Chapter 5 Part 1 p 97-112

Designs for Problem Solving

More than memorizing a mass of facts, students should learn to see the relationships between the facts, the context of the facts, and the generalizations that they point to. Learners should be able to proceed from facts to solutions.

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

T. S. Eliot

Theories of mind 1

Descartes (1596-1650) – Mind/Body Dualism – mind entirely separate from body

Theories of mind 2Watson (1878-1958) and others –

Behaviorism – the infamous “black box”

B. F. Skinner John B. Watson

White Rat

Theories of mind 3

Modern theory – Cognitive Science – integrates concepts from psychology, biology, anthropology, computer science, linguistics, etc.

A Multifaceted Model

Metaphors of memory

Traditional metaphors:A muscle which can be

strengthened with exerciseA slate to be written onA library of information

Metaphors of memory part II:

More recently:Memory as a pattern of

concepts in a network. Not just facts, but the network of relationships between them which are activated when part of the network is accessed. This model is partly derived from computing.

Metaphors of memory part II, continued:

A concept map represents ideas and their interrelationships, approximating connections between ideas in the mind itself.

Extending informationGeneralizing via induction –

discovering new knowledge by relating it to the patterns of preexisting knowledge.

All A observed are B.This is A.It is probably B.

Not 100 percent certain.

HypermediaNorton & Wiburg posit that

hypermedia is analogous to inductive thinking.

Non-linear.Many seemingly unrelated

concepts.

Rearranging InformationDeduction – cracking the implications

out of existing knowledge. What we usually think of when we say ‘logic’:

If A, then BATherefore B

Conclusions are certain but do not produce new knowledge.

Rearranging Informationcontinued

Spreadsheets (such as Excel) can be used educationally to teach logical manipulation of data.

Meta-cognition

Thinking about thinking – observing and improving our own thought processes.

Self-monitoring and self-awareness.