Does real life need so much theory as we force our children and students to learn in school and university?
If yes, how can we teachers motivate students to learn theory? And how can we avoid the practice shock entering a company after study?
Peter
Many students face practice shock after graduation. Real world requires more applied knowledge and practice, skills that may impact the real life. We do have to rethink higher education. Balance between theory and practice must be achieved optimally!
For a normal person real life doesn't need so much theory. To avoid the practice shock we have to present practical options.
And is not it vice versa?
What is it theory - only well described reality :-))
In my opinion theory is 1D model of life, but real life is stereo 3 D
History is the nations mirror, reflecting their past, translates their present, and the future will inspired through it.
Many students face practice shock after graduation. Real world requires more applied knowledge and practice, skills that may impact the real life. We do have to rethink higher education. Balance between theory and practice must be achieved optimally!
The history helps to know:
1. Document the facts and events and whether they are true
2. Highlights the good role models in the community and failures
3. See the effect of the nation on the nation's humanity
4. Useful in future planning, bypassing the past mistakes and cons.
Is religion a theory?
The religion is the belief - it is not theory.
Would we be functional not knowing how nature works? The answer is yes. Would we be better off? The answer is more than likely, no. The answer to the question in my opinion needs to be seen through these types of questions of basic functionality vs.optimality.
Theory helps us understand the nature of a phenomenon, how it works and what factors impact it. It helps us know a rational explanation about what is happening and why. I will give following examples:
1. We are in the era of neo-liberalism all around, which is the result of globalization theory. Thus we can know that in this era inequities will increase in society as this theory promotes market and undermine state's role as a welfare state.
2. All central banks of different countries use monetary theory in managing money supply and in controlling the working of commercial banks, and in determining cash-credit ratio for banks. So the rates of interest at which we get loans or we get on our deposits is impacted by the use of monetary theory by the central bank of our country.
3. In managing our workers as a manager we can use motivation theory, which says that money is a hygiene factor and not a motivator. So all over, MDPs are being conducted by organizations to teach these theory to managers through practical exercises so that they promote better commitment in employees.
4. A doctor who does not know medical theory is bound to do wrong diagnosis and prescribe wrong medicines. .
Dear all,
The theory is a necessary tool that is influencing in our real life, so, real life sometime need so much for theory, as we force our children and students to learn in school and university, it is neccessary, but soemtimes not so much. Yes, the teachers and pedagogues motivate students to learn theory and to implement it in practice for every field of our real life.
Personally, theory did not benefit me so much in my professional life. Many times, I noticed a contradiction between existing theory and practice.
In such cases, in my opinion, theory must be completed, in order to conform to these particular situations.
dear colleagues,
thank you for answering!
In my opinion theory in real life is very important. Little and small enterprises mostly have deficits in theoretical knowledge. If so they get problems to survive. Large companies live from theory and have the specialists for it. For me the question is how to package the theory into practical examples with high interesting quality and huge sence behind it . Learning with sence exaggerates the learning success!. Therefore we as teachers have to spend much time and intellegence to choose exiting real life examples to motivate our students to learn theory. This is a difficult job but a very important one.
Peter
Dear Dr Eyerer,
YES to exist in "REAL LIFE" lotzzzz of theory is needed. Not to work with machines but to work along with PEOPLE !!!!
CATCH- TEACHERS think theory is useless; practicality they do not know ( a vicious circle)
Motivation- 1. Design Labs supporting the theory
2. Field work so that work with students and see how young people learn things faster with little theory (because ends justifies the means)
3. Small scale realization of concepts
4. activities - Astronomy for understanding physics ; Chemistry - compost creation
5.Responses analysis
Theory is not to be stated as facts, but needs to be analysed based on input stimulus ( they are students !!)
There is the difference/gap between theory and practice and many believe that universities do not prepare the graduates for practice and solving real life problems. However, this fact does not undermine the importance of theoritical knowledge.
I believe that in my field, theory is necessary as engineers who have a good understanding of theoretical principles and methods can do a better job when they got emplyed. Moreover, I think that graduates who are good in theory, have better oroblem solving skills.
