[from Gary Cziko 921002.0200 GMT]
Relevant to the recent discussion of purposeful influence and
reorganization is an excerpt (sans emphases and footnotes) from a chapter
of my book in preparation. The book is tentatively entitled _Without
Miracles: Universal Selection Theory and the Second Darwinian Revolution_
and the chapter is "Education: Transmission of Truth or Growth of Fallible
Knowledge?"
I currently feel that it is indeed possible for people (e.g., teachers) to
influence long-lasting changes in others' (e.g., students') control
systems. Although the following was not written to make this point, I
think it is compatible with it. Reactions (especially from Greg Williams
and Bill Powers and Chuck Tucker) are eagerly anticipated, but I don't see
myself engaged in a protracted Powers-Williams type discussion
.
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To apply the perceptual-control-theory notion of reorganization to
education, let us use an example--a person learning to swim. In its most
rudimentary form, being able to swim can be defined as staying alive in
water which is deeper than one is tall, that is, being able to "tread
water." One way to "teach" a non-swimmer to swim is the throw the person
into a body of deep water (we could call this the "immersion" method
swimming instruction). This will likely create error in the student since
she will have difficulty keeping her head above the water in order to
breathe. This perceived error in a crucial variable will trigger
reorganization so that the student will immediately begin to vigorously
move her arms and legs in random patterns in order to find some way to
maintain her nose and mouth above the water's surface. If a behavioral
pattern (actually a perceptual-behavioral control loop) is found which
allows her to breathe (if even only a few gasps before disappearing below
the surface again), the randomness of the movements will decline until the
student is able to constantly keep her head above the water, at which point
we would say that she has learned to swim. In effect, the student has now
gained control over a variable which she could not control previously and
so by our definition learning has taken place.
Since the student did not initially know how to swim, the initial movements
were of necessity blind attempts to swim. But while the student did not
know how to keep her mouth above the water, she could perceive how
successful she was in her attempts (getting her eyes above the water is
better than below, but not quite good enough). This then provided a
criterion for selection among the various behavioral patterns attempted and
allowed the student to learn from her mistakes, eliminating those patterns
of movement which did not succeed in getting the head above the surface and
retaining those which did.
We can also easily imagine that the learner in this example would be very
highly motivated since failure to learn could result in death. From a
perceptual-control-theory perspective, motivation simply refers to error
(that is, a difference between a perception and the reference level for
that perception) which results in action to eliminate the error (see Figure
7.1). From this perspective, motivation is considered to be internal to
the student since the reference level of the controlled variable is
determined by the student, not by the environment.
We need to point out, however, that this immersion method of swimming
instruction may well fail for any particular student since there is no
guarantee that the student will come up with an effective control system
for treading water within the few minutes available before lack of oxygen
leads to loss of consciousness and death. Clearly, a less drastic approach
to swimming instruction is needed. There are a number of ways in which
this method could be improved. First, we could simply allow more time for
learning to take place. This could be accomplished by allowing the student
to practice at the edge of a swimming pool so that she could reach out and
hold onto the edge of the pool when she felt herself going under water. Or
she could be allowed to practice in water that was only neck deep so that
she could simply stand in the water at any time to breathe. Given more
time to try out new patterns of movement and eliminate those which are
ineffective, the likelihood of successful learning would be increased.
Another approach to facilitate learning would be to attempt to accelerate
the learning process itself using verbal instructions ("move your hands
horizontally in the water from your sides to the front and back again") or
demonstrating a model for imitation, or a combination of the two ("do it
like this"). Such instruction could be useful in constraining the attempts
made by the student (for example, the student would not now attempt
vertical movements of the hands). But such instruction, no matter how
effective, can in no way transmit the skill to be learned from teacher to
student. Even if the teacher provides a model to imitate, the student must
still learn on her own how to imitate the model. The perceptions the
student has of the teacher demonstrating a technique are very different
from the perceptions the student will have when she is able to successfully
perform the technique herself (watching someone else swim is a very
different experience than that of actually swimming oneself). Models and
instruction can provide useful information in the form of constraints of
what not to try, but they cannot provide explicit instructions concerning
exactly what to do.
In addition to allowing more time for the learning to take place and
providing constraints in the form of models and verbal instruction, the
teacher can also provide easier access to the knowledge or skill by
providing a series of less demanding intermediate goals. One way is to
break down the skill into a number of subskills and provide opportunities
for the subskills be acquired. In the swimming example, the teacher could
have the student stand in shoulder-depth water and have her make horizontal
movements with her arms until she feels an upward force lifting her weight
from her legs. After this is mastered, the student could learn to move her
legs by holding onto a float and kicking her legs until she feels herself
rising from the water. After practicing the arm and leg movements
separately, she could then attempt to combine them, first in water shoulder
high and then in deeper water.
By breaking down a complex problem into easier subproblems learning is
facilitated since the probability of finding a solution to each subproblem
is higher than that of finding a solution to the more complex
problem--success in learning to make effective arm alone in swimming is
more likely than success in learning to make both arm and leg movements
together. A selectionist-reorganization view of learning sees the teacher
as constantly aware of the student's current abilities and continually
imposing upon her problems which are just a bit beyond these abilities.
Assuming that the student wants to be able to gain control over this new
situation, reorganization will take place until control is achieved at
which time new demands are imposed (after learning to tread water, the
breaststroke is attempted; after addition is learned, subtraction is
introduced). Such a view of learning is consistent with Russian
psychologist Lev Vygotsky's (1896-1934) notion of the "zone of proximal
development" in which the student is able to try and eventually
successfully master new problems which are beyond her independent
capabilities but which can be learned with the assistance of a teacher.
Note that the teacher's role in this learning is not one of a transmitter
of information or knowledge but rather one who provides support to the
student and arranges the student's learning environment in such a way that
the student is continuously challenged by situations and problems which are
just a bit beyond her current competence. In other words, the teacher
arranges the environment so that the student is continually encountering
error, but error that is not too large so that the student's reorganizing
efforts are likely to be successful and set the stage for the next
introduction of error. This view is also consistent with the idea now
popular in education that a successful teacher provides educational
"scaffolds" for his students. Such scaffolds can be seen as
teacher-provided support platforms which provide support in breaking down
complex physical and cognitive problems into more easily mastered
subproblems. While we used the physical skill of learning to swim in this
example, all that has been said is also applicable to other more cognitive
skills such as those involved in learning mathematics and developing
reading comprehension and writing skills.
P.S. The idea of using swimming as an example was inspired by the
Robertson and Power's text.
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Gary A. Cziko Telephone: (217) 333-8527
Educational Psychology FAX: (217) 244-7620
University of Illinois E-mail: g-cziko@uiuc.edu
1310 S. Sixth Street Radio: N9MJZ
210 Education Building
Champaign, Illinois 61820-6990
USA
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