A professor of mine, Dr. Linnda Caporael, introduced me to this group,
expressing to me that several discussions have emerged that seem very
pertinent to the ideas I have for my thesis. Dr. Caporael, a professor in
Cognitive Science at RPI, introduced me to many new ideas, many of which I
have never really explored before. In my studies with her, I completed a
research project for her class on "Distributed Cognition and the Culture of
Learning." This inspired me to develop a thesis around such a topic.
As an architecture student, my upcoming thesis is a design project. A large
part of the preliminary work is in research to prepare and gather together
some of my ideas. Unfortunately, I do not have a concrete handle on what my
thesis is to be. Currently, my thesis is simply "Architecture and Education."
I hope this discussion group will help me bring together my ideas on
"Architecture and Education." I also hope that I can gather together a
bibliography for research purposes while I am a member of this discussion
group.
Dr. Caporael has already shared with me much of the discussion that has been
going on about "Architecture and Education," and I look forward to expanding
on that discussion.
Of the scholars whose ideas I am familiar with, many of them have dealt with
distributed cognition, cooperative learning (an area I feel very strongly
about), ZPD, etc. Much of the research I have done has led me to such
scholars as Vygotsky and Lave. There are others which I unfortunately can't
remember right now.
I'll start my input into the discussion like this:
How does American society view or address the culture of learning?
How have it's ideas been translated into the built environment,
for education, from the early childhood level to the post
secondary education level? Where is the push now for American education? To
what road is it traveling down?
Thank you and I hope that this leads to further discussion. I look forward to
getting involved.
--Stephen Van Hoose
vanhos who-is-at rpi.edu