Leonardi da Vinci said the following about mportance of theory:
He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may be cast"
~ (Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519)
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." (attributed to J.L.A. van de Snepscheut).
I think the issue is not if, as teachers, we force children to learn theory, but rather to make them understand the blend between theory and practice in real life. In other words, paraphrasing D. Golemann: As for the area of a rectangle we need to know the width and length of the rectangle, for real life are equally important theory and practice.
I think the question is better formulated by using "philosophy" rather than "theory"
Dear Peter, I really cannot remember anything that is devoid of theory. It is my experience that theory is everywhere. Separating theory from "the rest" is always a mistake, in fact it is an artificial, strained, separation. It is the lack of abstract thought—our lack of understanding of the permanent presence of abstract thought— what has us living on a haphazard amalgam of random "examples". Basing our thoughts on examples atomizes reality, and distances us from worthy decision-making. Knowledge is based on abstract thought, knowledge is our capacity to connect apparently different objects or ideas. Practice makes perfect only if seen through the eye of theory. Philosophy is usually theoretical as it delves in the general or abstract. The devil is in the details, literally: details divert us from actual knowledge. I guess that is what the devil wants (I'm joking...): that we see separate objects and never the relation between them.
Best regards, Lilliana
My electronics professor and mentor said, "There is no practice better than good theory." And I have come to understand how exactly correct he was.
The reason theory has to be taught in school is simple. It is too involved to catch "on the fly," as part of your on-the-job training. It takes discipline and concentration, and young people interested in pursuing these fields need to absorb the theory first, and in doing so, "learn how to learn."
By comparison, learning the practice is a piece of cake. This is initially done in lab courses at school, and then continues on the job. But without knowledge of the underlying principles, sorry to say, developing new ideas, new techniques, becomes way more difficult. You end up at dead ends. You keep repeating the mistakes of those who went before.
I totally agree that the "real world" often comes as a surprise, for students who may have been steeped in theory for many years. And often these individuals forget the theory, sad to say, and then their potential for significant innovation becomes compromised. Quite commonplace, I think.
Here is a fairly trivial example that comes to mind, from some years ago. We were experiencing multiple spurious commands in a control system. It was determined that noise in the network caused these unintended commands. So one school of thought was, great, let's tighten things up to prevent this noise in the system. But no, yours truly suggested, that won't fix the problem, and here is the statistical analysis to prove it. Try as you might, you will continue to get spurious commands, with this periodicity.
Math works. Theory works. After many months of fruitless attempts with the "easy fix," we took the right approach, and problem definitively solved.
I think that Theory and Practice have an ontological relationship in real life.
There can be no practical know-how without thinking (theory) learning processes with respect to learning to learn, learning to know / believe and know, and interpret such knowledge.
Natural phenomena perceived by the human being in tangible and earthly field of daily life with their senses (all), processes, and interprets through simple and complex thoughts or to give them a meaning and thus continue and function in the world real with the new knowledge already assimilated, ie, with meaningful learning experience.
Therefore, students of different academic degree and capabilities of reasoning, must learn Theory via practical examples of its application, and also learn almost simultaneously, Tangible real(Practice)-world processes (natural phenomena, variables) that perceive, understand and assimilate them, allow them to give them meaning and thus explain these natural phenomena.
In the field of scientific research and training of new researchers, is fundamental is check the students this learning process, linking Theory and Practice during the assimilation of content, methods, development and validation of measuring instruments / evaluation and development of skills, aptitudes and skills in order to migrate from novice to expert in the field that is forming state, considering that students will now be tomorrow's teachers.
It is convenient to start learning the Theoretical contents of the discipline (philosophy, methodology, epistemology, linguistics and semantics), in the native language of the student and later teacher in the language of the former country group.
regards
Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Vigil
Dear Professor Peter Eyerer,
Since our childhood we learn series of concepts about some real world area of concern or interest which facilitate explaining, predicting, or intervening.
With this conceptual theories we are able to explain why and how things occur as they do. Based on these we sense and predict what is going to happen given the way things are and we choose ways of acting to make things turn out in some way we desire.
According to Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection "some theories are better for one or more of these purposes, worse for others.
