Dynamical Systems Theory: Application to Pedagogy

Abraham, Jane

doi:10.1142/9789812564399_0015

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Recursion refers to the end of one event which becomes the beginning of the next, unlike repetition where the next event is the same as the previous one. Teachers help students learn (self‐organise) by designing curricula and learning experiences that are contextually rich, recursive (iterative variations with reflection) and relational 9,20 . Anything that serves to disturb the status quo of a complex adaptive system (i.e.…”

Section: Teaching Integration and Self‐organisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…How we respond to and frame the issues of learning and understanding that challenge contemporary medicine 19 and, by extension, medical education, in a complex and rapidly changing world will have profound effects on the preparedness of tomorrow’s health professionals and their impact on society. Complexity science contributes to an explanation of and insight into the process of adaptation to changing circumstances at the macro level of medical school curricula and at the meso and micro levels of teaching and learning 13,20–23 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The group tends either to return to its previous pattern or configuration of understanding (stability) or to change and reconfigure itself (to undergo spontaneous self‐organisation) to arrive at some new state of understanding (i.e. a new pattern) 7,20,28 . The final pattern, the committee’s proposed new curriculum, will emerge from and reflect its integrated collective thinking, experience and interaction over time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self-organisation, integration and curriculum in the complex world of medical education

2010

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The core process of complexity, self-organisation, requires a system that is open and far from equilibrium, with ill-defined boundaries and a large number of non-linear interactions involving short-loop feedback. In such a system, knowledge does not exist objectively 'out there'; rather, it exists as a result of the exchange between participants, an action that becomes knowing. Understanding is placed between participants rather than being contained in one or the other. Knowledge is not constructed separately in the mind of the knower, but, rather, it emerges; it is co-created during the exchange in an authentic recursive transactive process. Learning and knowing become adaptive responses to continuously evolving circumstances. An approach to curriculum based on self-organisation is characterised as rich, recursive, relational and rigorous and it illuminates how a curriculum can be understood as a complex adaptive system. The perspective of complexity applied to medical education broadens and enriches research questions relevant to health professions education. It focuses our attention onto how we are together as human beings. How we respond to and frame the issues of learning and understanding that challenge contemporary medicine and, by extension, medical education, in a complex and rapidly changing world can have profound effects on the preparedness of tomorrow's health professionals and their impact on society.

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Section: Teaching Integration and Self‐organisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self-organisation, integration and curriculum in the complex world of medical education

2010

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“…Possibly the most comprehensive model of learning is a DST approach, which considers learning as the self-organization of a dynamic system (see Abraham 2003). In a DST model of development, as outlined in the previous section, the dynamic blend of attractors and repellors of subsystems is responsible for the changing states of a system.…”

Section: Learning and Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this way, the DST approach gives a strong account of what learning entails. The activity in some or more interactive subsystems, or changes in their environments, can lead to disturbance of the system (perturbation) and consequently to the change of one or many of the subsystems, which can subsequently lead to a phase shift of the system (Abraham 2003). Learning can thus be seen as the consequence of the disturbances of the self-organizing system and can be defined as the process in which "the entire attractor layout changes" (Kelso 1995: 171).…”

Section: Learning and Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The CEFR and the dynamics of second language learning: trends and challenges

Lowie¹

2013

Language Learning in Higher Education

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This paper discusses the pedagogical implications of Dynamic Systems Theory approaches to second language development. The main question addressed is whether it is possible to describe a learner's level of proficiency with a simple and unambiguous label, and if so, whether the CEFR can provide such a label. It is argued that considering the dynamic and multidimensional nature of second language development, only an approach that values the relevance of variability will be able to capture the crucial time dimension of development. When learning is defined as self-organization that follows the perturbation of a system, language learning cannot be seen as development that follows a predetermined sequence, but must ultimately be regarded as a contextualized individual trajectory. When this observation is applied to language teaching and language testing, it must be concluded that a longitudinal approach using a language portfolio that captures a range of language skills as proposed by the CEFR is of considerably greater value for the learner than a rigid assessment of some aspects of language proficiency at one moment in time.

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Dynamic Systems Theory Approaches to Second Language Acquisition

Lowie

2012

The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics

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Dynamical Systems Theory: Application to Pedagogy

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

Self-organisation, integration and curriculum in the complex world of medical education

Self-organisation, integration and curriculum in the complex world of medical education

The CEFR and the dynamics of second language learning: trends and challenges

Dynamic Systems Theory Approaches to Second Language Acquisition

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