CHANGING VIEWS ABOUT KNOWLEDGE
Lecture 14 January 2010
WHAT DO YOU THINK KNOWLEDGE IS?
1. What you can do
2. What you know (and can remember)
3. What relevant experts know
4. What is published in some recognized form
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.
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.)
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?
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)
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.)
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?
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.)
“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.
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?
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H.263 decompressor
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