Coordinator: Dean's Office
Second Year Advanced Core Course:
Dr. Deepa Chari
Starting from January 20, 2022
17Thu
Coordinator: Dean's Office
https://hbcse-tifr-res-in.zoom.us/j/96198356575?pwd=LytLQ3dvSkZiTTFRdk5pVEc4SXBhZz09
961 9835 6575
840211
Teacher Cognition: towards an enaction-based account of how teachers generate and finetune mechanism concepts in students' minds
Teaching as a cognitive practice is not well understood, as existing studies are disparate, and based on disjointed approaches. This lack of theory limits the design of systematic education policies, which currently set out guidelines and regulations that teachers consistently find difficult to enact in practice. Importantly, this is not just a policy implementation problem, but a research and practice one, as teaching, particularly teaching of science, is a very complex cognitive process, which has not been analyzed from a cognition perspective. Recent developments in embodied/enactive cognition theory - particularly embodied simulation theory of language and enaction of others' mental states - provide useful ways to develop models of teacher cognition, especially related to science teaching. I extend these enactive cognition models to develop a preliminary account of teacher cognition. The model is based on classroom data, where teachers enable learners to construct mechanism concepts, in a way that they can be operationalised and used in newer contexts. To do this, the teacher needs to generate models of the mind-states of learners, and act upon them in systematic ways. I outline a preliminary model of this process as well, based on recent enactive cognition models, and use classroom data to develop it further.