Technology & Cognition
Kurt Squire
Curriculum & Instruction
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Technologies for students
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Blackboards
Books
Pencil Sharpeners
TVs / VCRs
Maps
Desks Chairs
• Charts
• Paper
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Teachers and Technology
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Reliable
Easy to use
Reinforce power relations
Reinforce epistemology
Fit within constraints
Kurt Squire, 2003
But the times have changed….
Kurt Squire, 2003
Tools and cognition
• “Mind as Computer”
• Google
• Reveal strengths &
limits in our cognition
• Shape what it means
to be “intelligent”
• Tools are socially
mediated
Kurt Squire, 2003
The Digital Disconnect
Kids are online
• 78% of children between the ages of
12 and 17 go online.
• Internet used for personally
meaningful learning
• The Internet = virtual textbook and
reference library.
• The Internet = virtual tutor and study
shortcut.
• The Internet = virtual study group
• The Internet = virtual guidance
counselor
Key:
Many schools and teachers have not
yet recognized—much less responded
to—the new ways use the Internet.
Levin, D. & Sousan Arafeh, (2003). Digital Disconnect. Pew Internet Project.
Kurt Squire, 2003
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=67
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Schools
Knowledge Work
Learning
Memorizing,
Mastering
Experimenting, discovering
Knowledge
Discreet facts, “true”
by authority
Tool for use, tested in practice,
socially legitimized
Social Model
Work alone!
Collaborations, shared endeavors
Learner*
Empty receptacle
Active, sense-making,
social organism
Practices
Is reduced to facts,
knowledge, skill
Leveraged, played upon
Colors perception, ideas
Instruction
Transmission, drill n
kill
Making meaning / Construction
Technology
Present information,
track and monitor
Supports practice, make thinking
public / visible, test ideas, extend
capabilities
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
So what does this mean?
Tools and signs
mediation
Subject
“learner”
Object
Tools mediate our understanding of phenomena
Kurt Squire, 2003
So what does this mean?
Tools and signs
mediation
Subject
“learner”
Object
Communities and social institutions
Kurt Squire, 2003
Activity Theory
Artifacts / Tools
Subject
Rules (formal and informal)
Outcomes
Object
Community
Division of Labor
Kurt Squire, 2003
Activity Theory
Books, pencils, overheads
Students
No talking, 45 minute periods…
Grades
Master information
vs
Get grades
Work alone, teachers
organize info
Kurt Squire, 2003
Activity Theory
Books, pencils, overheads
vs.
IM, chat, computers
Students
No talking, 45 minute periods
vs.
Learning
Grades
Master information
vs
Get grades
Work alone
vs.
In groups
Kurt Squire, 2003
Let’s see some examples…
1. Virtual Solar System
2. Civilization III
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• University Astronomy course
• Elementary School
• Ken Hay (UGA), Sasha Barab
(Indiana), Mike Barnett (BC), Tom
Keating (San Jose Tech)
Kurt Squire, 2003
Problems of Representations
• Why is it hot in the summer and
cold in the winter?
• Why are there eclipses?
• What are planets, asteroids,
comets?
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Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Course Projects
1. Build the Earth Moon Sun
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Show eclipses
Show seasons
2. Build the Solar System
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Relative size and distance
Observe patterns
3. Extend your project
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Ask questions
Comets, asteroids, etc.
Kurt Squire, 2003
Modeling Tool
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Students’ work
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Findings
• Student fascination with “correct” model
– Building “correct” solutions
– Copy and pasting answers in boxes
Result: Shift toward modeling
practices
Kurt Squire, 2003
Kurt Squire, 2003
Findings
• “Inscriptions” were really important
Learning was not uniform
– Highly related to specific practices
– Highly related to questions asked
• Teacher gave “just in time” information
– Why don’t eclipses occur every month?
– Where is my moon?
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Findings
• VSS Students had deeper understandings
– Comparisons in interviews
– VSS students understood why
• Students performed similarly on tests
– Everyone studied the night before
Kurt Squire, 2003
Social Learning Theory
tools
students
objects
Community
Kurt Squire, 2003
Activity Theory
tools
Students
Rules (formal and informal)
objects
Community
Division of Labor
Kurt Squire, 2003
VSS Case
Correct Models ok
Books, peers, web, models,
Students
Good models &
presentations get “A”
understandings
Model Building
“Technology builders”
1 make planets
1 animate
Kurt Squire, 2003
VSS Case
Correct Models ok
Books, peers, web, models
Students
Good models &
presentations get “A”
understandings
Model Building
“Technology builders”
1 make planets
1 animate
Kurt Squire, 2003
Replaying History:
Learning World History through playing Civilization III
Case 3
High School World Cultures Classroom
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Civilization III
• Lead a civilization from 4000
BC - 2000 AD
• Build cities to use
geographical resources
(food, production, trade)
• Manage tax rates, science
research, and luxuries
• Negotiate with other
civilizations
• Build military
• Choose between
technologies & wonders
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Kurt Squire, 2003
What Happened?
Why am I doing this?
Replaying History
This game isn’t bad…
Purposeful Game Play
Day 1
4
8
12
17
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Findings
Civilization III only one component of activity
– Teacher practices
– Students’ goals / intentions
Playing Civilization III mediated understandings
– “No matter how it plays out, history plays by the same set of rules.”
– “You can’t separate geography from politics from history”
Playing Civilization III produced “conceptual tools”
– Knowledge of islands, geography = tools
– History was a “cheat”
Kurt Squire, 2003
Activity System
Teacher as a cheat sheet
Students
Individualistic Goals
Enjoyable Activity
vs.
Understanding social studies
Playing Civilization III
Informal Groupings
Collaborative Inquiry into game
Kurt Squire, 2003
Core Contradictions
Teacher as a cheat sheet
vs
Concepts, maps, historical record
1. Difficulty of Civilization III
2. Students
Purposes opaque
vs
Teachers
Pleasurable experience
vs.
Understanding social
studies
Playing Civilization III
vs.
Social Studies Inquiry
School
Norm vs. Complexity
Individualistic Goals 1. Individualistic
Collaborative Inquiry into game
Informal
Groupings
2. Freedom to playvsthe game
vs
vs
School Norms
Inquiry into social studies
Communities of Practice
Kurt Squire, 2003
Walk-aways
(hint hint…)
Technologies shape….
… how knowledge is represented
– Solar system = dynamic models
– Civilization III = historical simulation
… what we value
– Knowing is more than memorizing (google)
– Person + computer and tools
… how we interact
– internet collaborations, scientists in the lab
Kurt Squire, 2003
Implications (hint hint)
Technologies are socially situated & constructed
– VR Building tool vs. VR Modeling Tool
– Implies the role of the teacher, social context
Technologies and schools is a social problem
- What values do technologies carry?
- Do those contradict school norms?
- Classroom cultures change technologies
Technologies are not the silver bullet…
- Technologies tend to reproduce social inequities
- What teachers do with them is critical
- School cultures is the biggest problem…
Kurt Squire, 2003
Implications
• Activity theory is one way to think about technology
– Emphasized social context
– Theoretical lens for examining contradictions
• Technology integration is a social problem
• Contradictions drive change
Artifacts / Tools
Outcomes
– What is knowledge
– What is valued
Subject
Rules
Object
Community
Division of Labor
Kurt Squire, 2003
Contact
• Kurt Squire
• kdsquire@education.wisc.edu
• http://website.education.wisc.edu
Kurt Squire, 2003