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Academic learning, a variational model

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Abstract

By assigning coordinates to the information space comprising all knowledge, rigorous mathematical interpretations can be placed on such terms as academic ability, memory and creativity such that these psychometric concepts can be incorporated into a framework of functional analysis which then permits the optimization of long-term academic learning processes through the location of the teaching trajectories in information space which will maximize the knowledge accumulated in a generalized educational system composed of a complex of subject-pupil-teacher interactions. The concepts of discrete and continuous information spaces are discussed in connection with subject-subject, subjectpupil and pupil-pupil interactions, and the advantages of using variational versus dynamic programming methods of optimizing alternative educational systems are evaluated.

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  1. Gerald Houghton

    Present address: School of Engineering Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    Gerald Houghton

Authors
  1. Gerald Houghton
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Houghton, G. Academic learning, a variational model. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 28, 75–90 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02476391

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02476391

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