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Questions about Reading Assignment: Name the two most important things/concepts which you learned from the reading the chapter “The Architecture of Complexity” 1. give a one paragraph explanation why you consider these concepts important 2. are the concepts relevant to your work, to your interest, …. – if yes, why? Two interesting concepts from the reading are the idea that social hierarchies are identified by observing who interacts with whom not by who lives close to whom as well the fact that higher frequency dynamics are associated with subsystems and lower frequency dynamics with larger systems. I think understanding how social hierarchies are different is important in considering differences between studies involving social beings versus purely physical beings. Working with people versus plants is a different process and involves different tools for measurement. We continually try to compare education to lots of other professions, but education is significantly different from other professions because of the social dynamics involved. I think the second concept is also important because the more important and meaningful interactions occur in smaller subsystems with family or friends. As a teacher I need to remember how important interactions are between students and not just between my students and me. These concepts are definitely important to my work as a teacher and a learner in thinking about the systems and hierarchies I am a part of, the role I play in those systems, and how those systems influence my thoughts and behaviors. Questions about The Importance of Representations in Design — The Mutilated “8x8” Matrix remark: check the attached PDF file to see the graphical image Please do the following (please structure your answer accordingly — thanks): 1. try to find an answer to this problem! ‡ document briefly your thinking — including all the important intermediate steps and failing attempts (i.e., create a “think-aloud protocol”) I attempted the problem on my own at first. I read through the directions and proceeded to work from the outside in of the matrix starting with the missing corners areas. I went around in a maze like fashion putting a mark between two blocks to mark them. I had two blocks left that were diagonal. I then asked three friends for help. The first person asked me what I did and started in the middle where I ended up and worked his way toward the outside. When that didn't work, he went across the middle row and then alternated going vertical and horizontal, but was left with a block at each corner. The second person looked at it and decided he couldn't help. The third person worked on his own and did the same thing I did. We talked about what happened and came to the conclusion that it is not possible to do because the corners are diagonal from each other and you will always be left with two blocks that are diagonal to each other. 2. which resources did you use to solve the problem? I used paper and pencil and two friends who are excellent problem solvers. 3. which process did you use? a trial and error process 4. which practice (of you or others) did you use? see above 5. could computers be useful to solve this problem? I think so because you could use a trial and error method more efficiently which would encourage you to make more attempts. 6. what have you learned solving the problem: in general and for our course? I enjoy problem solving. It is useful to involve multiple people for different perspectives and to help clarify what I think about it. Tasks are critical for facilitating a particular type of learning environment. I would like to have more opportunities to work with people in our course in class so for assignments like this, I would have someone with whom to collaborate.
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