Teaching is like engineering: my living educational theory

The traditional view of scientific progress is that human understanding of the world is contiguous and cumulative, with both theories and concepts ‘improving’ incrementally through gradational change. Thomas Kuhn’s (1962) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions challenged this traditional view by arguing, on the contrary, that scientific progress is made through leaps and bounds, when “the earlier results of science [are] rejected, replaced, and reinterpreted by new theories and conceptual frameworks” (“Scientific Progress.”, 2020). Stated simply, scientific progress is revolutionary, not evolutionary. History is seemingly no different. Indeed, although it is often said that history is written by the victors, human understanding of the past is always under threat, as new data are revealed, for example, ideologies and cultural hegemonies change, or scientific developments in other academic disciplines emerge. [...] This context statement documents my historical journey through the Doctor of Professional Studies by Public Works process. The logic is largely chronological in nature, but doubtless some historical revisionism has crept into my narrative. [...