University teaching as epistemic fluency: Frames, conceptual blending and experiential resources in teacher pedagogical and ICT choices

1
University teaching as
epistemic fluency:
Frames, conceptual blending and
experiential resources in teacher
pedagogical and ICT choices
Lina Markauskaite
CoCo Research Centre
The University of Sydney
2011 May

2
Outline
1. Epistemic fluency and teaching
2. Conceptual framework
3. Unpacking tasks: Frame blending
4. Teacher mental resources
5. Next steps

3
Expectations from knowledge worker
Working across the boundaries of disciplinary
and professional domains
 move between the theoretical and the practical
 integrate knowledge from several disciplines
 contribute to multi-professional teams
(Argyris ‘98; Sennett ‘06)

4
Complexity of learning design & teaching
Domains of knowledge
1. Subject matter
2. General pedagogical kn
3. Pedagogical content kn
4. Knowledge of curriculum
5. Knowledge of learners
6. Educational contexts
7. Educational ends
(Shulman ‘86/7)
Ways of knowing
1. Instrumental-analytic
2. Communicative-interpretive
3. Emancipatory-critical
(Kreber & Cranton ‘00)

5
Adding ICT to teacher knowledge bases
TPACK & beyond
1. Technological knowledge
2. Technological pedagogical kn
3. Technological content kn
4. Technological pedagogical content
5. Etc
(Mishra & Koehler ‘06)
5Source: http://tpack.org/.
“Effective technology integration for pedagogy around specific subject
matter requires developing sensitivity to the dynamic, [transactional]
relationship between all three components”

6
Complex knowledge & epistemic fluency
Epistemic fluency – the capability to work with different
kinds of knowledge and switch between different
ways of knowing
(Morrison & Collins ‘96)

7
Questions
1. How do teachers work with different kinds of
knowledge?
2. How much mental effort does knowledge (&
ICT) integration require?
3. What sorts of mental resources do teachers
use?

8
Expert vs. naïve intuition &
mental resources
Mental resources - various
kinds and forms of
knowledge that someone can
potentially bring to bear in
order to work upon a task
(eg. explaining an
educational design decision)
Some features
 Originate from experience
 Are not necessarily coherent
 Are activated in specific
contexts
Based on Elby & Hammer ’02;
diSessa ’93; Minsky ’06

9
April 16, 2004
Structures of knowing, action &
technology
Human knowledge,
thinking and practices,
at least in part, could be
described by certain
characteristic structures
and patterns that recur
in their thinking and
actions
Disciplinary knowledge & inquiry
 Substantive & syntactical structure
(Schwab ‘67)
 Epistemic forms & games (Collins ‘93;
Perkins ‘96)
Pedagogy
 Teaching script (Leinchardt & Greeno ‘86)
Technology/material
 Socio-material forms & structures
(Orlikowsky ’07; Hutchins ‘05)

10
Conceptual spaces & frame blending
Conceptual spaces (Mental
spaces) – selective cognitive
configurations of domains of
existence
Frame blending – two or more
distinct sets of mental
resources are brought
together in the mind and new
conceptual space and frame
are created
Some features:
 Mainly intuitively constructed
 Minimally explicit
 Have a referential structure
 Plays modelling function
Based on Fauconnier ‘94; Turner ‘01

11
Kinds of conceptual & frame integration
Single-scope networks
Based on Turner ‘08
Surgeon Butcher
Double-scope networks
“This surgeon is a butcher”
Incompetent
Boxing Business
“Will iPad knock out Kindle?”
Boxing
(Products)

12
An example: A single-scope network
Frame 1: Select two words to input to
the search engine and record your
results (the first five URLs)
Frame 2: Interact with the simulation
model and figure out how distance is
related to speed and time
Blend: Select speed and time values to
input to the simulation model and
record your results (distance
travelled)
Information
search frame Simulation frame
Information
search frame
Improvisation based on Laurillard ‘08
One frame is selected to
organize the blend

13
An example: A double-scope network
Blend frame contains
elements of both
Frame 1: Select two words to input
to the search engine and record
your results (the first five URLs)
Frame 2: Discuss with your partner
words to input and results
Blend: Discuss with your partner
and select the two best words to
input to the search engine, then
record and discuss your results
(five URLs that you and your
partner think are the best)
Information
search frame
Discussion frame
Information search
with discussion
framework
Improvisation based on Laurillard ‘08

15
Empirical studies
2. Assessment design study
 16 professional practice
courses
 Pharmacy, nursing, education,
social work
 Focus – assessment design
 26 tasks
 Interviews with teachers
 Course resources
1. One participant study
 Postgraduate 1 sem course
 Modelling and system thinking
 Mainly online
 All design resources
 Class observations
 8 retrospective-
epistemological interviews

