Social Cognition, Situated Cognition, and iSTEM Education Mary Gauvain, Ph.D. Psychology Department University of California, Riverside April 25, 2012 National Academy of Engineering National Research Council—Board on Science Education Committee on Integrated STEM Education Third Meeting

Presentation Overview 1.Learning and development 2.Sociocultural Theory 3.Some related theoretical constructs 4.Linking these ideas to iSTEM education 5.Promising directions and some lessons learned 6.Some vexing issue and points of resistance 7.Summary 8.Next steps

Overarching Themes Taking social contributions seriously Importance of an activity level of analysis Problem of disciplinary boundaries

Learning and Development Distinct but related processes Learning – gaining of knowledge that people use to make sense of the world and solve problems Development – progressive change in how people are able to carry out certain kinds of intelligent actions

A tool for approaching iSTEM education, or a brief description of social cognition as seen through the lens of Sociocultural Theory "There is nothing so practical as a good theory." Kurt Lewin The sociocultural context provides the core experiences and interactions through which children learn Thinking, learning, and development cannot be understood without taking account of the intrinsically social and communicative nature of human life

Sociocultural Theory Basic premises – Learning is a social and cultural process – Human biology and human culture are mutually constituted – Human learning and thinking unfold through social transactions that are culturally mediated – Language, communication, and sense or meaning making are central to this process

Levels of human developmental change: – Phylogenetic (species evolution) – Sociogenetic (cultural/historical) – Ontogenetic (development in a life time) – Microgenetic (learning)

Human beings have evolved Capabilities to learn a vast array of complex skills and information Bias toward certain information and patterns Ability to make and use tools (material and symbolic) to support and extend individual psychological experience Ability to coordinate the mind in meaningful goal-directed ways with conspecifics

The socio-emotional story, i.e. that human beings: born with immature brain (“obstetric dilemma”) protracted period of dependence form affectionate ties with others The cognitive development story, specifically that high levels of cognitive functioning, tailored to the circumstances of growth, come about in an individual’s lifetime

Sociogenetic, ontogenetic, and microgenetic levels, or where the cultural, social, and individual learning meet The sociocultural context of learning and cognitive development (Vygotsky) Learning occurs in context of meaningful, goal- directed activities (Activity Theory) Distinguished basic and higher-level functions Distinguished spontaneous and scientific concepts Stressed the pervasive and complex social and cultural nature of human learning

Many processes of social learning collaboration in the zone of proximal development scaffolding instruction modeling and observational learning guided participation intent participation legitimate peripheral participation attention guidance and regulation (such as intersubjectivity, joint attention, social referencing) tools (symbolic and material) that support and extend thinking

Ability to learn via these processes relies on various social cognitive capacities theory of mind intentional understanding mental state reasoning social information processing

Opportunities to learning emerge in a range of formal and informal social-cultural settings Formal settings of learning (institutions such as school, apprenticeships, tutorials, science museums) Formal participation in culturally organized practices including rites and rituals Informal participation in cultural activities, often alongside more experienced cultural members Experience with cultural tools that support intelligent and meaningful action Other regular collaborative processes, e.g. joint problem solving, shared narratives, shared intentions

Summary of main points of a sociocultural approach to learning and cognitive development Learning and cognitive development do not reside in the child or in the social context, but in the child-in-social-context Social transactions with people and with the “objects” of culture, in conjunction with biological capabilities and biases, are the basis of psychological development Children learn and adapt behaviors and skills to meet own learning goals (activity-centered approach)

Some related constructs (and their roots) – Distributed cognition (cognitive anthropology and education) – Practical cognition (cognitive science and anthropology) – Situated cognition (cognitive science) – Embodied cognition (cognitive neuroscience)

Linking these ideas to iSTEM education Must be built on meaningful, goal-directed activity Create opportunities for children to articulate and build on their own developing knowledge (explicit process) Clear and purposeful role for the social (lure, learning process, the nature of learning and knowledge itself) Use of a distributed learning approach may be a means of addressing issues of equity and diversity (writ large)

Promising Directions and Some Lessons Learned – Problem-based learning (Wirkala & Kuhn, 2011) – Discovery learning (Alfieri et al. 2011; Mayer, 2004) – Science learning inside and outside the classroom – The role of executive functions (Diamond, 2011) – Microgenetic to sociogenetic change (Saxe et al, 2010) – Role of communication, argument, note taking, and other activities, in promoting understanding and reflection - Thinking Together approach (Mercer & Littleton, 2007) – Help seeking and other self-regulated learning strategies (Karabenick and Newman, 2006)

Thinking Together approach Emphasis on dialogic teaching in which: – Students given opportunities and encouragement to question, state points of view, and comment on ideas and issues in lesson – Students’ knowledge and interests are used in developing lesson themes and learning activities – Teacher engages students in discussion that support and explore their understanding of the content – Teacher uses talk to to provide a cumulative, continuing and contextual frame to enable students to engage with new knowledge

Some vexing issues and points of resistance – Transfer – Promoting creativity and flexibility – Grounding the mind (e.g., use of concrete materials) – Intentional learning (e.g., training EF) – Integrating authentic, meaningful, and understandable activities with longer-term (and often uncertain) goals – Learning is a multi-level, multi-dimensional process, must avoid reductionism (Diamond, 2007)

Summary Learning is a social and cultural process Learning occurs in the context of meaningful, goal-directed activities How to build on this basis in creating iSTEM education What social processes promote learning in iSTEM and can these processes be understood and implemented in a principled way?

Discussion Points The allure and illusion of the individual mind Taking the social seriously (e.g., scaffolding vs. help) Expanding the walls of science learning (after-school clubs; museums: Haden, 2010; Kisailus’s team approach) Need for a combined research front: Classroom, laboratory, and community (Nathan & Alibali, 2010) Situated learning and the problem of transfer Authentic activities Explicitness and goal clarity Integrating development and learning

Next steps – iSTEM research as a problem-based inquiry – How to arrange for authentic engagement of all team members – What is the purpose or goal of iSTEM education? – iSTEM+, or the problem of disciplinary boundaries in an integrated “science” learning approach