Here comes "Theory of Change" in picture - how we consider and adapt that matters !!!!?
Everyone cannot learn everything; for everything that the mind learns is because of the uniqueness of the mind and its ability to be aware. What excites through observation is that which is grasped by the mind and stored as a memory. The art of observing every bit of detail makes the mind work in ways that one cannot imagine.
All of us live with certain theory - about our life, state/society, history, personal relations, etc. We see the World such as we expect to see it from our previous experience and education - that is just a theory... Do remember typoglycemia for instance!
“It is the theory that decides what we can observe.”
~ Albert Einstein
“The theory that can absorb the greatest number of facts, and persist in doing so, generation after generation, through all changes of opinion and detail, is the one that must rule all observation.”
~ Adam Smith
I feel that the best part of this debate is the following words in Lilliana's Views:
"I really cannot remember anything that is devoid of theory. It is my experience that theory is everywhere. Separating theory from "the rest" is always a mistake." Kudos to her. To me you are the winner of the debate, hands down."
I had said something similar in a conference in Delhi last month.I also feel that scholars can not afford to opine otherwise. They are supposed to be discovering theories on the basis of how humans, groups, societies, nature work and behave.
"I have been given the authority over you, and I am not the best of you. If I do well, help me; and if I do wrong, set me right. Sincere regard for truth."
Abu Bakr
"My theory is to enjoy life, but the practice is against it."
CHARLES LAMB
This quote is opposing of my mind. What is your idea?
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
~ Henry David Thoreau
Good understanding of theory is essential. going without theory in higher education is like constructing a building without the foundation!
"Wolfgang Pauli, in the months before Heisenberg's paper on matrix mechanics pointed the way to a new quantum theory, wrote to a friend, "At the moment physics is again terribly confused. In any case, it is too difficult for me, and I wish I had been a movie comedian or something of the sort and had never heard of physics." That testimony is particularly impressive if contrasted with Pauli's words less than five months later: "Heisenberg's type of mechanics has again given me hope and joy in life. To be sure it does not supply the solution to the riddle, but I believe it is again possible to march forward."
Author: Wolfgang Pauli Thomas S. Kuhn
I do think it should be moral values and relevant aspects of day to day life to be taught in schools. Further theories and principles should be read only by those who are interested in any specific field. I do have memory of so many theories which have been irrelevant in my life.
One can only transfer that knowledge to other on their queries but there is no application part of them ..
Sometimes theory determines real life, Real world requires more practical knowledge and skill that may impact the real life.
I believe the mission of an educational establishment ( school or university) is to do two things
Cramming young people's head with stuff which becomes irrelevant before they are through the gate, serves no purpose. I think it is the continental approach to cram in curricula as much as they can and leave no time to think. UK educational system (except the public schools and some universities) used to based on the above principle. However, it has changed in recent years (or changing) . In the UK still in good universities the number of hours spent in formal lecture theater doesn't exceed 300/year. The rest are spent in groups, solving problems set by their tutors. They do critique of each others work guided by tutor. They learn there are more than one solution to each problem.
This concept hinges upon the idea when they have a problem to solve, then they know how to find the necessary information and learn it.
It may depend on what theory, on what the theory is about, and on the shape of personality of readers, as theories may require literacy to have a perceptible influence, although some don't.
Antonio Machado wrote. 'In Spain, from ten heads, nine ram and one thinks. Never become astonished in front of a brute fighting for the idea'.
Lenin published in 1909 a 'phylosophy' book (sorry, I guess 'phylosophy' is hidden 'erastia') citing Light as 'vibrations of Ether', Michelson and Morley conducted their experiment in 1887, he wrote also in same work about time as an absolute, both Einstein and Lorentz had published in 1905, however, Vlad Ilich's theory had a heavy influence in his time and times after.
My perception of 'ideology' is that it are skewed descriptions of reality, that are used in a paranoid, self-referential, prejudice way, as rationalizations, in the Freudian meaning of term, to give an appearance of self-righteousness to actions most would consider offenses.
