The primacy of Knowing-how : cognition, know-how and an enactive action first epistemology

The Enactive Approach (EA) is a project of naturalization of the mind. EA should be able to offer a naturalization of knowledge, such underlying naturalization is what is found in this dissertation. The result is an epistemology where the most basal aspect of knowledge is not to accurately represent. For an enactive epistemology, the primary relation is how knowers relate, contact or engage with what is known. I argue in the final chapter that knowing is a perspectival, affectively entangled, historically situated relation between knower and known. Knower, known and knowing are characterized in broad naturalistic terms. EA is first presented in the context of a larger trend of studying cognition in an ecological way. The understanding of mind in the context of the living leads me to argue that living systems and precarious autonomous systems in general are intrinsically teleological systems whose defining activity consists in being responsive to the viability boundaries or conditions of their own existence. Cognitive systems skillfully change in adaptive manners to not disintegrate, even if their changes are not optimal. The account provides a relational account of adaptive behavior as the basis for an account of know-how. The more general notion of know-how can be articulated from the notion of perception as mastery of sensorimotor contingencies. Know how in general is understood as the organization and reorganization of bodily processes and structures that enables reliable successful action. Know-how as the bodily sensitivities and capabilities relative to the cognitive domain that reliably result in the success of action is a feature of all forms of cognitive engagement. The cognition or knowing-how of languaging consists in acquiring, producing, interpreting and modifying the know-how shared within linguistic communities. Crucially, the influence of the interactive context in a participant’s sense-making varies in a continuum of participation. In one end of the spectrum one finds sense-making that remains largely (but not absolutely) individual and in the other end where what characterizes the activity is a joint process of sense-making. Knowing-how to language is knowing-how to be in dialogue with plural and idiosyncratic identities while being both yourself. A shared community of practices emerges as the basis of objectivity; knowing-how is a communal affair. If cognition is the skillful and not necessarily optimal adaptation of a precarious systemic identity to an always changing environment, all cognition rests on know how. Cognition rests on know-how in the sense that all cognition is understood in terms of skillful transition between states of a system struggling with possible disintegration. Intelligent behavior is not based on symbolic structures and context-free knowledge, it is based on richly detailed, context-specific know-how. The knowledgeable interaction with the world is the responsiveness to the now that incorporates the history leading up to it.A Abordagem Enativa (AE) é um projeto de naturalização da mente. AE deveria ser capaz de oferecer uma naturalização do conhecimento, tal naturalização subjacente é o que apresento ao leitor nesta tese. O resultado é uma epistemologia na qual o aspecto mais básico do conhecimento não é representar acuradamente. Para uma epistemologia enativa, a relação privilegiada é como conhecedores se relacionam, entram em contato ou engajam com o que é conhecido. Argumento no capítulo final que o conhecimento é uma relação perspectival, afectivamente emaranhada, historicamente situada entre conhecedor e conhecido. Conhecedor, conhecido e conhecer são caracterizados em termos liberalmente naturalistas. AE é primeiro apresentada no contexto de uma ampla tendência de estudar-se ecologicamente a cognição. O entendimento da vida no contexto do vivo me leva a argumentar que sistemas vivos e sistemas autônomos precários em geral são teleológicos e sua atividade definidora consiste em ser responsivo às fronteiras de viabilidade de sua própria existência. Sistemas cognitivos habilidosamente mudam de modos adaptativos evitando a desintegração, mesmo que as mudanças não sejam optimais. A abordagem provê uma visão relacional do comportamento adaptativo como base para o conhecimento prático [know-how]. A noção mais geral de conhecimento prático pode ser elaborada a partir da noção de percepção como maestria de contingências sensório-motoras. Conhecimento prático em geral é compreendido como a organização e reorganização de processos e estruturas corporais que possibilita de modo confiável a ação bem-sucedida. Conhecimento prático como as sensibilidades e capacidades corporais para o confiável sucesso da ação é uma característica de todas as formas de engajamento cognitivo. A cognição ou o sabendo-fazer do lingueajear consiste em adquirir, produzir, interpretar e modificar o conhecimento prático compartilhado entre comunidades linguísticas. Crucialmente, a influência do contexto interativo na produção de sentido de um participante de uma comunidade varia em um contínuo de participação. Num extremo encontra-se produção de sentido que permanece majoritariamente (mas não absolutamente individual, e no outro encontra-se atividades caracterizadas como processos conjuntos de produção de sentido. Sabendo-fazer linguagem é saber como estar em diálogo com identidades plurais e idiossincráticas enquanto se é uma você mesmo. Uma comunidade de práticas compartilhadas emerge como a base da objetividade, saber-como é um assunto comunal. Se a cognição é a adaptação habilidosa e não necessariamente optimal de uma identidade sistêmica precária em um ambiente constantemente mudando, toda cognição apoia se em conhecimento prático. Cognição apoia-se em conhecimento prático na medida que toda cognição é entendida em termos da transição habilidosa entre estados de um sistema sob a possibilidade de desintegração Comportamento inteligente não é baseado em estruturas simbólicas e conhecimento geral, baseia-se em conhecimento prático ricamente detalhado e relevante ao contexto específico. A interação com o mundo dotada de conhecimento é a responsividade para o agora que incorpora a história que nos levou até aqui