17
Task 1: Teacher guided problem-
solving
Teacher guides discussion,
students explain and represent
different types of feedback in
causal loops
Teacher:: Wed 24 Sep 2008 19:39:46 does someone want
to label the flow
Nick: Wed 24 Sep 2008 19:39:48 the cloud is the births
Leonie: Wed 24 Sep 2008 19:40:11 The cloud is the
unlimited source of births?
Rita: Wed 24 Sep 2008 19:40:25 and what about the
converter?
Nick: Wed 24 Sep 2008 19:40:40 birth rate?
The idea is that I put the boxes up on the whiteboard with the
variables in them, and I add one arrow each time and I get the
class to discuss whether they think that if one variable changes,
the other variable would change in the same direction or in a
different direction and that determines whether there's a plus or
a minus next to that arrow. Then at the end we go through and
talk about…

18
ICT as a replaceable unproblematic
substitute
Task 1: Teacher guided problem-solving
to label the flow
converter?
I'd probably just use a physical
whiteboard. I'd probably get
discussion, I'd probably get
someone up there as a scribe
<…> it's structured very much the
same…
…whiteboard is a whiteboard…

19
ICT as a replaceable unproblematic
substitute
Task 1: Teacher guided problem-solving
to label the flow
converter?
Pedagogy
Guided discussion &
representation
Technology
Chat & whiteboard
Create qualitative
representations while
discussing in class
Discipline
Modelling concepts

20
Task 2: Independent learning
following step-by-step instructions
Students learn to build
models in Stella using step-
by-step written instructions
and use the chat to consult
with the teacher
Teacher:: Wed 24 Sep 2008 19:39:46 does someone want to label the
flow
Leonie: Wed 24 Sep 2008 19:40:11 The cloud is the unlimited source of
births?
Rita: Wed 24 Sep 2008 19:40:25 and what about the converter?
Constructing the Model
1. Open STELLA by double-clicking on the STELLA icon.
2. STELLA has several layers and operating modes. For this tutorial we
need to be in the Modeling mode. Click on the earth icon. It should
change to a model icon.
3. You should now have a blank area, a window, labeled "STELLA."
Note each of the icons and the names for each icon.
…They're quite detailed steps in how to use the software to build
this particular model so it's not left up to them to figure it out. <…>
That's what they do, they do that on their own computers, they end
up with a model at the end. They can ask questions anytime during
the class through the chat, or they can email me outside class.…

21
ICT as a replaceable problematic
substitute
Task 2: Independent learning following step-by-step instructions
flow
births?
…I don't think it would have
made any different with them if
they were face-to-face or online.
…what was most difficult was
the first year for me to try and
figure out how I would teach how
to use software online…

22
ICT as a replaceable problematic
substitute
Task 2: Independent learning following step-by-step instructions
flow
births?
Pedagogy
Demonstration & hands on
with software
Discipline
Model building
software
Technology
Chat & whiteboard
Independent learning
using step-by-step
instructions

23
Task 3: Researching learning process
Students identify and classify
instances of decision-making in
discussion logs and create a wiki
analysing knowledge-building
process
They have to find these things we call “knowledge nuggets” or
“process nuggets”<…> they identify that moment, they classify it
according to a taxonomy we have on the website <..> specific
knowledge is about conceptual change, chain change processes,
integrating theory with evidence, reflecting on their own experience
<…> There's a lot of links between pages and all the rest

24
ICT as an irreplaceable unproblematic
enabler
[without technology] it just doesn’t
work <…> you couldn't have the
same type of assignment
Sometimes I put more instructions
but I don't change the task itself…

25
Pedagogy
Linking theory & practice
Discipline
Analysis of knowledge
change
Technology
Wiki pages & logs
Write a wiki report
linking data, theory
& interpretation
ICT as an irreplaceable unproblematic
enabler

26
flow
births?
Task 4: Inquiry-based model exploration
Students follow given guidelines
to analyse the model and answer
questions about system
behaviour
They had three questions. <…> They all have access to the
model. They change numbers in the model, they run the
model, they see how the graph looks at the end, and then they
discuss what that might mean in terms of the answer to the
question.

27
flow
births?
ICT as an irreplaceable troublesome
enabler
[I]f you don't have some sort of visual
aid do that <…> it's not something you
would normally physically see…
I had to think about how I would present
this information <…> I've been thinking
about that for the past 6 months or so…

28
flow
births?
ICT as an irreplaceable troublesome
enabler
Discipline
System structure &
behaviour
Explore models that
allow to see system
structure & behaviour
Technology
Modelling software
Pedagogy
Inquiry-based learning

29
Mental Resources: Linking pedagogy &
ICT tools
The whiteboard feature which is the main different
feature of that I use because everyone can see it that
can actually do an activity as a group. I can put things
up there quickly <...> and then get them to do a bit
more each time. It's pretty flexible like that.

