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David Moore

Professor Emeritus of Individualized Study
david.moore@nyu.edu

B.A. American Studies, Amherst College, 1969
M.S.W. Social Work, University of Pennsylvania, 1971
Ed.D. Learning Environments, Harvard University, 1977

David Thornton Moore, an anthropologist of education and work, studies the process by which people learn outside of classrooms, especially in workplaces; the broader question underlying his work focuses on the situated nature of knowledge and learning. He has done extensive research and writing on experiential learning, internships, and civic engagement at the high school and college levels. His work has been published in such journals as Harvard Educational Review, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, and Learning Inquiry. He is the co-author, with Thomas R. Bailey and Katherine L. Hughes, of Working Knowledge: Work-Based Learning and Education Reform (RoutledgeFalmer, 2004); his latest book, Engaged Learning in the Academy: Challenges and Possibilities was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2013. The National Society for Experiential Education has honored him several times, naming him Researcher of the Year in 2004, Pioneer of Experiential Learning in 2011, and Distinguished Scholar in 2014. Moore has given invited talks on experiential learning at such schools as Williams College, Princeton University and Queens College, and twice was the keynote speaker at the Martha’s Vineyard Institute on Experiential Education; he gave the keynote address at the Australian Collaborative Education Network in 2014. His Gallatin courses focused on the concepts of community, learning from experience, the meaning of work, and everyday life, as well as on research methods and the history of social thought. He was one of the original organizers of Gallatin’s Community Learning Initiative, and served for more than five years as the associate dean of the Gallatin School. He retired from Gallatin in May 2015.

Books

2013

Engaged Learning in the Academy

David Thornton Moore's Engaged Learning in the Academy was published by Palgrave McMillain.

2004

Working Knowledge

Katherine Hughes, Thomas Bailey and David Thornton Moore's Working Knowledge: Work-Based Learning and Education Reform was published by Psychology Press.

Teaching and Research Interests

anthropology of education  workplace culture; work reform and experiential learning; innovations in higher education 

Recent News

Professor David Moore presented a talk on experiential education to the NYU working group on internships in March 2014 at NYU. He published “For Interns, Experience Isn’t Always the Best Teacher” in the November 18, 2013 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.  

David Moore