Module 6 Example
Headline: Minsky Wins Nobel Prize
Biline: First Educational Psychologist to Ascertain Human Mind is Indeed a Computer
Announced by the associated press at 8:00 this morning, Dr. Turing J. Minsky has proven that the human mind is comparatively equal to a computer. Minsky has been studying and experimenting since the early 1960s and has based his research on previous theorists' research and from conclusions drawn from his own in depth studies. Dr. Minsky was available for questions and comments this morning and was interviewed by World Weekly Star Enquirer reporter Deborah Fishback.
Dr. Minsky's cognitive perspective of learning is based on the assumption that human memory is an active system, akin to a computer that selects, organizes, and encodes new information and skills to be learned. All healthy humans are born with the same basic framework for storing and processing knowledge and information. The human memory system is a complex structure which processes and organizes all knowledge to which it is exposed. Sensory registers, that is input date processed primarily through our senses of sight and sound receive information, sorting it, storing some, dis missing some, and processing some for future use.
According to Dr. Minsky, there are three basic filtration systems our memory/computer data base uses to deal with input material. These are the short term memory store, short term working memory, and long term memory. Each of these three systems or areas were described in detail by Dr. Minsky in his Nobel prize winning paper. He gave a brief overview of his interpretation to World Weekly Star Enquirer this morning.
According to Minsky, the short term store is the area where information that is taken in to our visual and auditory systems is either accepted to be further processed or rejected. Information that is accepted or "processed" is passed on to the short term working memory. This is the area which can be likened to a document or web sit presently being worked on in a computer base, Minsky states that this is where connections are made to either process the information into long term memory or use it without "saving" the information.
Long term memory is the area where the majority of Dr. Minsky's research was focused. Dr. Minsky discounted that state concept of human memory stating that he felt that there was more to human memory than an active or inactive state. He also gave reference to Bereiter's connectionist model of memory because of its importance in processing information, storing of memory, and its relationship between element input and transforming outputs. Dr. Minsky's proposition that knowledge is additive brought together elements of connectionist models, episodic, semantic, and procedural memory systems, and tacit and explicit knowledge. Deriving his conclusions from Tulving's studies, Dr. Minsky concluded there were three major types of memory: episodic which includes personal or autobiographic information, semantic memory which includes general knowledge, and procedural memory which enables a person to adapt and respond to his or her environment. In referring to his predecessor, Alexander, and his studies of tacit and explicit knowledge, Dr. Minsky suggested that tacit knowledge is implicit, much like the programs that are already installed when a customer purchases his computer. Explicit knowledge, which consists of conceptual knowledge and metacognitive knowledge, is compared to software which the consumer purchases to install himself.
(The previous information was derived from chapter 7 of Learning and Instruction.)
Dr. Minsky's paper and studies also included implications for classroom learning and problem solving because, as he stated, knowledge is additive. Just as consumers frequently upgrade and purchase additional programs and add date to their p.c.s, the human mind is also constantly being updated and upgraded. Dr. Minsky's studies followed two distinct and different paths of cognitive functions: metacognition and problem solving. In our interview he furnished the details of his findings and their implications for our educational system. Dr. Minsky likened metacognition as to knowing which computer software program would best meet an individual's need in processing specific information or certain types of information. The example he used in his award winning paper was that of creating a pie chart to illustrate time spent studying and learning various subjects in an academic setting. The mere gathering and sorting of information could be done and a print out generated in any of numerous word processing programs such as Lotus Word Pro. However, to take the information to a higher level of interpretation and create a visual pie chart, Word Pro does not have the ability, so a program with high level capabilities such as Lotus Approach could be used so that the chart could be created more quickly and easily without having to transfer data between separate programs. A person who is a novice at computer processing might have to use more conscious effort to go through the steps involved in creating the chart while an expert would be able to create the chart almost automatically. The same holds true with metacognitive processes. At some point the processes are likely to become automatic while the learner progresses from being a novice to becoming an expert. Minsky noted that not all learners become experts, while others become experts in only certain areas.
Dr. Minsky's consensus of problem solving strategies was derived from early theories proposed by Thorndike and Gestalt psychologists and later work by Schoenfeld and a field of study defined as heuristics. Problem solving, according to Thorndike, was based on the learner establishing connections between problems and their solutions. Early Gestalt psychologists focused on the learner finding or perceiving the correct means of solving a problem. Alan Schoenfeld's problem solving model pointed out two essential components of Dr. Minsky's studies. These are the ways in which individuals access knowledge i.e. how they get into their computer programs and what is their knowledge base i.e. what is the main program that runs their computer (Windows 95, Windows 98, etc.). Heuristics was likened, by Dr. Minsky, to searching a data base for a document or surfing the world wide web for information about a particular area for which the learner already possesses some knowledge or for information with similar attributes. Once the information is found it can be connected or stored in the same or a similar file for later use.
The educational implications of Dr. Minsky's finding should make waves in our academic system. Mandatory cognitive training for educators, performance assessment and test criteria of metacognitive knowledge, and instructional support for metacognitive processes and problem solving strategies are all areas in which the impact of his findings will be felt. Dr. Minsky's findings will be published in a handbook which will be available in time for teacher inservice days before the beginning of the approaching school year. Dr. Minsky and his associates will be embarking on a cross country campaign to implement his cutting edge strategies in our nation's school systems as soon as he returns from a vacation with his family in Disneyland.