Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education
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Animal Social Complexity: Intelligence, Culture, and Individualized Societies
No full textA review of Animal Social Complexity: Intelligence, Culture, and Individualized Societies, by Frans B. M. De Waal and Peter L. Tyack, editors, 2003. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 616pp. ISBN 0674009290. $49.95 USD. Hardcover
Rationalism, Complexity Science and Curriculum: A Cautionary Tale
No full textThe following essay was first presented as a raconteur’s closing response to speakers at the 2004 Complexity Science and Educational Research Conference in Chaffey’s Locks, Ontario, Canada, September 30–October 3
The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain
No full textA review of The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain, by Terrance Deacon, 1997. New York: W.W. Norton, 527pp. ISBN 0393317544. $29.95 USD. Hardcover
Chaos Theory and Higher Education: Leadership, Planning and Policy
No full textA review of Chaos Theory and Higher Education: Leadership, Planning and Policy, edited by Marc Cutright, 2001. New York, Peter Lang, 264pp. ISBN 082045110X. $29.95 USD
School Architecture and Complexity
No full textRecent studies document the importance of well-designed facilities on the academic performance of students in language and mathematics, but there is very little research on how space dictates what is learned and how it is learned. What about learning that is not directly measurable by standardized test scores? How does architectural space affect what is learned in the “non-core” disciplines such as music, drama, dance, and the visual arts? How does the built environment affect the ways that teachers and students operate in what might be viewed as a learning collective? These are some of the central questions addressed in the present paper. These issues are first explored through a brief discussion of the main themes in school architecture research and discourse, followed by a description of how Froebel kindergartens, Reggio Emilia schools, and Waldorf schools have given attention to some of the physical elements that affect learning. Next, I explore engaging forms of adult learning and the perspectives of John Dewey. Then follows a discussion of the ways that classrooms and schools can be seen as collectives, using complexity science theory as a theoretical framework. Finally, the complexity science model is extended by including the actual physical spaces as important ‘agents’ in influencing a non-linear and dynamic system, and by drawing implications for school design based on the principles of complexity
The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience
No full textA review of The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience, by Francisco J. Varela, Evan Thompson, and Eleanor Rosch, 1991. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 308pp. ISBN 0262720213. $30.00 USD
Simplicity and Complexity: Pondering Literature, Science and Painting
No full textA review of Simplicity and Complexity: Pondering Literature, Science and Painting, by Floyd Merrell, 1998. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 384pp. ISBN 0472108603. 65.00 USD
Complexity Theory in the Mathematics Lab-Classroom
No full textThe main thesis of a recent article by Davis and Simmt (2003) is that “mathematics classes are adaptive and self-organizing complex systems”. This thesis is intriguing. It helps explain a phenomenon teachers often witness—the spontaneous emergence of a special learning community in a particular class. And it raises the question—if this thesis applies to all mathematics classes how do the additional elements of a computer lab environment affect the evolution of the “learning system”? In this article three technology experiences have been analyzed in light of the thesis, to determine how software, organization, and task impact the blossoming of a complex learning system in the lab-classroom