Connectionist Theory !
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COGNITIVIST THEORIES!

Piaget's Cognitive Development theory

Information Processing theory

Cognitive Flexibility theory

Connectionist theory

 

Connectionist theory

Whereas the IP model found considerable scholarly agreement over the initial stages of information processing, significant inquiry has been debated over the mechanics of the last stage, long-term memory. After three decades, how humans retain and retrieve information is still a hot topic, but recent emerging models have synthesized of the convergent principles from earlier theories.

Connectionist theory, for example, the recent but highly contentious theory many scholars view as an alternative to classical IP models of cognition, is consistent with the most recent neurological studies of the human brain, as well as artificial intelligence research. The theory posits that information is stored in multiple locations throughout the brain in networks of connections--the more connections there are to a concept, the more likely it is to be remembered.

Earlier cognitive models, especially schema theory, have influenced the development of connectionist theory significantly. Schema theory evolved as an extension of many associative memory theories, including David Ausubel's meaningful receptive learning, which proposed a structural arrangement of knowledge where learners subsumed new knowledge into existing cognitive structures. Effective teaching then, according to Ausubel, required the use of an advance organizer to activate higher-level (prerequisite) cognitive structures--presumably shared by all learners, before presenting new instruction. This notion of sequencing was extended by Reigeluth's Elaboration theory, which emphasizes the arrangement of instruction by increasing order of complexity, thereby enabling learners to establish meaningful contexts into which new information may be assimilated.

Schema theorists criticize the rigidity of Ausubel's model, especially the presumption that information is stored in hierarchic taxonomies, and propose instead that knowledge is stored as propositional networks, where specific information units are not internalized, only their general meaning. Meaning, thus, is stored in memory as a set of relationships.

Schema theorists also criticize Piaget, arguing that there is not just one body of knowledge available to learners at any given developmental stage, but rather a network of context-dependent schema that learners apply to different situations. It is this situational specificity that distinguishes expert from novice--the more experience a learner has with a subject, the more developed their schemas are, the more likely they are to function successfully than novices with no schema or inadequate schema.

Connectionism attempts to explain human cognition using artificial neural networks, which are computer-based models of the brain that allow direct observation of the strength of relationships between what was previously called schema. There are no discrete representation units in connectionist models, such as the imagens and logogens of Paivios Dual-Coding theory; instead knowledge is viewed as a distributed representation of patterns of activity. Thinking about surfing does not activate your watersports channel; rather, it activates multiple associated units distributed across your neural net.

Artificial Intelligence research has validated this distributed model convincingly, and it is important to note the challenge it poses to classical cognition where thinking is a staged phenomenon (encode-process-store). The theory continues to be hotly debated in scholarly literature.

Theory into practice..

Artificial intelligence is a construct already realized in modern computing and will only increase in sophistication as technologies evolve. Brainstorm in your small groups the answers to these questions:

1) Identify some current examples of AI technologies with which teachers and trainers commonly interact?

2) Predict an educational implication of AI technology in the near future. Sketch a hypothetical scene and prepare to present it to the whole group.

 

Coastal Carolina University
College of Education
Educational Technology Program
Copyright 2004