ILTweb: ILTdocs: Cognition: ICON Paper

Study is a key concept in making design more fruitful in education. We propose that what students are doing when they construct knowledge is studying. Specifically, we think that the term study captures better what should be going on during knowledge construction then does the term learn. Thus, in designing for knowledge construction we see ourselves as designing Study Support Environments (SSEs) instead of "instructional systems" or "learning environments." Creating SSEs allows us to create "a place for study in a world of instruction" (McClintock, 1971, "Toward a Place for Study in a World of Instruction"). The core of study is the hermeneutic activity of constructing interpretations. Hermeneutics as a field focused initially on interpretation of texts, but has broadened to interpretation in general (Palmer, 1969; Gadamer, 1976). From this perspective, the basis for cognition (and being in general) is interpretation based on background knowledge and beliefs (Heidegger, 1962; Winograd and Flores, 1986). Consistent with these philosophical arguments for the centrality of interpretation in cognition are the many research results from cognitive psychology showing that understanding involves making a large number of inferences (Black, 1984; Black, 1985). Thus, the key consideration in designing a SSE is fostering the construction of interpretations based on observations and background contextual information.