The Universal Information Processing System and Educational Theories and Practices

Abstract

In a general sense, educational theories and concepts may be considered as based on descriptions of one or several components that can be viewed either singly or together as emergent systems, where the sum of the elements of that system constitutes a whole entity with its own distinct qualities. Consider, for example, the modern learning or education theories erected on large, sometimes theoretical and sometimes measurable components, such as communities, underlying psychological dynamics and behavioural relationships (Kop and Hill in Int Rev Res Open Distance Learn 9:1–13, 2008) or memory capacity, task performance and zone of proximal development (Schnotz and Kürschner in Educ Psychol Rev 19:469–508, 2007). Each of these components is arguably a whole entity with its own distinct qualities and, although not all researchers would refer to each of them as emergent systems, recent research in complex systems in education indicates that many of these components may be treated effectively as at least elements of complex systems (e.g., Davis et al. 2008; Mowat and Davis 2010) which are necessarily emergent. Not all educational theories and concepts, however, can be compared using such components or systems, emergent or otherwise, since these components and systems may be based in differing basic assumptions as to what constitutes the basic components or system boundaries.