CHANGING VIEWS ABOUT KNOWLEDGE

1. CHANGING VIEWS ABOUT KNOWLEDGE Lecture 14 January 2010

2. WHAT DO YOU THINK KNOWLEDGE IS? What you can do What you know (and can remember) What relevant experts know What is published in some recognized form

3. CHANGING VIEWS ABOUT KNOWLEDGE • Three different groups of theories emerged during C20th about how people come to know: • Behaviorist Cognitivist/Constructivist Sociocultural • Although they are often treated as competing alternatives, they are also to some degree complementary. Each reacted against, but also built on, what went before. Each is useful in explaining some aspects of human development.

4. BEHAVIORISM Behaviorism emerged as a reaction against introspection as a method for studying what we now group together as cognitive activities. Pavlov (in Russia) and Watson (in USA) argued that a scientific study of behavior must focus on what can be observed and measured. There was no place for “consciousness” or “meaning” in this approach. Behaviorism starts from the assumption that humans are animals and that they learn in essentially the same way as other animals. (Hence, research on rats, pigeons, etc.) Based on the empiricist ideas of C17th philosophers (Locke, Hume), behaviorists assume that all knowledge is derived from perception of, and feedback from, the material environment. Learning is essentially the establishment of connections between perceptions under the influence of “drives” and “reinforcement.” A considerable amount of social learning can be explained in this way. Perhaps also some forms of cognitive learning. (See work of Thorndike, Skinner, etc.)

5. What kinds of learning are explained by Behaviorism? • What kinds of learning are not well explained by Behaviorism? • In what ways does Behaviorism underpin contemporary approaches to education? • The way in which the curriculum is often organized on the assumption that learning depends on encountering bits of information, in a fixed sequence, one at a time, and on mastering skills by practicing sub-skills, one at a time. Much less emphasis is given to constructing and understanding “the big picture.” • The emphasis on test scores. • The practice of tracking. When are Behaviorist practices relevant in the classroom? • What are the likely effects of using rewards and punishments?

6. INTELLIGENCE AND IQ. Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is derived by comparing an individual’s score on a standardized test (i.e. mean of 100) with the distribution of all scores from a population. Underlying assumptions: e.g. that the items on a test are really independent of cultural experience; that an individual’s IQ is an inherited and fixed characteristic; that IQ predicts intellectual achievement. Objections Multiple Intelligences (Gardner)

7. THE COGNITIVE REVOLUTION • In the 1950s there was a radical attempt to refocus on the mind and mental processes. • Humans are not limited to animal learning. They are conscious of having thoughts and feelings and can construct knowledge, make plans and evaluate causes and consequences. • The Cognitivists have particularly favored the computer as a model of the brain/mind and have tended to think of mental processes in terms of information processing and problem solving, often making use of models of Artificial Intelligence (AI). • Another approach, particularly favored by educational researchers, is the study of the difference between experts and novices in how they tackle complex tasks. (See chapter 2 of How People Learn.)

8. PIAGET • Piaget started as a biologist. This led him to be interested in the universal features of human development, which he considered to result from the interaction between children’s genetically given intellectual potential and their environment. • Based on his detailed observations, he proposed a series of age-related stages of development: sensori-motor (birth to 2 yrs.); pre-operational (2 to 7 yrs.); concrete operational (7 to 12 yrs.); formal operational (12 yrs. and beyond). • At each stage, children tend to assimilate new experiences to the schema (or schemata) they have already developed. If this won’t work, they are forced to accommodate (modify) their existing schemata to include the new experience. This is likely to cause some intellectual disequilibrium and to lead to the construction of a new schema; when this sort of disequilibrium occurs across a range of different schemata it may push them to move to the next stage of development. • What do Piaget’s ideas have to contribute to teaching?

9. CONSTRUCTIVISM Each person constructs their own knowledge by building on what they already know. In every situation, they make sense of new information in the light of whatever knowledge they already have that they consider to be relevant. So, because everyone has different knowledge based on past experience, they are likely to make slightly different sense of the same new information. Educators influenced by Piaget tend to favor an approach to learning through Guided Discovery. (See article by Duckworth in the Reader.)

10. “KNOWING” and “WHAT IS KNOWN” • KNOWING • - is an action by an individual • it occurs for a particular purpose on a particular occasion • it draws on an individual’s memory and uses available artifacts • WHAT IS KNOWN • - is the accumulated outcome of the formal procedures whereby what particular individuals claim to know as a result of their research is critically evaluated and formally documented according to the historically developed practices of the professional organizations to which they belong • - is recorded in material artifacts, such as books, journals, diagrams, web pages, etc.

11. METACOGNITION • The concept of Metacognition is one important outcome of treating humans as conscious and deliberate learners and knowers. • Just as we can be conscious of, and attempt to organize and control the material world through the use of tools, techniques and strategies, so we can become conscious of and control our mental processes. • We can also increase the range of strategies that we can deliberately bring to bear when tackling large or difficult problems. (See Livingston in Reader). • Research Idea • Tip of the tongue phenomenon: What can you remember?