regardingjohn | live | love | learn | blog

Rand Spiro, Michigan State presentation/visit on Friday, April 29, 2005
Cognitive Flexibility theory

easehistory.com (EASE - Experience Acceleration
Sport Environment)
CFT for AKA (Advanced Knowledge Acquisition) in ISDs
(ill structured domains)
when you talk so long on a slide that your computer
goes to sleep, you should have changed the slide already.
situation-adaptive
[…]

It’s really getting dangerous in cyberspace. One moment I’m reading Mark Morford rant about the really disturbing uber-patriotic America We Stand As One video, then I note that there are spoofs out there (not as good), but the next thing I know I’m drowning in http://www.b3ta.com/.
This is a scary wonderful, time absorbing, wildly entertaining, slightly […]

It’s getting bad. I am slowly but surely becoming digitally conditioned. Today as I was sitting in front of my computer (just for iTunes) reading a printed out article, I reached the end of a page and hit the space bar.
Now, had I been reading a website or PDF on screen, hitting the space […]

I need this. Mounts on the handlebars. Holds my coffee cup.

http://store1.yimg.com/I/nycewheels_1842_45902873

I always liked the name Spiro. How old is this theory, anyway? 1990. Okay, I’ve missed out the last 15 years. Imagine all the fun I could have had. What? Already having fun? Calling it something else?
Cognitive flexibility theory focuses on the nature of learning in complex and ill-structured domains. Spiro & Jehng (1990, p. […]

Why don’t they have “undo” buttons? Or “Clear”? I don’t know how many times I’ve hit the wrong button. I’m not the only one who’s thought about this.

Lakoff, G. & Núñez, R. (1997). Metaphorical structure of
mathematics: sketching out cognitive foundations for a mind-based mathematics.
In English, L (Ed.) Mathematical reasoning: analogies, metaphors, and images.
(pp 21-89) Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Lakoff and Núñez start this article with a warning — that the
cognitive science of mathematics is […]

The other day I was asked where I’d like to see the UW-Madison ECT program going. I said:
digital presence: I’d like to see our web presence evolve into/beyond something like Stanford’s d.school. Our current site is less compelling (to be kind). I think/suspect that much of “presence” (being seen and known) in Academia is […]

Thanks to Nichole for alerting me to The Shifted Librarian’s article Got Game on the Brain, which includes a link to a 17 minute interview of John Beck, who wrote Got Game: How the Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever. “Forever” is a very long time, so I’m skeptical, but I’m also hopeful that business […]

Yesterday’s New York Times Magazine (thanks to Metafilter and BoingBoing for alerting me) contained a pretty interesting excerpt from Everything Bad is Good for You a new book by Steven Erlin Johnson (his blog here). In it, he explains that the increasing complexity of plot lines on *some* TV shows is making us smarter […]

Preface: The idea of the book is to take cognitive perspective of mathematics, and to ask “Is the system of mathematical ideas also grounded in bodily experiences?” (p. xiv) They go on to say that “many of the most fundamental mathematical ideas are inherently metaphorical in nature” — pushing the Metaphors We Live By […]

fun fact of the day: Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (the notion of flow) explains the pronunciation of his name as “chicks send me high” according to this page. How cool is that? Very. Do I trust the page? Hey, I’m a pragmatist, and it works for me.

I first saw this at ThinkGeek along with caffeinated soap. And I thought: “Silly geeks. Do they have nothing better to do than praise caffeine?’ But, I guess somehow the name and idea of a non-coffee caffeine buzz stuck with me. I’ve certainly had my share of so-called “Energy drinks” — often far too sweet […]

Didn’t think I’d ever find one, ever since I realized Paul dealt out a really pretty horrid perversion of Christ’s teachings. But tonight after finishing level 16 of Tomb Raider 2, Tavis Smiley was on PBS with John Shelby Spong, and I have to say, he made some serious sense. I may have to take […]

It’s a sad thing in some ways, for a diehard Mac guy to have to buy a PocketPC, but since that’s what the game engin (allegedly) runs on, that’s the platform I need to work with.
What I need are three things (actually four): A Pocket PC with Bluetooth (and heck, while we’re at it, […]

Quickly now …
"This chapter has two goals. The first is to open up
the notion of embodiment and explore the set of ideas that it brings
together.
In particular, the notion of "meaning" that featured so
strongly
in the last chapter needs to be examined more closely. Just what
aspects of
[…]

