Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education
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Thinking in Complexity about Learning and Education: A Programmatic View
No full textIn this contribution the focus is on sketching a programmatic view of thinking in complexity about learning and development. This kind of thinking goes beyond linear thinking. The new thinking in complexity about a dynamic complex reality may enable us to build a new science of learning and education, which does not take the nonlinear complex reality for granted but regards it as “real”: a science with a framework that does not exist yet. A new vision on learning is presented which takes the concept of interaction as a key concept, which may be linked with the notion of dynamic complexity. Thinking in complexity has its focus on “that which is interwoven”. Learning and development through interaction may thus be viewed as a way of co‐creating ourselves within a web of reciprocal relationships with the other. This co‐creation may be described as a complex of self‐generative, self‐sustaining processes of mutual “bootstrapping” with potentially nonlinear effects over time. Modelling learning this way, may show learning to be a potentially nonlinear phenomenon within a new reality as the domain of possibilities and potentialities of learning. The modelling of such learning as “bootstrapping,” and the concomitant effects on both partners in the interaction, shows these very possibilities and potentialities of learning in their humanly connected spaces of possibility. It demonstrates the very truth of Vygotsky’s adage that “it is through others that we develop into ourselves.” Based on his thoughts, we are able to develop a new view of the complex nonlinear reality of learning and education, with learners as potentially nonlinear human beings
The Collapse of Complex Societies
No full textA review of The Collapse of Complex Societies, by Joseph A. Tainter, 1988. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 250 pp. ISBN 052138673. 17.00 USD
A New Science Look at Negotiating Curriculum and Classrooms
No full textChaos and complexity theories provide a new perspective on curriculum design and application, especially in the area of Teaching English as a Second Language. Since language learning is a fluid process, teachers need to be able to react in real time to factors beyond their control. Rather than seeing these factors as interruptions to a closed system, teachers can make decisions about what to focus on and what to gloss over, when to pick up the pace and when to slow down, finding a natural rhythm that helps to create a symbiotic relationship with the students, the classroom and the university or school structure. Time and identity figure largely in the ESL classroom, and as each semester progresses, an essential layering process occurs and narrative structures are built. As language skills develop and as the classroom takes form, personalities are defined and redefined not only for the students but for the class as a whole. This paper attempts to make new science theories more accessible to ESL teachers with the hope that they can describe and discover ways to allow for necessary classroom flexibility while also respecting conventional curriculum standards and outcomes
In the Theater of Consciousness: The Workspace of the Mind
No full textA review of In the Theater of Consciousness: The Workspace of the Mind, by Bernard J. Baars, 1997. New York: Oxford University, xiv + 193 pp. ISBN 0195102657. $45.00 USD
Questioning Technology: Electronic Technologies and Educational Reform
No full textA review of Questioning Technology: Electronic Technologies and Educational Reform, by Karen Ferneding, 2003. New York: Peter Lang. 274 pp. ISBN: 0820450472. $29.95 USD