Re: [xmca] Brains, Computer, and the Future of Education

[Larry Purss <lpscholar2@gmail.com>]

Monica
I encourage you to start writing. Would your audience be teachers?  It would
be a fascinating theme for professional development with teachers

Larry

On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 5:34 AM, Larry Purss <lpscholar2@gmail.com> wrote:

> David
> Another quick thought on the competing models of learning and how these
> models become common sense or taken for granted folk psychological ways of
> orienting to the world. The  power of metaphors to conventionalize a
> cultural imaginary seems to be  central to this transformative process that
> develops various cognitive models at the implicit or tacit level.  Andy
> points to the historical processes that lead to a particular metaphor
> structuring our cognition [the zeitgeist]. As I read his comments
> he suggests it is the current technologies being used and developed which
> transforms our guiding metaphors and not the internal debates among
> scholars.  If technological transformation  "constitutes"  metaphorical
> transformation [stronger term than influences] then how do we consciously
> engage witth these transformative technological processes to influence the
> zeitgeist [as a dialogue among models] ? At the level of common sense folk
> psychological metaphors of learning are university debates leading the way
> or charting where the technology has taken us?
> The underlying question is, How do we get teachers to incorporate
> alternative models of learning and cognition which run counter to common
> sense
>
> Larry
>
>
>  On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 4:37 AM, Michael Glassman <MGlassman@ehe.osu.edu>wrote:
>
>> Hi David,
>>
>> I sort of feel like the human relationship with information has changed in
>> very fundemental ways over the last ten years.  Phenomena like the Web,
>> Google, FaceBook, the Open Source movement have moved incredibly quickly.
>>  Some academic urban legends are rising up, such as the idea that the
>> computer in some way changes the structure of wiring of the brain
>> (absolutely no evidence, or even proto-evidence for this I can.)  But I
>> think it is a combination of fear and confusion.  You have first amendment
>> lawyers like Floyd Abrams arguing against free speech on the Internet.  You
>> have brutal authoritarians like Putin signing executive orders making
>> Russian government completely Open Source by 2015 (my guess is he has no
>> idea what Open Source actually is).  The whole thing is mind boggling.
>>
>> I think of cognitivist, behaviorists socio cultural theorists, etc, etc.
>> arguing over who bats next, not realizing that the rules of the game are
>> completely changing.  Changing in ways we don't even have a vocabulary to
>> talk about yet.
>>
>> Michael
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu on behalf of David H Kirshner
>> Sent: Tue 1/11/2011 10:45 PM
>> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>> Subject: RE: [xmca] Brains, Computer, and the Future of Education
>>
>>
>>
>> Larry,
>>
>> Here's my sociology of science account of the rise of brain studies as a
>> substitute for learning theory.
>>
>> 1. In Kuhnian terms, psychology is a preparadigmatic science. For
>> instance, learning is variously studied in behavioral, cognitive,
>> developmental, and sociocultural schools that conceive of learning in
>> fundamentally distinct ways.
>>
>> 2. The grand motive of preparadigmatic science is establishment of
>> paradigmatic consensus. Each school is in competition with the others to
>> unify the field under its umbrella by coming to accommodate the
>> interests of the other schools while still preserving the essence of its
>> own unique perspective. Most often this competition is implicit, but
>> periodically it leads to open conflict as in Chomsky's repudiation of
>> Skinner's effort to account for "Verbal Behavior," or in the flare up in
>> the late '90s between James Greeno and John Anderson and company over
>> cognitivist efforts to account for the situated character of learning.
>>
>> 3. The dominant paradigm in any period always is the one to most
>> strenuously pursue hegemonic designs on the field. The cognitivists'
>> embracing of the rhetoric of situativity has cost them dearly: they no
>> longer can forefront the technical machinery of information processing
>> theory and artificial intelligence computer simulation as their central
>> technical method and theoretical thrust. This is really a crisis point
>> for cognitivists. They gained prominence through the Information
>> Processing approach, and are coasting along on their reputation.
>> Embracing brain science enables them to maintain the surface features of
>> dynamic "science," while providing a convenient disguise for the fact
>> that there's no longer a central metaphor for learning that is being
>> elaborated and developed by that community.
>>
>> 4. Projecting this forward a decade or so, we have the likelihood of
>> diminishment of the importance of the cognitivist umbrella, and renewed
>> opportunity for the other schools to push toward the front of the pack.
>> ...should be lots of fun.
>>
>> David
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
>> On Behalf Of Larry Purss
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2011 7:37 AM
>> To: lchcmike@gmail.com; eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>> Subject: Re: [xmca] Brains, Computer, and the Future of Education
>>
>> Mike,
>>
>> The band wagon may not be a strong enough metaphor.  The image of a
>> steam
>> roller seems more accurate.  I mentioned earlier that the term ZPD is
>> now a
>> recognized term in many school settings [as scaffolding].  However this
>> alternative metaphor of mind as computer or mind  as brain is a far more
>> powerful metaphor in schools. Often school staffs are fascinated with
>> these
>> explanations and believe that neuroscience is finally getting to the
>> "heart"
>> of the matter [couldn't resist the contradictary metaphor]. Brain
>> science as
>> an explanation of learning is becoming   the dominant narrative in
>> many school debates.  I was wondering if there are any "simplified'
>> articles
>> for a general audience that engage with these neuro/brain metaphors that
>> would lead to school staffs possibly having a dialogue [by introducing
>> dought]  I have shared a few articles with interested staff who love
>> ideas
>> but they were too "theoretical" for a staff discussion.
>>
>> With this steam roller comes the call for justifying your practice in
>> schools by using "best practices" which are "evidence based".  This
>> evidence often is dominated by evidence from neuroscience
>>
>>  I have attempted to introduce sociocultural perspectives into the
>> debate in
>>  response to the neuro/brain social representations of learning but I
>> would
>> appreciate an  article for a general audience that I could hand out to
>> start
>> a dialogue among school staffs.
>>
>> Mike, I believe this frame of reference is not a "fad" or a "band wagon"
>> but is developing into a "conventionalized" metaphor which most
>> educators
>> may use to explain "learning" in  schools.  Fad indicates a transitory
>> phenomena and neuroscience seems a longer lasting  phenomena.
>>
>> I am looking for an article that does not refute or contradict the
>> neuroscience explanations but rather LINKS the  ideas to sociocultural
>> concepts.
>>
>> One of the principals in a school I work in is attending this
>> conference,
>> and principals do have influence in school cultures.  I hope to
>> influence
>> her.
>>
>> Larry
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 8:07 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > The bandwagon is visible coming over the horizon!
>> > Check it out at http://www.learningandthebrain.com/brain28.html.
>> > Join for just the price of a click and a clack.
>> > mike
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