Bill Brown's List: CONSCIOUS CHOICE OF AN APPROACH

"Mindsets and Student Agency




Eduardo Briceño
Mindset Works, San Carlos CA




Deeper learning requires students to think, question, pursue, and create—to take agency and ownership of their learning. When they do, they acquire deeper understanding and skills, and most important, they become more competent learners in and out of school. They become better prepared to succeed in academics, but also in 21st century careers and in life."

"How would you describe finding meaning in the work you do? Would you say that work is most meaningful when you are developing yourself? Would you say that that you find the most meaning when you are expressing your full potential?  How about when you feel connected with others? Does doing service give you the most meaning? How about all of the above? "

"With many areas of science reaching across their boundaries and becoming more and more interdisciplinary, students and researchers in these fields are confronted with techniques and tools not covered by their particular education. Especially in the life- and neurosciences quantitative models based on nonlinear dynamics and complex systems are becoming as frequently implemented as traditional statistical analysis. Unfamiliarity with the terminology and rigorous mathematics may discourage many scientists to adopt these methods for their own work, even though such reluctance in most cases is not justified. This book bridges this gap by introducing the procedures and methods used for analyzing nonlinear dynamical systems. In Part I, the concepts of fixed points, phase space, stability and transitions, among others, are discussed in great detail and implemented on the basis of example elementary systems. Part II is devoted to specific, non-trivial applications: coordination of human limb movement (Haken-Kelso-Bunz model), self-organization and pattern formation in complex systems (Synergetics), and models of dynamical properties of neurons (Hodgkin-Huxley, Fitzhugh-Nagumo and Hindmarsh-Rose). Part III may serve as a refresher and companion of some mathematical basics that have been forgotten or were not covered in basic math courses. Finally, the appendix contains an explicit derivation and basic numerical methods together with some programming examples as well as solutions to the exercises provided at the end of certain chapters. Throughout this book all derivations are as detailed and explicit as possible, and everybody with some knowledge of calculus should be able to extract meaningful guidance follow and apply the methods of nonlinear dynamics to their own work. “This book is a masterful treatment, one might even say a gift, to the interdisciplinary scientist of the future.” “With the authoritative voice of a genuine practitioner, Fuchs is a master teacher of how to handle complex dynamical systems.” “What I find beautiful in this book is its clarity, the clear definition of terms, every step explained simply and systematically.” (J.A.Scott Kelso, excerpts from the foreword)
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"To seriously consider implementing long term and conceptually deep changes in the science and mathematics curricula is an exciting prospect. Properly infused into the curriculum, the cross-disciplinary concepts and methodologies emerging from complex systems research have the potential to form the basis of a new and principled scientific literacy for our student to learn, one that is powerful and appropriate for dealing with the problems and demands of the 21st century.[1] However, in order for this vision to be realized, it will be necessary to seriously consider the learning and pedagogical challenges to be faced. In this section, we provide an overview of these challenges by focusing on six main areas:

Complex systems and conceptual challenges with learning,
New perspectives on learning and teaching,
Design principles for learning about complex systems,
Curricular implications,
Assessment, and
Suggestions for future research and development."

"Journal of Research Practice (JRP) is a quality-conscious peer-reviewed journal, published online by Athabasca University Press (AU Press), Canada, in the open-access mode. The journal charges no subscription or pay-per-view fees to readers and no submission or publication fees to authors. It follows a rigorous editorial process to ensure quality and relevance of what it publishes. It also offers outstanding editorial support to authors. JRP already has a good track record and reaches a wide audience of readers worldwide"

"Complexity is ...[the abstract notion of complexity has been captured in many different ways. Most, if not all of these, are related to each other and they fall into two classes of definitions]:

...the (minimal) length of a description of the system.
...the (minimal) amount of time it takes to create the system.
The length of a description is measured in units of information. The former definition is closely related to Shannon information theory and algorithmic complexity, and the latter is related to computational complexity."

"Welcome to COSNet - the Complex Open Systems Research Network
'characterising and analysing complex systems for explanation, prediction and control'

Vision: Complexity is the common frontier in the physical, biological and social sciences. This Network links specialists in all three sciences through five generic conceptual and mathematical theme activities. It promotes research into how subsystems self-organise into new emergent structures when assembled into an open, non-equilibrium system. Outcomes will include new technologies and software tools and deeper understanding of fundamental questions in science. An essential function of the network is introducing researchers and end users to new tools and broadening the horizons of graduate students. The Australian Research Council (ARC) provided c. AUD 300,000 per annum for five years to the Network (beginning mid 2004) in support of this vision. For a fuller summary of the proposal, click on Vision in the menu to the left."

STANFORD SOCIAL INNOVATION REVIEW

t is for this reason usually called a “spontaneous” or sometimes (for reasons we shall yet explain) a “polycentric” order. If we understand the forces which determine such an order, we can use them by creating the conditions under which such an order will form itself.

This indirect method of bringing about an order has the advantage that it can be used to produce orders which are far more complex than any order we can produce by putting the individual pieces in their appropriate places. But it has the drawback that it enables us to determine only the general character of the resulting order and not its detail. Its use in one sense thus extends our powers: it places us in a position to produce very complex orders which we could never produce by putting the individual elements in their places. Our power over the particular arrangement of the elements in such an order is however much more limited than it is over an order which we produce by individually arranging the parts. All we can control are certain abstract features of such an order, but not its concrete detail.

TOC THEORY OF CHANGE ON LINE ALLOWS A LOGIC MAP TO EXPLAIN THE POISITION ADOPTED