Acceptable proposals describe problems, and from description, draw possible approaches to solve it, or present devices or procedures to enhance welfare, or productivity, any attempt to impose a model is totalitarian, but the concept of what is harmful to third parties and requires regulations to protect them has not a consensus wide enough as to result in law that most would support. Even the elementary notion that burglars should be prosecuted will have its opposers.
Dear all
Medical theory is extremely developed theory. As a nurse, I rigidly base the theory, when I am working.
For KCl (kalium chloratum) treatment , the rule must obey rigidly.
Before giving intravenous drip, we must sure the patient have urine.
The KCl solution concentration cannot be more than 0.3%.
The drop rate cannot be more than 30 drops/ minute.
The only way is intravenous drip.
Because intramuscular injection will cause muscle death. Intramuscular injection will cause K +concentration increasing in the blood and the heart to stop.
A frequent situation is that strong theoretical beliefs influence the whole society, because they define the current view of the world. In the history we had the Flat Earth or the geocentrism. In modern times there is creationism vs evolutionism, determinism vs quantum mechanic, bounded space vs euclidian space. The moral of the story is that sometimes not only learning or not learning a theory is important, but how do you interact with it. It is quite difficult that a theory you have been learnt in the school, does not become later a strong exclusivist belief; but it is also important not to become a future victim of all pseudo-sciences. As I see, the main issue is how to teach children and students open-mindedness coupled with a good portion of healthy common sense. If one achieves this, there will be no more problems when the job is "too practical" although the education has been "too theoretic".
----- the author argues that evaluation theory and practice interact insufficiently today, even though early evaluation theorists expected them to be closely intertwined. She views this limited connection as the result of differing interests on the part of theorists and practitioners, differing frequencies of dissemination, and differing targets of opportunity, with theorists concentrating often on methodological processes internal to evaluation, and practitioners more concerned with the application of these processes to an external environment. The author provides examples taken from current evaluation practice in which theory is largely ignored, as well as instances of theoretical writing which fail to consider problems faced by practitioners in their efforts to accommodate current theory.
http://aje.sagepub.com/content/34/1/91.abstract
Relativity is one of the most famous scientific theories of the 20th century, but how well does it explain the things we see in our daily lives?
See link!
http://www.livescience.com/48922-theory-of-relativity-in-real-life.html
I think we have to be cautious because most of the scientific theories are not fixed and stable they can be modified or even canceled at any time
"Shepherd Book: What are we up to, sweetheart? River: Fixing your Bible. Book: I, um... What? River: Bible's broken. Contradictions, false logistics - doesn't make sense. Shepherd Book: No, no. You-you-you can't... River: So we'll integrate non-progressional evolution theory with God's creation of Eden. Eleven inherent metaphoric parallels already there. Eleven. Important number. Prime number. One goes into the house of eleven eleven times, but always comes out one. Noah's ark is a problem. Shepherd Book: Really? River: We'll have to call it early quantum state phenomenon. Only way to fit 5000 species of mammal on the same boat. Shepherd Book: River, you don't fix the Bible. River: It's broken. It doesn't make sense. Book: It's not about making sense. It's about believing in something, and letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith, River. It fixes you."
Author: Ben Edlund
"Nothing happens without intention, Willem. Nothing. This theory of yours - life is rules by accidents - isn't that just one huge excuse for passivity?"
Author: Gayle Forman
I agree with what dear Sirous wrote about missions of education. Memorizing the facts does not help the graduates in facing real world problems. However, we should not underestimate the importance of theoretical courses in the curriculum. I always tell my students (in civil engineering) that they should have a good grasp of theory to be good enginneers and designers (and jusr not technicians being proficient in using programs!).
For practitioners, engaging the theoretical research may not be enjoyable, but it is beneficial. Deming argues that even the most hardened practitioners need the interaction with theory or they will quickly lose focus
Here is what da Vinci said about theory and practice
Theory without practice cannot survive and dies as quickly as it lives"
~ (Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519)
"He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may be cast"
~ (Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519)
Attached link provides a good reading:
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?QuotesOnTheoryVsPractice
THE RELATION OF THEORY TO PRACTICE IN EDUCATION
John Dewey
From the Middle Works
It is difficult, if not impossible, to define the proper
relationship of theory and practice without a preliminary
discussion, respectively, (1) of the nature and aim of theory;
(2) of practice.
