Conversation Theory - Gordon Pask
Background of Gordon Pask
Pask’s major work was the development of Conversation Theory and its
applications in education. This grew out of his work with cybernetics where
he conceived human-machine interaction as a form of conversation, a
dynamic process, in which the participants learn about each other. He
worked to build unifying bridges between the natural sciences, the social
sciences, and the humanities. His wish was to develop a social cybernetics
that would help combat terrorism, oppression, and social conflict. His vision
was of a healthy society, in which there is unity without uniformity, love,
peace, and justice for all.
The Theory Behind the Model
Conversation Theory is based in Pask’s interest in cybernetics. Cybernetics can be defined as the
theoretical study of control processes in electronic, mechanical, and biological systems. It comes from
the Greek word meaning steersman. Some define it as the science of communication and control in the
animal and the machine, or the communication within an observer and between the observer and his
environment.
Conversation Theory as developed by Pask originated from this cybernetics framework and attempts to
explain learning in both living organisms and machines. The fundamental idea of the theory was that
learning occurs through conversations about a subject matter which serves to make knowledge explicit.
Conversations can be conducted at a number of different levels:
 Natural language (general discussion)


Object languages (for discussing the subject matter)
Metalanguages (for talking about learning/language)
In order to facilitate learning, Pask argued that subject matter should be represented in the
form of structures which show what is to be learned. These structures exist in a variety of different levels
depending upon the extent of the relationships displayed. The critical method of learning according to
Conversation Theory is "teachback" in which one person teaches another what they have learned.
Pask identified two different types of learning strategies:
 Serialists – Progress through a structure in a sequential fashion

Holists - Look for higher order relations
For students to learn a subject matter, they must learn the relationships among the concepts. For
teachers, the explicit explanation of the subject matter facilitates student understanding (e.g., use
of teachback technique). However, students differ in their preferred manner of learning relationships
(serialists versus holists).
Conversation theory is a cybernetic and dialectic framework that offers a scientific theory to explain
how interactions lead to "construction of knowledge", or "knowing": wishing to preserve both the
dynamic/kinetic quality, and the necessity for there to be a "knower".[1] This work was proposed
by Gordon Pask in the 1970s.
Contents
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1Overview
2Topics
o
o
2.1Levels of conversation
2.2Conversation
 2.2.1Analogy
2.3Cognitive Reflector
2.4Learning strategies
o
o
3See also
4References
5Further reading
6External links
Overview[edit]
Conversation theory regards social systems as symbolic, language-oriented systems where
responses depend on one person's interpretation of another person's behavior, and where meanings
are agreed through conversations.[2] But since meanings are agreed, and the agreements can be
illusory and transient, scientific research requires stable reference points in human transactions to
allow for reproducible results. Pask found these points to be the understandings which arise in the
conversations between two participating individuals, and which he defined rigorously.[3]
Conversation theory describes interaction between two or more cognitive systems, such as
a teacher and a student or distinct perspectives within one individual, and how they engage in a
dialog over a given concept and identify differences in how they understand it.
Conversation theory came out of the work of Gordon Pask on instructional design and models of
individual learning styles. In regard to learning styles, he identified conditions required for concept
sharing and described the learning styles holist, serialist, and their optimal mixture versatile. He
proposed a rigorous model of analogy relations.
Topics[edit]
Conversation theory as developed by Pask originated from this cybernetics framework and attempts
to explain learning in both living organisms and machines. The fundamental idea of the theory was
that learning occurs through conversations about a subject matter which serves to make knowledge
explicit.
Levels of conversation[edit]
Conversations can be conducted at a number of different levels:[4]



Natural language (general discussion)
Object languages (for discussing the subject matter)
Metalanguages (for talking about learning/language)
Conversation[edit]
Through recursive interactions called "conversation" their differences may be reduced until
agreement—that is, agreement up to a point which Pask called "agreement over an
understanding"—may be reached. A residue of the interaction may be captured as an "entailment
mesh", an organized and publicly available collection of resultant knowledge, itself a major product
of the theory as devotees argue they afford many advantages over semantic networks and other,
less formalized and non-experimentally based "representations of knowledge".
Any two concepts can produce the
The Derivation of a concept
from at least two concurrently
existing topics or concepts
Alternative derivations may be shown
third, shown as the cyclic form of
with conjunctive (AND) and disjunctive
three concepts --- note that the
pathways (OR). This is logically
arrows should show that BOTH T1
equivalent to T1 = (T2 AND T3) OR (T4 and T2 are required to produce T3;
AND T5)
similarly for generating T1 or T2 from
the others.
Analogy[edit]
Lastly, a formal analogy is shown where the derivations of the concept triples are indicated. The
diamond shape denotes analogy and can exist between any three topics because of the shared
meanings and differences.
The relation of one topic to another by an analogy can also be seen as a restriction on a mapping
and a distinction to produce the second topic or concept.
Cognitive Reflector[edit]
From conversation theory, Pask developed what he called a "Cognitive Reflector". This is a virtual
machine for selecting and executing concepts or topics from an entailment mesh shared by at least
a pair of participants. It features an external modelling facility on which agreement between, say, a
teacher and pupil may be shown by reproducing public descriptions of behaviour.[5] We see this in
essay and report writing or the "practicals" of science teaching.
Lp was Pask's protolanguage which produced operators like Ap which concurrently executes the
concept, Con, of a Topic, T, to produce a Description, D. Thus:
Ap(Con(T)) => D(T), where => stands for produces.
A succinct account of these operators is presented in Pask[6] Amongst many insights he points out
that three indexes are required for concurrent execution, two for parallel and one to designate a
serial process. He subsumes this complexity by designating participants A, B, etc.
In Commentary toward the end of Pask,[6] he states:
The form not the content of the theories (conversation theory and interactions of actors
theory) return to and is congruent with the forms of physical theories; such as wave particle
duality (the set theoretic unfoldment part of conversation theory is a radiation and its
reception is the interpretation by the recipient of the descriptions so exchanged, and vice
versa). The particle aspect is the recompilation by the listener of what a speaker is saying.
Theories of many universes, one at least for each participant A and one to participant B- are
bridged by analogy. As before this is the truth value of any interaction; the metaphor for
which is culture itself.
Learning strategies[edit]
In order to facilitate learning, Pask argued that subject matter should be represented in the form
of structures which show what is to be learned. These structures exist in a variety of different
levels depending upon the extent of the relationships displayed. The critical method of learning
according to Conversation Theory is "teachback" in which one person teaches another what they
have learned.[4]
Pask identified two different types of learning strategies:[4]


Serialists – Progress through a structure in a sequential fashion
Holists – Look for higher order relations
The ideal is the versatile learner who is neither vacuous holist "globe trotter" nor serialist who
knows little of the context of his work.
See also