Theoretical and methodological implications of complexity: learning as an emergent phenomenon: methodological implications

Authors:
Manu Kapur;Michael J. Jacobson
Affiliations:
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore;The University of Sydney
Venue:
ICLS '10 Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - Volume 2
Year:
2010

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Abstract

In this paper, we put forth a theoretical cum methodological proposal for a line of inquiry that seeks to understand learning as an emergent phenomenon. Our theoretical and methodological arguments detail how an emergent conception of learning places limits on experimental and descriptive approaches, whether used alone or in combination. These limits are not so much a function of causality or reduction, but the need to deal with the dialectical co-existence of linearity and non-linearity that often characterizes complex phenomenon. To overcome these limits, albeit only partially, we leverage complexity theory to advance computational agent-based models as part of an integrated, iteratively validated phenomenological-ABM inquiry cycle to understand learning as an emergent phenomenon from the "bottom up."