Theory vs practice in teacher education
March 20, 2009 by Willy Cardoso
While reading Advising and Supporting Teachers, by Mick Randall with Barbara Thornton (CUP), I was intrigued by the following questions:
To what extent is it possible or advisable to describe teaching in purely theoretical terms, or should teaching be seen instead as an essentially practical process?
Should the training of teachers concentrate on specific classroom behaviours and routines, which can best be learned through observation of others and practice, or should these surface routines be integrated with the theoretical perspective provided by discussions of methodology?
Well, I’m yet to give a thoughtful answer about this, which I’ll post sometime soon. What helps though is to understand a bit better the knowledge involved in teaching, I then condensed some useful guidelines from the same book for your appraisal.
SHULMAN’S CATEGORIES FOR KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY FOR TEACHING
Much has been written about the types of knowledge involved in teaching. Shulman (1987) lists seven types of knowledge base which are important for the teacher.
1. CONTENT KNOWLEDGE
Teacher’s own proficiency in the language
Knowledge of formal aspects of English such as, syntax, phonology, etc.
Culture may also be included
2. GENERAL PEDAGOGIC KNOWLEDGE
Classroom management and control
Learning theories
3. CURRICULUM KNOWLEDGE
Particular materials used by the teacher
Syllabus approach and requirements
4. PEDAGOGICAL-CONTENT KNOWLEDGE
Methodology
Theories of how languages are learnt
The way the Target Language may best be presented and learnt
5. KNOWLEDGE OF LEARNERS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS
Awareness of how teachers’ behavior in the classroom will affect how individuals learn.
6. KNOWLEDGE OF EDUCATIONAL CONTEXTS
How sociocultural and institutional contexts will affect learning and teaching
What is acceptable or appropriate in one educational system will not necessarily be so in another.
7. KNOWLEDGE OF EDUCATIONAL ENDS, PURPOSES AND VALUES AND THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND HISTORICAL ISSUES
Study of the sociology, philosophy and history of education.
https://authenticteaching.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/theory-vs-practice-in-teacher-education/
I think that theories were developed as an attempt to understand the phenomena occur in the real life. If we take a petrochemicals plant, where many chemical processes take place to obtain a certain product at the end of the process, as a case study, without applying the scientific theories developed about chemical reactions, mass transfer and separation processes, transport phenomena, etc then the product will not appear as we can not design the process without knowing these concepts. In operation we also apply these scientific concepts and other QA/QC concepts to obtain a perfect product to meet certain standards to be then used to satisfy our needs .
So we need to teach the students the importance of learning theories to be then applied in the real life. To break the barriers between the theoretical study and practical work, field trips and workshops should be held to show the strong link between these two side as each side depend on the other one.
I admit: during school we often asked "for what purpose should we learn that ?"
And even at university we assumed that we'll never have the need to apply some of the theory basics .
Nowadays I'm happily using the very basics in daily life. And - from time to time - I regret that I can at least remember the name of some "things" but am no longer able to perform some methods correctly. And little time to refresh knowledge - instead permanently learning 'new tricks'.
I further admit that I'm maybe the only one from my school class who is using theory to that extend. As i'm happily developing electronics for more than 25 years. In management, it may be sufficient to be able to add, subtract, multiply and - eventually - divide :)
Motivation ? IMHO it is all about sparking curiousity. I've seen and read quite a number of statements where there is a constant tenor "he/she, this or that ... sparked my curiousity". Resp. "I wanted to know how this works." Up to Nobel laureates like Richard Feynman.
But the impulse to spark curiousity is individual - different from child to child, from student to student.. I'm not a teacher (only experienced a few very good ones), but I'd guess the key is to learn to know each individual good enough to find the point where the spark can be lit.
