ED-E 591

Applied Cognitive Science

Instructor: Wolff-Michael Roth, Lansdowne Chair, Applied Cognitive Science and Science Education
Date: Thursdays, Jan 8-Apr 2, 1998
Time: 5:30-8:30pm
Room: Mac A420

 

Course Description

[Click here for course description]

 

Course Objectives

  1. To provide students with an understanding of cognition in everyday settings.
  2. To provide students with experience in analysing video materials and other research data.
  3. To provide students with experience in designing an investigation of cognition in everyday settings.

 

Requirements and Evaluation

Students will work on a project to be negotiated with the instructor. Possible projects include (a) a small study and reporting of knowing and learning in an area, (b) review of a body of literature in one domain or on one topic, (c) prepare a proposal for a related masters or Ph.D. research project, and (d) conduct and report on a project of modeling with a production system or neural network. Students will prepare drafts of their work on which they receive feedback as the course develops.

 

Required Text(s)

A course pack with the required readings is available in the book store. See [Reading List] and course outline for the specific articles and book chapters to be read.

 

Office Hours

Generally speaking, the best way to contact me is by means of email (one might want to say that my office is in cyberspace). Contact me at mroth@uvic.ca regarding any information you need outside of class. Should there be any issue that cannot be resolved other than in a face-to-face meeting, please set up an appointment a few days in advance (for sometime Thursdays 4:30-5:30pm and 8:30-9pm).

 

Tentative Schedule

The following is a proposed schedule. I may decide to make discretionary changes according to contingencies arising during the course of the semester (such as student needs, unforeseen events, etc.).

Date

Topics, Required Reading, Assignments

Jan 8

INTRODUCTION: Greetings, course outline, grades, project.

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Analysis of video tape segment: A tower in the making
  2. Analysis of video tape segment: Kitchen work
  3. Brainstorming about interesting situations that students might want to know more about in terms of the course objectives of applied cognitive science.

Jan 15

READINGS: Cognition After School/At Work

  1. Lave, J. (1988). Life after school. Chapter 3 from J. Lave, Cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics and culture in everyday life (pp. 45-75) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  2. Schliemann, A. D., & Acioly, N. M. (1989). Mathematical knowledge developed at work: The contribution of practice versus the contribution of schooling. Cognition and Instruction, 6, 185-221.

ASSIGMENTS:

  1. Send your comments/reflections to the email list. Comment on the remarks of your peers.
  2. Think about possible situation about which you want to find out more about through your project. Be prepared to talk about your idea. (Bring a note, hand- or machine-written, which we can put up on the view screen by scanning.)

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Discussion of readings.
  2. Analysis of video tape segment: Graphical knowledge developed at work.
  3. Presentations and discussion of everyday context for project work.

Jan 22

READINGS: Cognition in Traditional Societies

  1. Jordan, B. (1989). Cosmopolitical obstetrics: Some insights from the training of traditional midwives. Social Science in Medicine, 28, 925-944.
  2. Hutchins, E. (1983). Understanding Micronesian navigation. In D. Gentner & A. L. Stevens (Eds.), Mental models (pp. 191-225). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

ASSIGMENTS:

  1. Discussion of readings.
  2. Send your comments/reflections to the email list. Comment on the remarks of your peers.
  3. Prepare some more advanced stage of your project. Be prepared to talk about your idea. Be prepared to talk about your idea. (Bring a note, hand- or machine-written, which we can put up on the view screen by scanning.)

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Discussion of readings.
  2. Analysis of video tape segment: "Doing lecturing"
  3. Presentations and discussion of everyday context for project work.

Jan 29

READINGS: Cognition and Scientists

  1. Goodwin, C. (1995). Seeing in depth. Social Studies of Science, 25, 237-274.
  2. Jordan, K., & Lynch, M. (1993). The mainstreaming of a molecular biological tool: A case study of a new technique. In G. Button (Ed.), Technology in working order: Studies of work, interaction, and technology (pp. 162-178). London and New York: Routledge.

ASSIGMENTS:

  1. Send your comments/reflections to the email list. Comment on the remarks of your peers.
  2. Prepare some more advanced stage of your project. Be prepared to talk about your idea. Be prepared to talk about your idea. (Bring a note, hand- or machine-written, which we can put up on the view screen by scanning.)

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Discussion of readings.
  2. Analysis of video tape segment: Making conversations work (social construction of interviews and conversations).
  3. Presentations and discussion of everyday context for project work.

Feb 5

READINGS: Cognition in Schools

  1. Roth, W.-M. (1996). Art and artifact of children's designing: A situated cognition perspective. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 5, 129-166.
  2. Roth, W.-M., McRobbie, C., Lucas, K. B., & Boutonné, S. (1997). The local production of order in traditional science laboratories: A phenomenological analysis. Learning and Instruction, 7, 107-136.

ASSIGMENTS:

  1. Send your comments/reflections to the email list. Comment on the remarks of your peers.
  2. Prepare some more advanced stage of your project. Be prepared to talk about your idea. Be prepared to talk about your idea. (Bring a note, hand- or machine-written, which we can put up on the view screen by scanning.)