Promoting apprentices' professional development: integrating formal and informal learning, HRM and learning goal orientation in promoting apprentices' competencies

Whilst apprenticeships are gaining momentum in the UK with extensive resources directed to the programme, knowledge on the factors contributing to apprentices' professional development in the workplace is still limited. This research addresses this gap by introducing an organizational perspective that integrates the formal learning, informal learning and HRM literatures. In doing so, this study advances a holistic approach to apprenticeships. Turning the focus to the work environment as enabler of apprentices' competence development, this study seeks to achieve two main objectives. Firstly, to develop and empirically test an apprenticeship development model that relates formal and informal learning factors to apprentices' competencies. Secondly, to investigate whether important boundary conditions such as the HRM system at contextual level and learning goal orientation at individual level influence apprentices' professional development. To this end, the research presents a cross-sectional and a longitudinal study complemented by qualitative data on a sample of 233 apprentices operating in the engineering sector in England. The results evidence the factors that organisations can leverage to promote apprentices' development by means of formal and informal learning. Concerning the former, transfer design and supervisor support are critical for enabling apprentices to transfer the knowledge acquired at college and university to the workplace improving performance. Regarding the latter, challenging experiences in supportive environments, providing regular feedback, adequate task autonomy and task interdependence contribute to the development of critical competencies. Additionally, identifying the high-commitment HR system as the strategy for managing the employment relationship with apprentices, the study provides novel insight into the influence of HRM in apprenticeship. In finding performance appraisal to moderate the relationship between critical informal learning factors and performance, the study underscores the importance of appraisal satisfaction in fostering engagement with informal learning and elucidates how appropriate HR practices can promote successful apprenticeships. Furthermore, the study evidences how apprentices with stronger learning orientations achieve higher levels of competence, explaining why individuals engage differently with the learning opportunities provided in the immediate work environment. Practical implications are discussed drawing attention to the role of line managers for securing effective apprenticeships

Proceedings of the 9th Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design (ASCAAD) international conference 2021 (ASCAAD 2021): architecture in the age of disruptive technologies: transformation and challenges.

The ASCAAD 2021 conference theme is Architecture in the age of disruptive technologies: transformation and challenges. The theme addresses the gradual shift in computational design from prototypical morphogenetic-centered associations in the architectural discourse. This imminent shift of focus is increasingly stirring a debate in the architectural community and is provoking a much needed critical questioning of the role of computation in architecture as a sole embodiment and enactment of technical dimensions, into one that rather deliberately pursues and embraces the humanities as an ultimate aspiration

Some Days We Don\u27t Learn Anything New : A Phenomenological Study of Intellectually Gifted Elementary Students

With accountability pressures to help all students reach grade-level proficiency, the needs of gifted students may be neglected. This qualitative phenomenological study explores the nature of intellectually gifted students in a suburban elementary setting in the Pacific Northwest. After several close observations with six participants in grades 2-5, semi-structured conversational interviews revealed recurring feelings of frustration, constraint, and missed opportunities in classrooms. Participants claimed that school was not challenging and they did not learn much. When classroom life did not provide intellectual stimulation, gifted students often engaged in reading. The voices of intellectually gifted students show how they experience life in the classroom. Implications of the findings for rethinking professional development, placement and grouping models, and soliciting the voice of gifted students to influence system improvements are discussed