This paper undertakes a theoretical investigation of the “learning” aspect of science as opposed to the “knowledge” aspect. The practical background of the paper is in agricultural systems research – an area of science that can be characterised as “systemic” because it is involved in the development of its own subject area, agriculture. And the practical purpose of the theoretical investigation is to contribute to a more adequate understanding of science in such areas, which can form a basis for developing and evaluating systemic research methods, and for determining appropriate criteria of scientific quality. Two main perspectives on science as a learning process are explored: research as the learning process of a cognitive system, and science as a social, communicational system. A simple model of a cognitive system is suggested, which integrates both semiotic and cybernetic aspects, as well as a model of self-reflective learning in research, which entails moving from an inside “actor” stance to an outside “observer” stance, and back. This leads to a view of scientific knowledge as inherently contextual and to the suggestion of reflexive objectivity and relevance as two related key criteria of good science.

Key words: Agriculture, cognition, communication, experiential, learning, research, science, self-reflective, systemic

Context: Although the theory of autopoietic systems was originally formulated to explain the phenomenon of life from an operational and temporal perspective, sociologist Niklas Luhmann incorporated it later within his theory of social systems. Due to this adoption, there have been several discussions regarding the applicability of this concept beyond its biological origins. Problem: This article addresses the conception of Luhman’s autopoietic social systems, and confronts this vision with criticism both of the original authors of the concept of autopoiesis and of other social theorists in order to elucidate the main problems of this debate and its possible solutions. Method: The objectives of the article are reached by means of a theoretical reconstruction of the main issues of the debate on the concept of autopoiesis. The main method used for the research is the use of documentary sources to discuss the arguments. Results: We claim that it is justified to extend the concept of autopoiesis from its biological origin to other disciplines, and to develop its interdisciplinary character, following the spirit of systems theory and constructivism. Implications: Our results are useful for promoting the development of new interdisciplinary research in the field of systems theory and constructivism. Important changes to practice should be made, namely, the development of new research methods, new concepts and perspectives. Constructivist content: The concept of autopoiesis is one of the fundamental concepts of the constructivist epistemology. The discussion proposes a radical understanding of this concept in order to realize all its explanatory potential.

Key words: Biological autopoiesis, social autopoiesis, systems theory, Niklas Luhmann.

This collection presents a comprehensive overview of established and emerging techniques for collecting and analyzing data for constructivists, derived from Personal Construct psychology. It looks at both qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as ones useful in clinical and counseling settings. Methods include content analysis, repertory grids, narrative assessments and drawings, and the laddering and ABC techniques, providing easy to follow descriptions and examples of applications in clinical and nonclinical settings.

New theories and research methods as applied in the study of premodern literature and other arts as well, tend to ignore their essential differences from works of the modern era, the latter being formatted according to classicist aesthetic and transmitted mostly in one (printed) version. In case of oral and manuscript delivery there is no established unified object and any criticism centered on one text/artefact is not possible. That is where the constructivist approach helps students of old arts understand the alterity of their input data and research objects which during delivery undergo different transformations (enarrations, adaptations and translations, up to genre change). The merit of constructivist treatment of the input data for the research in arts consists in abandoning of the narrow frames of traditional object/text-bound criticism and moving towards processual thinking. The study’s relevance for the constructivist approach can be situated in the covering of historical phenomena lacking textual definitness.

Open peer commentary on the article “An Analysis Procedure for the Micro-Phenomenological Interview” by Camila Valenzuela-Moguillansky & Alejandra Vásquez-Rosati. Abstract: The target article presents a methodology of micro-phenomenological analysis that gives salience to the idea of researching as an intersubjective meaning-making process. While the methodology belongs to the so-called “first-person research methods,” in my commentary I address the questions of whether it is also part of the traditional qualitative methods and whether it is epistemologically consistent.

