Epistemic resourcefulness for actionable knowing

Abstract

This chapter mirrors Chap. 17, while shifting the focus to epistemic resourcefulness. We look at how epistemic resources are treated in accounts of the mind and accounts of discourse; both have to be combined in a satisfactory account of epistemic thought and action. We use the case study of preservice teachers’ planning to explain the nature of epistemic resources and to introduce the notion of ‘framing’. Framing is a way of describing how people make sense of a new situation – answering the question ‘what is going on here?’ It helps us to understand what enables people to address the challenges they encounter in work: whether they can respond in innovative and productive, or unproductive, ways. We show that, in solving professional challenges, framing depends upon epistemic resourcefulness – including an ability to coordinate diverse ways of knowing and acting in the world.