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Discussion of readings.
  2. Analysis of video tape segment: (to be announced)
  3. Presentations and discussion of everyday context for project work.
  4. If applicable: Analysis of example provided by students.

Feb 12

READINGS: Cognition and Discourse

  1. Clark, H. H., & Schaefer, E. F. (1989). Contributing to discourse. Cognitive Science, 13, 259-294.
  2. Edwards, D. (1993). But what do children really think?: Discourse analysis and conceptual content in children's talk. Cognition and Instruction, 11, 207-225.

ASSIGMENTS:

  1. Send your comments/reflections to the email list. Comment on the remarks of your peers.
  2. Prepare some more advanced stage of your project. Be prepared to talk about your idea. Be prepared to talk about your idea. (Bring a note, hand- or machine-written, which we can put up on the view screen by scanning.) (By now you should be ready to begin observation/ recording of situation.)

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Discussion of readings.
  2. Analysis of video tape segment: (to be announced)
  3. Presentations and discussion of everyday context for project work.
  4. If applicable: Analysis of example provided by students.

Feb 19

READING BREAK

(Use time to work on your project.)

Feb 26

READINGS: Spatially Distributed Cognition

  1. Hutchins, E. (1995). How a cockpit remembers its speeds. Cognitive Science, 19, 265-288.
  2. Kirsh, D. (1995). The intelligent use of space. Artificial Intelligence, 73, 31-68.

ASSIGMENTS:

  1. Send your comments/reflections to the email list. Comment on the remarks of your peers.
  2. Think about possible situation about which you want to find out more about through your project. Be prepared to talk about your idea.

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Discussion of readings.
  2. Analysis of video tape segment: (to be announced)
  3. Presentations and discussion of students' work in progress.
  4. If applicable: Analysis of example provided by students.

Mar 5

READINGS: Cognition and Representation

  1. Mehan, H. (1993). Beneath the skin and between the ears: A case study in the politics of representation. In S. Chaiklin & J. Lave (Eds.), Understanding practice: Perspectives on activity and context (pp. 241-268). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  2. Varela, F. J. (1995). The re-enchantment of the concrete: Some biological ingredients for a nouvelle cognitive science. In L. Steels & R. Brooks (Eds.), The artificial life route to artificial intelligence: Building embodied, situated agents (pp. 11-22). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erbaum Associates.

ASSIGMENTS:

  1. Send your comments/reflections to the email list. Comment on the remarks of your peers.
  2. Think about possible situation about which you want to find out more about through your project. Be prepared to talk about your idea.

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Discussion of readings.
  2. Analysis of video tape segment: (to be announced)
  3. Presentations and discussion of students' work in progress.
  4. If applicable: Analysis of example provided by students.

Mar 12

READINGS: Historical Perspectives on Cognition

  1. Gooding, D. (1990). Mapping experiment as learning process: How the first electromagnetic motor was invented. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 15, 165-201.
  2. Gorman, M. E., & Carlson, W. B. (1990). Interpreting invention as a cognitive process: The case of Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and the telephone. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 15, 131-164.

ASSIGMENTS:

  1. Send your comments/reflections to the email list. Comment on the remarks of your peers.
  2. Think about possible situation about which you want to find out more about through your project. Be prepared to talk about your idea.

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Discussion of readings.
  2. Analysis of video tape segment: (to be announced)
  3. Presentations and discussion of students' work in progress.
  4. If applicable: Analysis of example provided by students.

Mar 19

READINGS: Modeling Cognition

  1. Agre, P. E. (1995). Computational research on interaction and agency. Artificial Intelligence, 72, 1-52.
  2. Brooks, R. (1991). Intelligence without reason. A.I. Memo No. 1293. Massachussetts Institute of Technology.

ASSIGMENTS:

  1. Send your comments/reflections to the email list. Comment on the remarks of your peers.
  2. Think about possible situation about which you want to find out more about through your project. Be prepared to talk about your idea.

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Discussion of readings.
  2. Analysis of video tape segment: (to be announced)
  3. Presentations and discussion of students' work in progress.
  4. If applicable: Analysis of example provided by students.

Mar 26

READINGS: Design Implications of Research on Cognition

  1. Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (1992). Enacting design for the workplace. In P. S. Adler & T. A. Winograd (Eds.), Usability: Turning technologies into tools (pp. 164-197). New York: Oxford University Press.
  2. Ehn, P., & Kyng, M. (1991). Cardboard computers: Mocking-it-up or hands-on the future. In J. Greenbaum & M. Kyng (Eds.), Design at work: Cooperative design of computer systems (pp.169-195). Hillsdale, NJ: LEA.

ASSIGMENTS:

  1. Send your comments/reflections to the email list. Comment on the remarks of your peers.
  2. Think about possible situation about which you want to find out more about through your project. Be prepared to talk about your idea.

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Discussion of readings.
  2. Analysis of video tape segment: (to be announced)
  3. Presentations and discussion of students' work in progress.
  4. If applicable: Analysis of example provided by students.

Apr 2

PRESENTATION OF PROJECTS

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