Naomi Miyake

Constructive Interaction and the Iterative Process of Understanding

When people try to understand complex physical devices (e.g., a sewing machine), they proceed in an iterative fashion. They seem to reach several points at which they claim to “understand” the device. Each point of understanding is incomplete and requires a new level of understanding. As a result, they cycle between understanding and non-understanding as they traverse different levels. The present study provides a framework to capture the iterative nature of understanding. These points are discussed and illustrated through observations of three pairs of people constructively interacting to understand how a sewing machine works. In addition to the iterative search for understanding, the conceptual point in space from which the speaker appeared to be viewing the machine was important. This conceptual point of view (C-POV) was reflected in their use of language. The C-POV appeared to be stable during points of understanding and to shift frequently at points of non-understanding.

To Ask a Question, One Must Know Enough to Know What Is Not Known.

In this study, we test the notion that a prerequisite for asking questions about new topic matter is some appropriate level of knowledge. Learners should ask the most questions when their knowledge is well matched to the level of presentation. To test this hypothesis, we tested learners with two levels of background knowledge using learning material with two levels of difficulty. The learners were instructed to say aloud all their questions and thoughts while learning. With the easier material, novice learners asked more, questions than trained learners; with the harder material, trained learners asked more questions than novice learners. The results suggest that any theory of question asking in learning should consider the interaction between the levels of knowledge of the asker and of the material.

Toward an open shared workspace: computer and video fusion approach of TeamWorkStation

Groupware is intended to create a shared workspace that supports dynamic collaboration in a work group over space and time constraints. To gain the collective benefits of groupware use, the groupware must be accepted by a majority of workgroup members as a common tool. Groupware must overcome the hurdle of critical mass.

Explorations of Scaffolding in Complex Classroom Systems

The learning sciences community worries a lot about the notion of scaffolding. What is it, and how should educators provide it for learners? This special issue works toward refining the field’s understanding of a construct that has had a name for nearly 30 years and has been used by educators of all stripes for centuries. At a session on scaffolding at the International Conference for the Learning Sciences in 2000 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, several groups presented design principles for scaffolding. The presentations led to a lengthy discussion that spilled out into the hallway and indeed into the next session. The liveliness of that discussion spurred us to submit a proposal to the 2001 meeting of the American Educational Research Association. The room was packed. People left energized. Given the obvious level of interest among the audience members, we decided we should devote a special issue of The Journal of the Learning Sciences specifically to this topic, and so this special issue was born. THE JOURNAL OF THE LEARNING SCIENCES, 13(3), 265–272 Copyright

Education on the Electronic Frontier: Teleapprentices in Globally Distributed Educational Contexts

The instructional media created by microcomputers interconnected by modems to form long-distance networks present some powerful new opportunities for education. While other uses of computers in education have been built on conventional instructional models of classroom interaction, instructional electronic networks facilitate a wider use of apprenticeship education, in which students learn skills and acquire knowledge in contexts similar to those in which they will be used. To investigate these possibilities, we have created an instructional electronic network interconnecting students and teachers in the United States, Mexico, Japan, and Israel. In this paper, we analyze one project conducted in this Inter-Cultural Network. Students tackled a problem in their own community, the problem of the shortage of water. By addressing a problem shared across the different locations, students learned to transfer solutions used elsewhere to their own problems, which is one strategy for dealing with the difficulty people have with transferring knowledge from one domain to another. They also acquired science concepts in an instructional setting that provided dynamic support for the acquisition of problem solving skills. This study raises a challenge to education: that the dominant form of instruction could become “teleapprenticeships.” In this form of instruction, students would participate in globally distributed electronic problem solving networks, jointly tackling problems with other students, with teachers, and with adults outside the school.

Activity Cycles in Educational Electronic Networks.

Abstract Because interaction via long‐distance electronic networks differs from conventional instructional interaction, it is important to determine the ways in which learning can be effectively organized in this new medium. Network‐based instructional interactions are characterized by systematic cycles of activity and knowledge of these cycles is important for creating effective, network‐based learning environments. Several global activity cycles are documented here. In addition, the life cycles of two types of instructional activities, teletask forces and teleapprenticeships, are discussed. The implications of these analyses for the educational uses of computer networks are also described.

Perspectives on the Research History of Giyoo Hatano

In this article, we trace the development of Hatano’s research, focusing on the core of his research interest, namely, expertise, conceptual development, and classroom learning. He held both Piagetian constructivist views and Vygotskian sociocultural perspectives in balance, and preferred to study human cognition executed in everyday life. This brief review strongly suggests that Hatano consciously or subconsciously introduced Japanese perspectives into the areas of human development and education, which often contributed to the expansion and enrichment of mainstream viewpoints constructed within the context of the Occidental research culture.

From CSCL classroom to real-world settings through project-based learning

A number of studies indicate that project-based learning enhances a students motivation and in-depth understanding, while the CSCL environment promotes collaboration within the project. However, we know little about how teachers or curriculum designers should design a course utilizing the project-based learning approach according to real-world activities. In this study, we investigate an undergraduate cognitive science course that combines CSCL classroom activities with observational project activities in educational fields. As a result we identified three requirements of a project-based learning design to promote integration between classroom knowledge and authentic field activities: 1) Parallel-structured course involving both disciplinary and project activities; 2) Reality of the project activities; and 3) accessibility of the project content. In the conclusion, we discuss how these findings should guide the development of CSCL-based, project-oriented courses.

Referential relativity: Culture-boundedness of analytic and metaphoric communication

Abstract Japanese college students were presented an array of 16 abstract referents and asked to describe each figure so that another student could correctly identify it in the array. Each referent was described twice: once in a metaphoric and once in an analytic mode. A test set of 64 of the descriptions was translated into English. Two groups of Japanese college students responded to the Japanese version and two groups of American college students responded to the English version. The students were asked to choose the referent in the set of the 16 which each description best fit. The two Japanese groups showed highly similar patterns of response to the descriptions, as did the two American groups, but comparisons between the two cultures revealed very different patterns of response. Both metaphoric descriptions and analytic descriptions produced different patterns of response in the two cultures. These results are interpreted as evidence of ‘referential relativism’, which is the effect of language and culture upon referential meaning. The use of referential communication tasks to measure the culture-boundedness of communication is discussed.

Robots with children: practices for human-robot symbiosis

Summary form only given. On considering symbiosis of humans and robots, its benefits and risks should be taken into account for persons in weaker positions of the society, in particular, children. On the other hand, several robotics applications have been developed, including education and welfare for children. In this stage, it is important that more researchers from interdisciplinary research fields, including robotics, computer science, psychology, sociology, and pedagogy, share an opportunity to discuss about the potential of “robots with children”. This half-day workshop aims at providing with the forum where researchers from these interdisciplinary fields discuss about how symbiosis of robots and children should and can be realized, from the perspectives of engineering, psychology, education, and welfare.