I’m slightly embarrassed to report that I’ve now finished chapters 5-7
of Paul Dourish’s Where the Action Is book, and don’t remember a
stitch of it. The problem, I realized this afternoon on the bus as I
opened to my marked page in chapter 7, is that I haven’t blogged on it
for 5, 6, or 7 — and […]

When I saw the AERA presentation (Adriana and Girlie from UCLA) on Hybrid Reality Games (HRG), which I blogged about last Tuesday, I wondered how many other handheld-type games there were in existance — or at least approximately. Today I ran across this link to a list of a bunch of location-based games for cellular […]

Byline – A tool for learning science through online journalism
alternative routes to learning science literacy: better understanding of how
to design and use learning technologies
Theoretical framework: pedagogical praxis (Shaffer)

Dewey (knowing through doing), and Schon (reflecting while doing)
Lave and Wenger (Communities of Practice)
Shaffer and Resnick (thick authenticity — 4 dimensions of authenticity

references to real […]

The Water Fountain Game: get a drink without getting your face wet. The controller is the button, press it softly and the water doesn’t come out high enough to drink. Press too hard and your finger gets tired. Variables: when the refrigeration unit comes on, or when a toilet nearby is flushed, the water pressure […]

It’s windy out. Wind makes life exciting for everyone when summer sun dresses are involved.

What is it?
A context sensitive GPS and Pocket-PC educational computer game, place-based
in the woods and mountains in a 3-5 mile radius of Flying Moose Lodge, in East
Orland, Maine.
Constraints

kids will be running through the woods, (and canoeing) so the devices must
be sturdy, and semi weatherproof.
when kids […]

There’s so much to do in the next few weeks.
I need to stop and process all the stuff I took down as notes from AERA (This is what I meant to do tonight, but instead I’m making lists
I need to finish my embodiment readings (okay, that’s totally unrealistic, considering I have about 4 more books […]

fun with pics.

I’d like to create a SIG (Special Interest Group — see how jargony I’ve become after the AERA conference — that’s “American Educational Research Association” for those of you aren’t “with it”), for mysterious studies in Education, and call it “AERA 51″
So, I’m back in Madison after a fabulous week in Montreal, where I’d like […]

This week at the AERA conference I’ve noticed three distinct types of suits worn by men (and women). What I call the “hard suit” is the typical “power suit” — that crisply pressed, dark blue, smooth surface suit. Another example, or accessory, or casual version is the black leather jacket. Ideally, this type of outfit […]

Division C-Learning and Instruction  Le Centre Sheraton Montreal, Jarry Fri, April 15, 10:35
am to 12:05 pm 
(Tech)tual Interaction: The Dialogic Nature of English Language  Learners’
Activities in a Fanfiction-Based Website. Rebecca Ward Black, University
of Wisconsin-Madison

fanfiction: fan-authored text derived from popular texts
fan-art, video, music, fiction
http://fanfiction.net : archives hundreds
[…]

SIG-Advanced Technologies
for Learning
Scheduled Time: Fri, Apr 15 - 8:15am - 10:15am Building/Room: Le
Centre Sheraton Montreal / Salon 8
Chair : Scott B. McDonald, sum16@psu.edu, Pennsylvania
State University
Mad City Murder: A Professional Practice Simulation in Environmental
Sciences by *Kurt D. Squire, Ming Fong Jan
Handheld technologies, particularly augmented reality simulations, […]

Dewey’s Aesthetics and Classroom Experience — SIG-John
Dewey Society, Papers at: homepages.utoledo.edu/kpugh/dewey-symposium.htm
— When: Thu,
Apr 14 - 2:15pm - 3:45pm Building/Room: Hilton
Montreal Bonaventure / Montreal Ballroom, Section Verdun
Abstract: For over seven years, a group of faculty and doctoral
students at Michigan State University and other institutions has explored the
meaning and implications of […]

Division C-Learning and Instruction, Section 6 - Cognitive, Social, and Motivational Processes.
Scheduled Time:Thu,
Apr 14 - 12:25pm - 1:55pm Building/Room: Le Centre
Sheraton Montreal / Salle de Bal Est
Abstract:
Cognitive revolution brought psychology to a new era and has had a profound
impact on how we view the workings of […]