Dear all, it is not possible to separate theory from practice. Marx's dictum relates to the idea that doing should follow thinking. Thinking is not theory. Theory is a kind of though, among many others, like daydreaming, perusing, etc. The fact that so many people post quotes from others in order to comment on this question in many ways foregrounds our "resistance" to abstract thought and to think on own own. To agree is not to necessarily think: but to accept somebody else's thought. Every quotation is an example of this deferral of thinking on our own. The idea is to go the other way: to develop a penchant for abstract thought... on our own.
Do not get me wrong. Using quotes is RG's way of answering or commenting on a question, and it often helps get the conversation going. But Peter's question would need everyone to think up his or her own comment. That is the tough part of RG: what Hannah Arendt called "thinking without a handrail", even if you know you are going to fall on your face. :-)
As always, best regards.
In the previous answer I referred to the relationship between theory and practice in teaching and learning. But if I refer to the role of theory in life, everything can be summed up in a few words: theory represents a fixed point who help us to analyze the differences between some manifestations of practical processes. On the other hand I observed a tendency to equate school with theory and practice with life, which is harmful to both categories.
Dear Chrstian-Mihai, theory is never fixed. Theory is not a "law". Theory is always in development, under construction, being adjusted to new insights and discoveries. That means that we are always learning to think deeper, to bring more and more into the process of abstraction, more insights that will temper our process of thought, making it complex, rich, revealing, something to keep building upon. Theory is an object of thought, a process of thought, and the product of thought. That is why it cannot ever be "fixed".
Best regards, Lilliana
As Goethe said “All theory is gray, my friend. But forever green is the tree of life.”
Dear Jorge, that is probably a metaphor. Goethe wrote one of the most splendid books on theory: his Theory of Colours. And a great book on the theory of life: his Conversations with Eckermann. Even in his youthful Italian Journey, his theoretical insights on Palladio and architecture in general are awesome, incredibly intelligent and great fodder for architectural thought. Goethe is one of the greatest theoreticians of all time. It would be nice to know where did you find your quote. I'm intrigued...
Best regards, Lilliana
Lilliana, I fully agree with you, without any reservation, so far. Keep on bringing more and more in the process of abstraction to serve humanity and the cause of education. I sometimes wonder how can academics and scholars sometimes undermine or underestimate the power of theory. Your thinking on this issue is clear, and credible. You are my discovery on RG.
How is theory influencing real life?
In my personal view - most of the real-life practices can be explained by certain theories. Because for knowledge contribution purpose, empirical research that yield certain real-life practices are underpinning on certain theories / theoretical frameworks. So through studying theories & awareness of theoretical frameworks, can help us to appreciate, understand, explain or even predict certain scenarios / events in our lives. But do note theories are not laws whereby some theories can be falsified / overwritten after new research yield new empirical evidence. However, there are also instances whereby through real-life practices, some researchers / scholars discover new theory e.g. like some qualitative research.
Does real life need so much theory as we force our children and students to learn in school and university?
There are many theories as part of the epistemology of research. However, not all theories are relevant to all students at all times. Hence, perhaps certain research can be conducted to teach the relevant ones (theories) to our children or students. Alternatively, we don't teach them all the theories but we can teach them how to be resourceful enough to search the relevant theories according to their needs.
If yes, how can we teachers motivate students to learn theory?
Try to teach them by linking the theory with real-life practices / use cases so that they understand the theory conceptually & capable to apply in / associate to real-life situations.
And how can we avoid the practice shock entering a company after study?
Hope by applying some of the abovementioned i.e. practices are linked / explained by certain theories might strengthen their confidence / appreciation in understanding / analyzing / explaining an event / issue better instead of viewing there is a disconnect between theory & practice and no point studying theory.
10
Energetics, Sociality, and Human Reproduction: Life History Theory in Real Life
Carol M. Worthman
Understanding the determinants of human fertility remains a matter of urgent practical as well as scientific concern. Many fields, including demography, economics, health sciences, and policy and political science, offer theories at varying levels of explanation and predictive power. Only one theory, evolutionary theory, offers an account at the ultimate level of design.
