Beyond Bits and Atoms – Week 5 – Reading Notes

DiSessa, A. A. (2001). Changing minds: Computers, learning, and literacy. Mit Press.

  • Computer Literacy
    • Common term attributed to being able to turn a computer on, insert a CD, or use the mouse for example
  • Material Intelligence – Literacy
    • Intelligence achieved cooperatively with external materials
  • Infrastructural Knowledge
    • Content that is widely adopted and used as basis for new content (e.g. Calculus)
  • Evolution of material intelligence
    • Galileu’s Theorems took pages to be described by him
      • “Theorem 5 – If two particles are moved at a uniform rate, but with unequal speeds, through unequal distances, then the ratio of the time intervals occupied will be the products of the distances by the inverse ratio of speeds.”
      • t1/t2 = (d1/d2) / (r2/r1) (time, distance, rate)
      • No Algebra at the time
        • Only in the 20th century Algebra became widely adopted
      • Lack of mathematical notation – or material intelligence
  • What are the possible future literacies?
  • Romance-novels being read in subways – a social niche – factors influencing its adoption
    • Require being able to read
    • Most readers are women
    • Romantic love as an accepted genre
    • No sanctions against it (e.g. Playboy magazine)
    • Price of printing and revenue share with authors
    • Printing press
    • Uncrowded trains
  • Definitions
    • “A literacy is the convergence of a large number of genres and social niches on a common, underlying representational form.” (DiSessa, 2001, p.24)
    • “Genre is to social niche as species is to ecological niche.” (DiSessa, 2001, p.24)
  • Perspectives on social niches
    • Values, interests, motivations
    • Skills and capabilities
    • Materials
    • Community ad communal practices
    • Economics
    • History

Wilensky, U. (2010). Restructurations: Reformulating Knowledge Disciplines through New Representational Forms. Learning Sciences, Computer Science and Complex Systems, Northwestern University

  • Structuration and Restructuraiont of a discipline
    • From Roman to Hindu-Arabic numerals
    • “the encoding of the knowledge in a domain as a function of the representational infrastructure used to express the knowledge.” (Wilensky, 2010, p.2)
  • Core properties of structurations
    • Power properties – must do what was done before but better
    • Cognitive properties – must be easier to learn
    • Affective properties – memes – ideas that spread in an evolutionary manner through society, social niche, or culture
    • Diversity properties – must attend to all ‘intelligences’ and people’s style
  • Circle can be described in several ways
    • All points are at the same distance form a point called center (Euclid)
    • The formula to plot a circle is x^2 + y^2 = K (Descartes)
    • Logo turtle – if constant linear and angular speed is maintained, a circle is drawn
    • Logo turtles – place many of them in a central point and have them all go straight for the same amount: circle.
  • Agent-based modeling
    • Observe a phenomenon and try to create an equation that fits the observed data
    • Agents have individual procedures which affect the larger population
      • Lynx-Hare Example
      • The Tick Model – Newtonian Physics and Beyond
      • GasLab – Statistical Mechanics and beyond
      • MaterialSim – Materials and Beyond

Wilensky, U., & Resnick, M. (1999). Thinking in levels: A dynamic systems approach to making sense of the world. Journal of Science Education and technology, 8(1), 3-19.

  • Agent-based models
    • Traffic-jam example on agent-based modeling
      • Cars are moving forward all the time but traffic itself is flowing backwards
    • Waves
      • Particles themselves move perpendicular to the direction of travel of the wave
  • Levels
    • NOT hierarchical levels
    • Individual level has its own behaviors and properties
      • Interactions of many of these individuals create emergent properties – a new level