Quest For Knowledge

Overview

The Quest For Knowledge Web site and study abroad program are based on a rationale that underscores the importance of helping learners acquire a practical understanding of cognitive science and educational technology applied to learning, teaching, and the design of educational media.

Learning Goals

Our learning goals are posed within a quest for knowledge. Through this cognitive odyssey, we will "learn about learning" through interaction with the cultural artifacts, traditions, and people of Greece: from antiquity to the contemporary eras.

These artifacts will include archaelogical digs and ruins, museums, and artistic events. Interaction with these artifacts will be balanced with seminars and group discussion with noted Greek scholars and practitioners in museums, schools, and other institutions of learning and culture.

Major Themes

The topical focus of this program will be addressed by several themes, including:

How much of thinking and learning is in our minds, our society, our artifacts?
How should we use mediation and mimesis in learning and teaching?
How much of learning is mediated by some form of discourse and what are the values of different forms of discourse? Do different forms of discourse require different skills for competency?
How can we learn from story-telling, myths, and case-based reasoning?
How important is interactivity in learning and teaching? What are different forms of interaction?
How much should unifying concepts of "mind and body" and "thought and emotion" be applied to learning and teaching?
What are the affects of our senses upon learning?
What are the affects of various types of media upon learning?
What is the relationship of place and setting upon learning?
How much of our knowledge is shared and is socially and culturally determined?
How do the following qualities affect learning: emphasis on specialization or generalization, emphasis on esthetics or utility?

Learning Units

Each of these and other themes will be represented in one or more learning units. Each unit will consist of topics matched to a site and a particular learning setting with its artifacts and affordances, and grounded in appropriate learning objectives and activities.

Preparation for Quest For Knowledge

Both the Web-based learning environment and the study-abroad activities use case-based reasoning as a means of learning by example. The learning practices and artifacts of ancient Greece are the cases (examples). Generative (leading) questions are used as a coaching tactic to stimulate and guide learner-centered reasoning of these cases.

The objective is to find contrasts and parallels with contemporary issues in cognitive science and educational technology. The goal of the case-based reasoning is to help learners index these cases with their prior knowledge and develop a deeper understanding of these fundamental issues in learning and teaching.

One of the fundamental differences between learning and teaching in ancient Greece and contemporary practices is specialization in the use of knowledge and media. To prepare QFK study-abroad and Web-based participants for this type of reasoning, we provide learning and teaching cases within the framework of domains of practice in education and media.

The principle cognitive science strategies employed in the design and implementation of this course are:

Situated learning - situating the learning in authentic settings and artifacts.
Case-based reasoning - comparing contemporary cognitive issues and practices with concrete examples from an ancient culture.
Shared cognition - creating shared artifacts on the Web for cooperative learning.

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