Since its formulation, however, evolutionary theory has challenged the efforts of anthropologists and evolutionary biologists to apply the grand theory to variation within particular species and populations, or among individuals. Ideally, these efforts involve dialectic between epistemological and empirical work, between model building and model testing. Yet even outstanding empiricists in the field emphasize the remaining challenges, reporting, for instance, “the realization that no current models that adequately explain fertility variation in traditional societies have withstood empirical scrutiny” (Hill and Hurtado, 1995:396). Both theory and the models derived from it therefore require further work.
This essay attempts to develop a fresh view of human fertility behavior and family formation by considering the intersection of three approaches— life history theory, behavioral and reproductive ecology, and developmental psychobiology. On the theoretical front, life history theory aims to integrate comparative, cross-taxonomic data into a framework comprising life course attributes such as the timing, pace, and forms of reproduction and reproductive effort. On the population level, human evolutionary and reproductive ecologists have sought to probe the value of adaptationist models for understanding variations in reproductive behavior and biology.
Suggested Citation: "10. Energetics, Sociality, and Human Reproduction: Life History Theory in Real Life." National Research Council. Offspring: Human Fertility Behavior in Biodemographic Perspective. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003. doi:10.17226/10654.×
On the individual level, developmental psychobiologists have unpacked the roles of rearing environments in temperament, sociality and parenting, and life history strategy.
The evolutionary and functional analyses presented below suggest the need to expand current demographic models of human fertility behavior to include considerations of design and human development. Each level of analysis–evolutionary, ecological, and developmental–suggests that human reproduction involves much more than fertility, and identifies critical variables for successful human reproduction that merit more attention in demographic analysis.
IMPORTANCE OF A BIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
For over 25 years, adaptationist accounts of human behavior (first under the rubric of sociobiology, then behavioral ecology) have been dominated by the calculus of cost and benefits reckoned against the bottom line of limited available resources. Reproduction occupies a central place in this calculus because fitness, or differential reproductive success, is the currency of adaptation. The logic is simple: Reproductive effort will be determined by the availability of finite resources, principally energy and time, balanced against competing demands for subsistence or survival. Human evolutionary or behavioral ecology proceeds from the assumption that “humans should have evolved fertility and mortality patterns that lead to highest contribution to the future gene pool, given the constraints provided by general human morphological, physiological, and social characteristics, and the environments in which our species lives” (Hill and Hurtado, 1995:13).
This bold proposition—that human behavior has been shaped by selective pressures to optimize fitness—inspired a wave of empirical research, the best of which sought to test the validity of this claim and probe its ability to illuminate human behavior. This research builds on an older foundation of evolutionary biology to assess whether and how adaptive design may explain the inter- and intrapopulation variations in human reproductive function. The proposition that reproductive function itself reflects design constraints posed by evolutionary processes has yielded a series of novel hypotheses that have met with empirical support while also providing fresh perspectives on both adaptation and reproduction (Ellison, 1994; Wood, 1994). Yet even the best of these studies seldom cover beliefs, values, and schemas that inform behavior—that is, culture and experiential worlds (Borgerhoff Mulder, 1995). Research on impacts on fertility of workload, nutritional status, breastfeeding and supplementation, and maternal age rarely pursues the cultural dimensions woven into the biocultural dynamics (McDade and Worthman, 1998).
For more plz read at following link.
Have a nice day
http://www.nap.edu/read/10654/chapter/11
Let me answer your question in cliche
Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. Arthur Conan Doyle creator of Sherlock Holmes
In fact, modernity is based upon theories: from Kant to Hegel, from Darwin to Marx, an so on.
solid knowlegdge base is important for making rational choices later on in life.
A theory, which does not deal with reality is worth being thrown in dustbin. Theories are built on reality, and must be understood in the context of their presumptions. . Not to relate them with reality, to quote Lilliana, "is a mistake."
Theory influences our life: 1) the big ideas or 2) the current globalized era. Today’s social and economic decisions that affect our lives have been designed before. Theory helps to understand life’s organization and it is critical to promote human creativity.
The consensus “all politics is local” applied both in politics and economy seems to be opposed to global theory systems. In fact, in biological systems the “all politics is local” is in use in many models – including cancer and viral propagation.
At the annual meeting of group Bilderberg which is running now in Dresden the question “How is theory influencing real life?” should be au menu with many examples and working models.
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