Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

Providing a Warrant for Constructivist Practice 481
and other vehicles of conveyance. Meaning is referred to as contained in words or sentences. We
admonish our students not to read too much into test items, etc.
One of the implications of the transmission model is that the sender is responsible for the
understanding of the receiver. If he crafts his message correctly it will not be misunderstood. If
we extend this to instruction we can see how it is that teachers are considered to be responsible
for learning in their students. If instruction is the transmission of knowledge (and/or information)
then the teacher (as sender) is the responsible party. This is something that has not escaped the
notice of students who often describe learning as something that someone does to them rather
than as something for which they are responsible.
An implication of the container metaphor is that information and knowledge can be contained in
words, books, tools, and other devices. Within the enactive framework knowledge is effective action
within a domain. It cannot be contained. It is better to think of such material as indices of the intelligent
activity of their creators. Anything that might be considered input, like presentational material,
has only the potential to function as a perturbation, a trigger for neuronal activity, that results
in a change of state determined by the structure of any individual that interacts with such material.
The transmission model can function only in a representational environment, where the world
outside is pre-given, where information and even knowledge are pre-given. In an environment
where interaction brings forth both the knower and the world to be known, we cannot speak of
transmission, we must speak of structural coupling, of bringing forth through interaction.
Information Is a Construction
Many constructivists, generally those who refer to themselves as moderate constructivists,
consider knowledge a construction, while considering information an entity with independent
existence. To take the position that knowledge (or meaning) is constructed from information that
is picked up or transferred from the environment is to consider the cognitive system simultaneously
allonomous and autonomous. From an enactive standpoint, this is illogical. Information is what
Varela has referred to as in-formation: an interpretation, a construction. Information cannot be
picked up from the environment; rather it emerges as regularities within our cognitive activity.
We interpret these regularities as facts.
Intelligence Is an Ability to Join or Create Shared Worlds of Meaning
Within the representational framework intelligence is equated with problem solving. Within
the enactive framework, intelligence is measured by the ability to join and the ability to create
shared worlds of understanding. Sharing in this context does not denote isomorphic or identical
understanding; rather it means that a conversation can be conducted on a given topic without
breakdown. As we carry on the conversation we may assume we have the same understanding and
we may behave as if there is one. The longer we can carry on this conversation, the greater our
confidence may become in this isomorphism. Such interaction allows us to coordinate behavior
with others. We generally become aware that understanding is not isomorphic only when the
conversation breaks down. To stand Bateson’s definition of distinction on its head, a successful
conversation is one in which the differences make no difference.
Becoming a member of any preexisting community and taking on the values and commitments
of its members is the prototypical example of joining a shared world of understanding.
Examples include our family, local community, schools, professions, etc. Creating new worlds
of understanding may seem more remote, the activity of scientists, explorers, artists, and even
politicians who push the frontiers of knowledge. I suggest, however, that this activity is not really
so remote. It seems to be a natural part of the adolescent journey into adulthood. Hip-hop culture