In this theoretical review article, our primary goal is to contribute to the post-cognitivist understanding of learning to perceive and perceiving as learning, by discussing a framework for perception and perceptual learning initiated by James J Gibson, and extended by Eleanor J Gibson and others. This Ecological Psychology has a coherent set of assumptions based on the concept of mutualism between the perceiving organism and its surroundings, and the idea of affordances as action possibilities of the surround that are perceptible by the organism. At the same time, Ecological Psychology, broadly construed, consists of different perspectives that take different routes to address questions related to the core concepts of perceptual learning. In this article, we focus on three theoretical stances within Ecological Psychology on the issue of perceptual learning: that of Eleanor J Gibson, the current theory of direct learning by Jacobs and Michaels, and the “organicist” approach based on ideas of organicist biology and developments in evolutionary biology. We consider perceptual learning as embedded in development and evolution, and we explore perceptual learning in more depth in the context of tool use and language development. We also discuss the relation between Ecological Psychology and Enactivism on the nature of perception. In conclusion, we summarize the benefits of Ecological Psychology, as a robust but still developing post-cognitivist framework, for the study of perceptual learning and cognitive science in general.

Key words: ecological psychology, enactivism, perceptual learning, direct learning, enactive cognitive science, tool use, language development, james j gibson, eleanor j gibson

Open peer commentary on the article “An Analysis Procedure for the Micro-Phenomenological Interview” by Camila Valenzuela-Moguillansky & Alejandra Vásquez-Rosati. Abstract: I analyze how the micro-phenomenological analysis deals with the challenge of “privatism,” before noting some remaining questions concerning the justification of the procedure and its findings.

Open peer commentary on the article “Applying the Neurophenomenological Approach to the Study of Trauma: Theory and Practice Yochai Ataria, Mooli Lahad & Omer Horovitz The Study of Trauma” by Yochai Ataria, Mooli Lahad & Omer Horovitz. Abstract: Linking phenomenology with natural sciences, in this case experimental psychology, is a major ambition, but is methodologically difficult. My goal here is to grasp (a) whether the design proposed by Ataria et al. may renew the studies related to neurophenomenology, and (b) whether it may help the researcher to apprehend what a trauma is from a first-person perspective and a third-person perspective. I argue that rather than being an auxiliary science that is only supposed to give an experiential underpinning to natural sciences, neurophenomenology must instead be phenomenological. In this perspective I suggest returning to Husserl’s teaching and innovative approaches such as micro- and cardiophenomenology in order to develop a non-reductionist approach to subjective life.

This case study investigates the variety of constructivist approaches to teaching evident in classroom practice. Teaching practices associated with constructivist perspectives have been prevalent in curriculum reforms for some time. Meanwhile, constructivist approaches have been critically discussed in scholarly literature, revealing problematic and ambiguous aspects. This study introduces a model describing constructivist teaching practices according to the following dimensions: knowledge structuring activities, exercise of student autonomy, organisation of authentic learning environments and problem-oriented learning activities. This model is used to analyse the classroom practice of five primary teachers using video recordings. The results of this analysis suggest that the teaching approaches differed primarily in the degree of student autonomy allowed, so that either more comprehensive constructivist teaching methods or rather minor constructivist teaching techniques were emphasised. The distinction between constructivist teaching methods and constructivist teaching techniques is suggested as an explanation of the observed variation among constructivist approaches to teaching. This study identifies the characteristics of these teaching practices, helping researchers and teachers to articulate more nuanced teaching approaches in the future.

Key words: constructivism, teaching approaches, exercise of student autonomy, video-observation.

This article consists of three parts. In the first part we describe a short history of cybernetics and an effort, which has been undertaken by a group of scientists in the United States and Europe in recent years, to expand the conception of science so that it more successfully encompasses the social sciences. The intent is to aid communication among disciplines and improve our ability to manage social systems. The second part of the article presents an effort in Russia to develop reflexivity theory into a general theory of purposeful, self-developing systems, thus improving our understanding and management of social systems. Understanding Western and Eastern approaches to cybernetics can be difficult because of the very different histories and intellectual traditions of cybernetics in the United States and Russia. The article ends with a comparison of the two approaches to cybernetics, comparing their features side by side. The differences suggest a great potential for ideas from Russian and Western scientists to enrich the further development of cybernetics and science in East and West.

Key words: cybernetics, expanding science, intellectual traditions, second-order cybernetics, social systems, third-order cybernetics.

Open peer commentary on the article “Studying Conceptual Change in Classrooms: Using Association Rule Mining to Detect Changes in Students’ Explanations of the Effects of Urban Planning and Social Policy” by Arthur Hjorth & Uri Wilensky. Abstract: Hjorth and Wilensky’s target article describes two important tools for helping students debug their conceptual misconceptions: the NetLogo model, and results from Association Rule Mining. In this commentary, I focus on these tools’ contributions to the debugging process, and the way they allow students to improve their conceptual knowledge.

