care Analysis, 5(3), pp.249

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