UK Centre for Materials Education
Working with you to enhance the student experience
Working with you to enhance the student experience
In my talk I will try to discuss a few complicating aspects of the role of language in such processes as knowledge, construction, communication about knowledge, and teaching. Providing arguments from the on-going debates about the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the cultural-biological evolution of language, and the status of language vis-à-vis other modes of communication (e.g. visual imagery), I will characterize linguistic communication as a constrained process of approximation and digitalisation - which is based on prior mutual knowledge of the participants in the conversation. This characterization, in turn, raises interesting questions concerning the process of teaching.
This session examines the metaphorical nature of our narratives for learning and teaching and considers the implications of using 'embodied metaphor' to inform our understanding of communication between teachers and learners. This session will provide a theoretical overview of embodied metaphor and will examine the collective nature of our own personal metaphors in an interactive session.
'Facts' or scientific knowledge as 'created' by the researcher, can be thought of in three distinct levels. The first level, is that of the 'Effect' which is observed or measured during the course of an experiment. This Effect is then understood by research teams in various ways and 'Phenomena' are developed to explain the Effect. At this stage the researcher continues to explore, hypothesise and negotiate during conferences and within journal papers etc. Models, formulae, theories and all manner of explanations and rules are developed by the researchers in order to manage the knowledge of these Effects and Phenomena, and in order to use the knowledge.
These are knowledge 'Constructs', as they are created by the researcher and they have only one intended understanding and one meaning. The Phenomena, however, have dimensions of variation and each person will understand them in different ways, along these dimensions. The 'Outcome space' of all possible understandings of the Phenomenon becomes the Fact. In this presentation I will introduce the above issues and consider the ways in which we block our creative knowledge development potential and how we might find pathways for the knowledge to be negotiated between us and others, between cultures, times and disciplines.
Researching - As Knowing
· Researching
· Scholarly production
· Learning & Knowing
· Transposition of 'facts'
· Travelling 'facts'
· Managed education as a communication system
Images and Visual Representation; the expression of conceptual understanding through drawing.
Designers use drawing in many ways, but for the purpose of Knowledge Building, it is interesting to contrast two main types; 'Declarative' drawings and 'Investigative' drawings. The former is concerned with the end of a decision making process, and is typically a specification or final statement. The latter is concerned with finding out things not by mental process alone but an interactive process combining perception, experiment, physical activity, and tacit or 'haptic' knowledge. In this way the preliminary sketch can promote the sharing of ideas at an unformed or partially formed stage. The drawing of outlines around objects is a direct equivalent in neurological terms to 'the segmentation of the visual scene' by which we determine what belongs together in visual experience. The concept applies equally to conceptual models as to physical objects, which is why the preliminary sketch can be either or both in a constructively ambiguous way.
