The Value of Multitheoretic Analyses: Representational and Distributed Cognition Perspectives on a Classroom Sequence About Matter

• In Event: Roundtable Session 112
  In Roundtable Session: Learning Science

Abstract

A range of theoretical perspectives on learning fall broadly into a socio-cultural orientation, but involve different constructs and focus on different aspects of the learning context. This paper will compare two distinct analyses of the same sequence of science lessons on the topic of matter, the first using a pragmatist representational, and the second a distributed cognition perspective. The first analysis focuses on the possibilities opened up for student generation and coordination of representations. The distributed cognition analysis focuses on the way artefacts are employed to mediate learning. We will explore the advantages offered by combining these two theoretical perspectives in making sense of the lesson, and what the combined analysis offers in understanding how these two theoretical perspectives interrelate

Authors

• Russell W. Tytler, Deakin University

• Li Hua Xu, The University of Melbourne

• David J. Clarke, University of Melbourne

• Carolina Castano, Australian Catholic University