Samstag, 22. Januar 2011

Confusion

Connectivism and connective Knowledge 2011:
When browsing trough comments in the first week, there is a lot about confusion. And I am no exception.
So I liked Mattias' post: Confusion - a catalyst for learning? Because it was leading the way to a positive attitude towards confusion.
However as I understood it, it was descriptive, so I was wondering whether confusion can be described in terms of a learning context.
Confusion means not being in control, not being in control means a pattern (situation) cannot identified / recognized in the patterns of existing connections (is not in our knowledge). So confusion is the statement that pattern recognition does not work for a certain pattern. In a learning process this is an essential statement, because only this kicks off the conclusion: for understanding a new / extended network is needed. Confusion fades away, when a new network is established, capable of sense making for the pattern in question. Fear is the conclusion of not being capable of creating a network that is adequate for sense making for the pattern in question.

regards
gerald  

5 Kommentare:

  1. Thanks for this Gerald. I work in the field of knowledge mobilization and am also a practicing shambhala buddhist. The Shambhalians often talk about confusion as being the ground for wisdom and my daily experience at work bears that out :) The trick I think is to not let the fear of confusion rush us into answers but to somehow hang out in that confusion for a little while longer so we can, as you describe, begin to explore new networks that might help us make sense of things.

    I often imagine that visitors to IssueLab come to the site either because they are confused about something and are seeking more information and context or because they "know" the answer and are seeking confirmation. The challenge is to cultivate curiosity in both of these kinds of information seekers so that they (we) dont just look for what they (we) already know.

    Best,

    Gabi
    www.issuelab.org

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  2. In the early years of my professional life I worked in a research laboratory of molecular biology.And some important skills that should be acquired by young researchers was:- to learn to feel comfortable with not knowing and rely on experimentation, reflection, and permanent confrontation between the world of theories and the test of these theories in practice.
    This course (#CCK11) gave me the opportunity to reconnect with some of these principles. And they are very useful again. So I share with you all.

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  3. #cck11
    @Gabi:
    "Cultivate curiosity" seems indeed the right attitude to transform confusion into knowledge.

    regards
    gerald

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  4. #cck11
    @DaisyGrisolia:
    When I have replied to @Gabi that "curiosity" is the right attitude to turn confusion into knolwedge, then the activities that you have described: experimentation, reflection and development of theories and very important to distinguish between theory and dogma, to test theories, are the activities of transformation.

    regards
    gerald

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  5. the term for "patterns" using in Cognitive Load Theory is "Schema" used in the working memory and stored in the semantic memory part of the Long-term memory.

    http://geraldmeinert.blogspot.com/2011/06/cognitive-load-theory-post-reloaded.html

    http://geraldmeinert.blogspot.com/2011/06/long-term-memory-storytelling-and.html

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