Context: The construction of a product is fundamental. However, students’ having produced something is not enough to ensure that they have constructed knowledge. Problem: The objective of this article is to understand how maker education can contribute to the process of students’ knowledge construction. Method: Initially we discuss aspects related to the theory of constructionism, subsequently, using Piaget’s notions of conceptualization, we discuss how knowledge can be constructed in a makerspace, then turn to a case study that illustrates our theoretical commentary, and end with conclusions about our main research question: “Where is the knowledge construction in making?” Results: We show that in makerspaces students can develop sophisticated artifacts by using digital technologies, and that besides the product, this process allows for the representation of the actions with these machines, expressed as concepts and strategies used. Implications: The action representation constitutes the “window into the mind” of the learner, allowing one to understand and identify the knowledge used and, with that, help the learner reach a new stage in knowledge construction. However, in order to know whether the student has constructed knowledge, the teacher can use different strategies, such as Piaget’s clinical method, analysis of results gathered throughout product testing, and use of simulation software related to concepts involved in the maker activity. Constructivist content: The discussion in this article is based on Papert’s constructionist ideas. However, we use Piaget’s distinction between success and understanding to discuss how knowledge can be constructed by students in makerspaces. Key words: Makerspaces, fabrication technologies, constructionism, knowledge evaluation.

Context: The advent of the embodied approach to cognition produced a paradigm shift giving experience a primary place in the different fields of inquiry. This gave rise to the need to develop methodologies for the study of experience from a first-person perspective. In this context, micro-phenomenology emerges as a methodological tool that allows the study of experience in a systematic and rigorous way. Problem: To reproduce and share the micro-phenomenological analysis - crucial for the intersubjective validation of micro-phenomenological research - it is relevant to have a procedure that allows us to trace the different steps of the analysis. As many of the stages of the micro-phenomenological analysis remain implicit, a step-by-step description has not yet been produced. We describe the procedure of analysis of the micro-phenomenological interview, step by step, thus complementing the micro-phenomenological analysis method. Method: In order to specify the analysis procedure, we used the micro-phenomenological interview to explore our experience of abstracting, developing the example of an analysis carried out in the context of a specific investigation. Results: We propose an analysis procedure organized in a concertina-shaped structure. It has fifteen stages organized into five sections. Each surface of the concertina corresponds to one stage of the analysis. We identified grouping as an abstraction operation that participates in the very early stages of the categorization process. This operation participates in the categorization mechanism we called “iterative interrogation.” Moreover, we propose that the refinement of the structures results from a process that involves recursively contrasting the description of the experience, the understanding we have gained from it throughout the analysis and the resulting structures. Implications: The proposed procedure allows the tracing not only of the different steps of the analysis, but also of the criteria used to solve the numerous issues that arise throughout it. The iterative interrogation mechanism makes it possible to reveal, in an orderly manner, the principles used by the analyst to establish the diachronic and synchronic units. This greatly facilitates the communication of a process that is highly implicit. We hope this procedure will contribute to the establishment of standards in micro-phenomenological research, facilitating the exchange between researchers and thus consolidating the intersubjective validation procedures that make it possible to evaluate the quality of neuro- and micro-phenomenological research.

Key words: Micro-phenomenology, neurophenomenology, explicitation interview, iterative interrogation, first-person research, embodied approach, categorization, experience, synthesis process

Abstract: We discuss the epistemological background of micro-phenomenology, we clarify some aspects of the proposed procedure, and we expand our reflections on some of the challenges facing micro-phenomenology.

While constructivism enjoys considerable popularity in higher education, both in Australia and internationally, it nonetheless takes a variety of forms. These different interpretations make it difficult to draw strong conclusions about constructivism as a whole. In this essay, we therefore take a psycho-philosophical approach: reviewing and assessing three major versions of constructivism (radical, psychological and social), from both pedagogic and epistemic standpoints. We find no damaging psychological evidence against moderate pedagogic interpretations of constructivism that encourage a focus on how students learn, noting only that these must still be grounded empirically. We find several convincing philosophical arguments against particular epistemic interpretations, however, and against strong pedagogical interpretations that eschew all teacher direction. We conclude by encouraging Australian higher educators to discard the problematic epistemic and psychological versions of constructivism. To expose students to genuine disciplinary inquiry within the academy, we must retain only those versions of constructivism that are philosophically and pedagogically defensible.

Key words: constructivism, epistemology, pedagogy, student-centred, relativism, higher education.