Cogprints

Is Abstraction a Kind of Idea or How Conceptualization Works?

Clancey, William (2001) Is Abstraction a Kind of Idea or How Conceptualization Works? [Journal (Paginated)]

Full text available as:

[img] PDF
86Kb

Abstract

In this commentary, I review papers by Ohlsson & Regan (O&R), van Oers, and Dreyfus, Hershkowitz, & Schwarz (DH&S). The papers are nominally about abstraction and learning, but emphasize different kinds of problems and levels of analysis. O&R focus on mathematical, “domain independent” characteristics of abstract thinking, claiming that experience in a domain is not the main determinant of scientific discovery. van Oers focuses on the development of abstraction within activities, especially as a sequence of nested domains of concern. DH&S emphasize how nested conceptualizations co-define and provide meaning for each other (a dialectic relation).

Item Type:Journal (Paginated)
Subjects:Psychology > Applied Cognitive Psychology
ID Code:1988
Deposited By: Clancey, Bill
Deposited On:03 Jun 2003
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:54

References in Article

Select the SEEK icon to attempt to find the referenced article. If it does not appear to be in cogprints you will be forwarded to the paracite service. Poorly formated references will probably not work.

Arnheim, R. 1969. Visual Thinking. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Bamberger, J. 1991. The mind behind the musical ear. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bamberger, J., and Schön, D. A. 1977. The figural formal transaction: A parable of generative metaphor. Unpublished technical report. Division for Study and Re-search in Education.

Bamberger, J., and Schön, D. A. 1983. Learning as reflective conversation with mate-rials: Notes from work in progress. Art Education, (March): 68-73.

Bickhard, M. H., and Richie, D. M. 1983. On the Nature of Representation: A Case Study of James Gibson's Theory of Perception. New York: Praeger Publishers.

Bickhard, M. H., and Terveen, L. 1995. Foundational Issues in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science: Impasse and Solution. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Pub-lishers.

Buchanan, B.G. 1992. DENDRAL. In Stuart C. Shapiro (ed), Encyclopedia of Artifi-cial Intelligence Second Edition, p. 331. New York: John Wiley.

Buchanan, B.G. and Wilkins, D.C. 1993. Readings in Knowledge Acquisition and Learning. San Mateo: Morgan Kaufmann.

Clancey, W. J. 1989. Viewing knowledge bases as qualitative models. IEEE Expert, (Summer 1989), 9-23.

Clancey, W. J. 1997. Situated Cognition: On Human Knowledge and Computer Rep-resentations. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Clancey, W. J. 1999. Conceptual Cooridination: How the Mind Orders Experience in Time. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Davis, R. 1982. Teiresias: Applications of Meta-Level Knowledge. In Davis, R. and Lenat, D.B. 1982. Knowledge-Based Systems in Artificial Intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill International Book Company, pp. 229-490.

Dewey, J. [1938a] 1981. The criteria of experience. In Experience and Education, pp. 23-52. New York: Macmillan Company.

Dewey, J. 1938b. Logic: The Theory of Inquiry. New York: Henry Holt & Company.

Feigenbaum, E.A., Buchanan, B.G., and Lederberg, J. 1971. On generality and problem solving: A case study using the DENDRAL program. In B. Meltzer and D. Michie (eds), Machine Intelligence 6, pp. 165-190. New York: American Elsevier.

Feltovich, P.J., Spiro, R.J., and Coulson, R.L. 1989. The nature of conceptual under-standing in biomedicine: The deep structure of complex ideas and the development of misconceptions. In D.A. Evans and V.L Patel (eds), Cognitive Science in Medicine. pp. 113-172. Cambridge, MA: Bradford,.

Gentner, D. and Stevens, A.L. 1983. Mental Models. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hall, R. 1995. Realism(s) for learning algebra. In C. B. LaCampagne, W. Blair, and J. Kaput (Ed.), The Algebra Initiative Colloquium, (Vol. 2, pp. 33-51). Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Im-provement.

Goldman, S. and McDermott, R. 1994. Is it math yet? Kids' communication and math in framework-inspired classrooms. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting, New Orleans, LA.

Greeno, J. 1994. The situativity of learning: Prospects for syntheses in theory and practice. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, CA.

Greeno, J. and Hall, R. 1992. Participatory Design of Assessment Systems. Paper presented at the Inaugural Conference of the Center for the Study of Education and Child Development in a Diverse Society, University of California at Los Angeles.

Kolenda, K. 1964. The Freedom of Reason. San Antonio, Tx: Principia Press of Trinity University.

Lave, J. 1988. Cognition in Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lenat, D. 1982. AM: Discovery in Mathematics as Heuristic Search.. In Davis, R. and Lenat, D.B. 1982. Knowledge-Based Systems in Artificial Intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill International Book Company, pp. 1-225.

Lenat, D. and Feigenbaum, E.A. 1987. On the thresholds of knowledge. Proceedings of the Tenth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. 2:1173-1182.

Miller, A.I. [1984]. 1986. Imagery in Scientific Thinking: Creating 20th Century Phys-ics. Cambridge: MIT Press.

MMAP, url. Middle-school Mathematics through Applications Project. http://mmap.wested.org/

Newell, A., and Simon, H. A. 1972. Human Problem Solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Roschelle, J. and Greeno, J.G. 1987. Mental models in expert physics reasoning. ONR Report GK-2. University of California, Berkeley.

Schank, R. C. 1980. Language and Memory. Cognitive Science, 4(3): 243-284.

Schön, D. A. 1979. Generative metaphor: A perspective on problem-setting in social polity. In A. Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and Thought, pp. 254-283. Cambridge: Cam-bridge University Press.

Vaughn, J. 2000. “Mars Global Surveyer: Performing daily, 687 days a year,” The Planetary Report, XX(4), July/August.

Metadata

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Cogprints is powered by EPrints 3 which is developed by the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. More information and software credits.