30
Mental Resources: Linking discipline
with pedagogy & ICT
That was an important concept <…> I went looking for
materials rather than developing it myself for the first
time. I wanted to use something that someone else
had developed because the idea for doing it in this
online setting in groups was new enough.

31
Mental resources: Integrating
discipline with pedagogy & ICT
 [S]tudents are able to either download the model or interact
with an online model simulation, but <…> those students
couldn't see that there was this extra carrying capacity and
were confused about why there were these different
behaviours…
 This year I made the models myself…
 I changed the questions slightly. The idea behind the
question was still the same, but I changed the wording and
I gave them more specific things <…> - much more guidance.

34
Sources of Mental Resources
How did you come up with this design?
 …it just made sense to me
 …I don't remember why I thought it was a good idea
 …the chat was probably because I watched Fred in the
first year
 …the research says that they're going to remember

35
Intuitive epistemic resources
Robust foundations p-prim
Knowledge of the discipline
involves key concepts and
skills
Definitions are not tricky.
They're things you need to
know…
Speed p-prim
Knowing means speed in
applying knowledge in
specific tasks
There's being able to fairly
quickly and simply decide on
the feedback loops in the
causal loop diagram…

36
Intuitive pedagogical resources
Clarity p-prim
Instructions, explanations,
examples should be clear
…I use some of them [examples
from X book] to look at
transfer because there are
really good examples and
really good ways of explaining
that.
Building-on p-prim
The instructional principle of starting
from a simple concept or task and
making it gradually more complex
…There's nothing new in each causal
loop diagram, they're just a bit
more complicated, but there's
nothing new in the system
dynamics language that describes
them and they build on each
other….

37
Combining resources
That [diagram] related it back to what they'd done in
class [anchoring p-prim] so they could see the
difference between the two models [application-
variation p-prim]. The week that we did behavior and
structure I kept repeating [reiteration p-prim] this is
what behavior is, this is what structure [explicitness p-
prim] is, so that was the point of doing that over and
over again [repetition p-prim] because I knew they
could easily forget [remembering p-prim]

39
Concluding comments
1. Frame blending requires more mental
effort
2. Technology tends to be important when it
contributes to the organising (disciplinary)
frame
Next steps
1. How does teacher’s design thinking match
forms embedded in design resources?
2. How one could assist teachers to use
intuitive resources in productive ways?

41
Professional practice tasks: Single-scope
Pedagogical frame
Descriptive-analytical-reflective
artefacts (7/26)
 Report about aboriginal officer
 Analysis of a lesson plan
 Analysis of a community
pharmacy
 Medication information report
 Maze: Critical practice
reflection
Professional frame
Professional ‘design’ artefacts
(13/26)
 E-Resource for language
learning
 Arts lesson plan
 Disease management service
 Behaviour assessment & plan
 Dispensing role play

42
Professional practice tasks: Double-scope
Design of ‘rare’ artefacts for
practice (3/26)
 Artist case study for teaching
 Nursing guidelines
 Nursing pre/post operative
assessment and teaching plan
‘Educationalised’ practice
(3/26)
 Action learning project
 Arts lesson role play
 Family assessment

43
Next steps
What is the epistemic
structure of “structuring
devices”?
What are cognitive features
of artefacts?
Example
Primary Activity handout
Secondary
-Inscriptional Guide for teacher
-Functional Medication review
& plan
-Conceptual Justification of
recommendations
Tertiary
(Epistemic)
Design of a new
service

44
Next steps
What do students make
from these forms?
… But if I just say to them, with
no headings, just write a
report on this kid – oh dear,
believe me, brrr....
Because a psychological
report has a certain
structure and that’s pretty
well established.

45
Thank you
Email
Lina.Markauskaite@sydney.edu.au
Acknowledgements
 Peter Goodyear
 ARC grant for Epistemic Fluency project

University teaching as epistemic fluency: Frames, conceptual blending and experiential resources in teacher pedagogical and ICT choices

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to University teaching as epistemic fluency: Frames, conceptual blending and experiential resources in teacher pedagogical and ICT choices

Similar to University teaching as epistemic fluency: Frames, conceptual blending and experiential resources in teacher pedagogical and ICT choices (20)

More from Lina Markauskaite

More from Lina Markauskaite (17)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

University teaching as epistemic fluency: Frames, conceptual blending and experiential resources in teacher pedagogical and ICT choices