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
- Galileu’s Theorems took pages to be described by him
- 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
- Traffic-jam example on agent-based modeling
- Levels
- NOT hierarchical levels
- Individual level has its own behaviors and properties
- Interactions of many of these individuals create emergent properties – a new level