Excerpt: The genuine purpose and objective of this work is to develop a clear-cut distinction between (1) individuals and organizations, and between (2) individual and organizational knowledge, learning, and memory. individuals and organizations lend themselves to theoretical scrutiny as two ontologically distinct entities despite being one perceptual phenomenon in practice. the distinction yields insights into knowledge, learning, and memory of both individuals and organizations as if the positions and movements that constitute a dance are observed devoid of the dancer, and vice versa. it provides the initial backdrop against which old and new questions in management science and organization theory are put, for example, “what is the effect of organizational structure on the knowledge of organizations?”, “how does personnel turnover and layoff affect organizational learning?”, and “under which conditions are communities of practice beneficial to organizational memory?”

The present article argues that the systemic constructivism is supported by real operations of communication between real individuals. The result of this is the emergency of symbolic constellations and real social systems, which consequences are also real for the same individuals.

Key words: constructivism, systems theory, operations, reality, observation

Grounded in the perspective of enaction, this book revisits the notion of competency, replacing it with that of competent situated action, and takes a critical look at current curriculum reforms and the on-going debate on the competency-based approach. The distinguishing features of the book include the clarity, simplicity and accessibility of the language, the provision of numerous examples that facilitate the comprehension of complex concepts, and the coherence of the theoretical framework underlying the notion of competent situated action. Practitioners in the field of general or vocational education can easily relate to the book because of its pragmatic perspective and emphasis on situated experience.

Schools aim to prepare learners for life, but in practice what they teach is knowledge that is disconnected from learners’ realities. Many contemporary education reforms attempt to bridge this gap between school and life by replacing the traditional transmission model of teaching with a more constructivist orientation to learning. In Quebec, pedagogical reform in adult education has resulted in new programs of study based explicitly on constructivist and situated approaches to learning, on the assumption that these two approaches are mutually reinforcing (knowledge is constructed by acting in situation). These programs aim to develop learners’ autonomy in exercising the social roles (as members of a family, consumers, workers and citizens) expected of them in their real-life situations: planning a family budget, finding affordable housing, applying for a job, voting in an election, etc. Considerable time and effort has been devoted to the development of these programs at the level of the official curriculum, but up until now little has been done to support their implementation at the classroom level. In this regard, the authors of Apprendre par l’expérience active et située [Learning Through Active, Situated Experience] outline a method and a set of pedagogical tools intended to help practitioners (teachers, pedagogical consultants) design learning and evaluation scenarios that address the real-life needs of their learners. It is referred to as the ASCAR method, the acronym ASCAR standing for the essential components of situated, experiential learning: action, situation, constructed knowledge (connaissance), attitudes and resources. The method is illustrated by two fully developed scenarios, one created for the Mathematics program and the other for the French Language program, both in adult general education. However, the method is sufficiently flexible and general to be applicable to any level of schooling (elementary, secondary, collegiate, literacy) and to both general and vocational education, including teacher training.

A situated or situations-based approach is becoming increasingly adopted by education reforms as either a continuation of or an alternative to the competency-based approach. In fact, recent curriculum reforms have begun to organize the content of their programs of study around classes of situations. While proponents of the competency-based approach generally view competency as the mastery of decontextualized knowledge, advocates of a situations-based approach define it in terms of the mastery of situations. In this latter perspective, the acquisition of competency and knowledge is contextualized, that is, it develops by acting in situation. The situations-based approach is grounded in different theoretical orientations, such as the communicative approach (in language teaching), the problem-based approach, constructivism, socioconstructivism, situated action, situated cognition, distributed cognition and enaction. In short, the book explores a wide range of practices and research associated with the situations-based approach.

Therapeutic patient education (TPE) is particularly important in cases of chronic illness, where the patient is expected to assume responsibility for on-going management and control. Typically, TPE is based on the traditional school model of education, targeting the acquisition of technical knowledge independent of the real-life situations in which it is constructed and develops. The transmission of such knowledge, however, appears to be relatively ineffective in helping patients manage the complex problems that confront them in their everyday lives. Enaction offers an alternative theoretical framework by highlighting the structural coupling of the patient and her evolving experiential world. In line with this framework, the authors propose the ASKAR method (named after the five components of experience: Action, Situation, Knowledge, Attitude, and Resources) as a pedagogical tool for analyzing the educational needs of the patient and developing appropriate teaching-learning sequences to extend and enrich her experience and help her become increasingly autonomous. The aim of enactive TPE thus extends beyond that of self-care and self-management to embrace true self-realization.

This book is addressed to all those in the field of education or related fields, including teachers, teacher-trainers, consultants, and researchers, who are interested in exploring the question, “What does it mean to know, to learn and to teach?” Contrary to popular conceptions, an enactive perspective assumes that knowing and learning are not disembodied operations that take place solely in a person’s head. Rather, they are a function of the whole person who is firmly situated in the world and who acts in the world to transform it, just as she is transformed by it. The dynamic and transformational nature of knowing and learning are reflected in the relationship between the person and her world, a relationship that evolves through acting in and with the world rather than abstracting oneself from it. Knowing develops as a function of the person’s availability, that is, her full involvement and presence in the here- and-now. The aim of education is thus to foster the development of this relationship in a never-ending quest for deep interiority with the world. Drawing on their experiences as teachers, curriculum developers, students, Zen practitioners, karateka, bicyclists, hobby mathematicians, and gardeners, the authors provide many concrete examples of what it means to think about knowing and learning in terms of enaction and how teachers and curriculum developers who take enactivism seriously might go about designing and implementing lessons.

Constructivism refers to the idea that individuals actively create meaning by structuring and restructuring experience through self-regulated mental activity. Recently, this position has been criticized from the standpoints of diametrically opposed theoretical frameworks. On the one hand, nativists maintain that basic mental structures are inherited rather than constructed by individuals; on the other hand, sociocultural psychologists argue that meaning is a product of social and cultural activity. The present article presents an epigenetic systems approach to human development. This view conceptualizes individual action and meaning as the emergent products of coactions among multiple levels of a hierarchically organized organism-environment system. The epigenetic view provides a framework for analyzing the role of biogenetic and sociocultural processes in human development, but in a way that maintains the idea that the person functions as an active constructor in the process of development.