Purpose: This study aims to address the possibility of integrating some elements of the “radical constructivist” approach to management accounting teaching. It answers the following two questions: to what extent should management accounting educators construct a “radical constructivist” foundation to guide active learning? Then, in which ways can management accounting educators use qualitative methods to facilitate “radical constructivist” education? Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a teaching cycle that implements innovative learning elements, e.g. learning from ordinary people, designed following the principles of “radical constructivism”, to engage students with “externalities” at the centre of their knowledge construction. It adopts an ethnographic approach comprising interviews and participant observation for the data collection, followed by the application of qualitative content and narrative analysis of the data. Findings: The study findings and reflections illustrate that the majority of students respond positively to radical constructivist learning if the educators can develop an innovative problem-solving and authentic environment that is close to their real lives. The radical constructivist teaching cycle discussed in this study has challenged the mindsets of the management accounting students as it altered the traditional objectivist academic learning approaches that students were familiar with. Its use of qualitative methods facilitated active learning. Student feedback was sought as part of the qualitative design, which provided a constructive mechanism for the students and educators to learn and unlearn from their mistakes. This process enriched the understanding of learners (students) and educators of successful engagement in radical constructivist management accounting education and provides a base upon which to design future teaching cycles. Originality/value – The paper provides proof of the ability of accounting educators, as change agents, to apply radical constructivist epistemology combined with multiple qualitative research methods by creating new constructive learning structures and cultures associated with innovative deep-learning tasks in management accounting education.

Key words: radical constructivism, deep learning, , qualitative methodology, teaching cycle, management accounting education.

Purpose: This paper is a brief introduction to enactive cognitive science: a description of some of the main research concerns; some examples of how such concerns have been realized in actual research; some of its research methods and proposed explanatory mechanisms and models; some of the potential as both a theoretical and applied science; and several of the major open research questions. Findings: Enactive cognitive science is an approach to the study of mind that seeks to explain how the structures and mechanisms of autonomous cognitive systems can arise and participate in the generation and maintenance of viable perceiver-dependent worlds – rather than more conventional cognitivist efforts, such as the attempt to explain cognition in terms of the “recovery” of (pre-given, timeless) features of The (objectively-existing and accessible) World. As such, enactive cognitive science is resonant with radical constructivism. Research implications: As with other scientific efforts conducted within a constructivist orientation, enactive cognitive science is broadly “conventional” in its scientific methodology. That is, there is a strong emphasis on testable hypotheses, empirical observation, supportable mechanisms and models, rigorous experimental methods, acceptable criteria of validation, and the like. Nonetheless, this approach to cognitive science does also raise a number of specific questions about the scope of amenable phenomena (e.g., meaning, consciousness, etc.) – and it also raises questions of whether such a perspective requires an expansion of what is typically considered within the purview of scientific method (e.g., the role of the observer/scientist).

Key words: cognition, radical constructivism, olfactory system, autonomy, umwelt, concepts, Francisco Varela

Social science methods of data collection, such as surveys, participant observations, experiments and even text analyses, are characterized by social interactions between the social scientist and the object under study (people, organizations, texts). From a constructivist perspective, the relationship between method and empirical result reflects the relationship between observer (or observing system) and observed (system). The notion of reactivity means that the method of observation interferes with the process of observation in such a way that the results of observation are biased. Within epistemological realism reactivity is considered a cause for invalid data or results. In contrast to this position, constructivism regards reactivity a social process of its own, which is helpful in understanding how the observed system operates. Thus, social scientific methods are no neutral tools of measurement or observer-independent observations but are the observer’s operations of constructing the observed system by interfering the operations of the observed system. Relevance: Constructivism provides a different understanding of the phenomenon of reactivity than realism does.

Key words: research methods, reactivity, reflexivity

Starting with Woodworth and Thorndike’s classical experiment published in 1901, major periods in mathematics education throughout 20th century and on into the current century are reviewed in terms of competing epistemological and psychological paradigms that were operating within as well as across the major periods. The periods were marked by attempts to make changes in school mathematics by adherents of the dominant paradigm. Regardless of what paradigm was dominant, the attempts essentially led to major disappointments or failures. What has been common across these attempts is the practice of basing mathematics curricula for children on the first-order mathematical knowledge of adults. I argue that rather than repeat such attempts to make wholesale changes, what is needed is to construct mathematics curricula for children that is based on the mathematics of children. Toward that end, I present several crucial radical constructivist research programs.

Key words: learning trajectories, research methods, cognition, curriculum.

Excerpt: The constructivist teaching experiment emerged in the United States circa 1975 (Steffe et al. 1976) in an attempt to understand children’s numerical thinking and how that thinking might change rather than to rely on models that were developed outside of mathematics education for purposes other than educating children (e.g., Piaget and Szeminska 1952; McLellan and Dewey 1895; Brownell 1928). The use of the constructivist teaching experiment in the United State was buttressed by versions of the teaching experiment methodology that were being used already by researchers in the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences in the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Wirszup and Kilpatrick 1975–1978). The work at the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences provided academic respectability for what was then a major departure in the practice of research in mathematics education in the United States, not only in terms of research methods but more crucially in terms of the research orientation of the methodology.

Key words: constructivism, methodology, teaching experiment, instrumental understanding.