Root-metaphors for understanding: A framework for teachers and teacher educators of information and communication technologies

This paper argues for understanding ICT from the standpoint of philosophical world views. We present a framework, based on Pepper's root-metaphors (Formism, Contextualism, Mechanism, Organicism, and Animism/Mysticism) and we illustrate the use of the framework by looking at a common example of ICT: e-mail. It is argued that such a framework is potentially helpful to ICT teachers, especially when they work with pre-service education students who are struggling with how to integrate ICT critically into their future classrooms. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.