jax11 risky thinktransconsilienceacrossdisc
DESCRIPTION
PowerPoint presentation to accompany paper presented April 2011, in Jacksonville, Florida, at the International Conference on Teaching and Learning.TRANSCRIPT
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Risky thinking:
Transdisciplinary consilience constructs learning across disciplines
KAWatson, Coastline Distance Learning
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Constructivism and consilienceConstructivism: Learners “build” worldsConstructivism: Teachers guide students
Consilience: Use curiosity, abstraction, mathConsilience: Understand each other, the world
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Transdisciplinarity Creating inclusive worldviews Conceiving individuals’ views Sharing perspectives en groupe Overarching & pluri-generating
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Consilience, transdisciplinarity, and…… divergent thinking
sharing culturally-generated viewsusing language, culture, mathexploiting, e.g., “Humanities 2.0”
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Three integrated concepts & a result
TransdisciplinarityConsilienceDivergent thinking
Result: Creativity!
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Creativity: 8 qualities
Fluency Flexibility Originality Elaboration Visualization Transformation Intuition Synthesis
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Creativity qualities in Language Fluency: flow of sounds into patterns
Flexibility: utterances fitting contexts Originality: the novelty of it all Elaboration: customization, explanation Visualization: picture-painting in words Transformation: synonymy Intuition: future, conditional expression Synthesis: summing-up, distillation
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Fluency A definition: Quick, smooth flow, flux
A pair of examples:In language, from phonemic awarenessIn math, from number sense
A result: Unrestricted higher-order thought
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FlexibilityA definition: Ability to conceive the “other”
Examples: In math, “adaptive strategy choice” In language, learning to reason like anotherA result: Cognitive plasticity
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OriginalityA definition: Generation of novel ideasExamples:
In engineering, new concepts In social science, creative problem-solving
In language, poetry A result: Useful, practical outcomes
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ElaborationA definition: Addition of detailExamples: In language, circumlocution In STEM, fine-tuning with detailsA result: Openness
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Visualization A definition: Seeing with the mind’s eye Examples:
In psychology, guided imagery In STEM, pattern, symmetry, order In language, painting word pictures
A result: Shared imagination
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TransformationA definition: Alteration retaining core
meaningExamples:
In chemistry, “off-label” applications In language, questions or imperatives
A result: Improved neural plasticity
KAWatson, Coastline Distance Learning
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Intuition A definition: Recognizing connections Examples: In math, seeing things as figures
In language, sensing the sociolinguistic A result: Effective creative thinking
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Synthesis A definition: Creation of a coherent whole
Examples: In science, chemical & biochemical reactions
In academe, transdisciplinarity A result: “Self-directed” learning
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Transdisciplinary consilience in action
Filling in the spaces between disciplinesExamining in complementary waysProducing dynamic tensionJumping together