Re: Karpov and Haywood

Dr. Pedro R. Portes (prport01 who-is-at homer.louisville.edu)
Fri, 16 Jan 1998 13:01:08 -0500

Hi Don;
I would be interested in discussing the article and topic. As you may know,
the idea of theoretical versus empirical knowledge was featured in an
earlier article by Karpov (and Bransford I think) in the special issue of
the Educational Psychologist in 1995 30(2) which featured key papers from
an earlier CHAT conf. in Moscow.
What I see from the argument below is that theoretical knowledge, which may
be the key to efficient and effective practice, can be co-constructed,
taught or provided for learner uptake in both, a guided discovery mode as
well as by direct instruction. The key is how to get the learner to adopt
the more effective strategy in future practice, to use the theoretical
knowledge that will result in more effective practice.
I can envision ways of how that theoretical knowledge can be negotiated via
guided discovery where the learner may believe she "discovered" it and
hence feel more intinsically motivated to use it. On the other hand hand,
it may be just as effective or more so (depending on which criteria we use,
cf K. Goodman's recent note ..etc) for the teacher to instruct a whole
group to use the theoretical approach/strategy.

I wonder if the direct teaching approach (as employed in your quote
below)is reflective of a cultural practice that is favored in some
communities (such as non U.. ones) relative to those found here.
In effect, there is good reason to believe that theoretical knowledge may
be more effective, useful etc than the empirical, hands on" approach that
is so popular these days (based on the empirical data they provide).
However whether a guided discovery or direct approach is the "best" vehicle
to get the theoretical knowledge/strategy across is a different issue (I
believe).

I will get the Am. Psychologist article you refer to next and perhaps we
can discuss this in the next week, pedro

At 01:59 PM 1/13/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I don't know how many of you get the _American Psychologist_
>but the latest (January 1998) issue has an interesting article
>"Two Ways to Elaborate Vygotsky's Concept of Mediation: Implications
>for Instruction". It bears on the discussion over the last week
>or two. The authors argue that while "guided discovery in a community
>of learners" is fine for acquiring spontaneous concepts and
>certain metacognitive skills of self regulation, that theoretical,
>didactic, direct teaching is necessary for acquiring scientific
>concepts. Theoretical learning is a more effective (and efficient!)
>way of mediating students cognitive outcomes of linking student
>declarative knowledge with procedural knowledge. Several examples
>of "best practice" are cited.
>
>Anybody want to discuss this article?
>
>djc
>
>Don Cunningham
>School of Education
>Indiana University
>Bloomington, IN 47405
>
>Phone: 812-856-8540
>Email: cunningh who-is-at indiana.edu
>Homepage: http://php.indiana.edu/~cunningh
>
>
Dr. Pedro R. Portes
University of Louisville
http://www.louisville.edu/~prport01
Office: (502)852-0630