Things that make us smart

1
Things that make us smart

• A discussion about the ideas of
• Don Norman
• Larry G. Richards
• January 29, 2004

2
Who is Don Norman?

• See www.jnd.org
• Originally an electrical engineer
• Then a psychologist
• Now a cognitive scientist concerned with
• Human factors / ergonomics
• Usability
• Human centered design

3
What is the central message of this book?

• We have a machine-centered orientation to life
• We need to reverse the machine centered point of
  view and turn it into a person-centered point of
  view Technology should serve us.

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• Machine-centered
• versus
• Human-centered
• Views of technology

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Motto of the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair

• Science finds
• Industry applies
• Man conforms

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A person-centered motto for the twenty-first
century

• People propose
• Science studies
• Technology conforms

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Technology can make us smart

• How?
• Give some examples.

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Technology can make us smart

• How?
• By expanding our capabilities
• Some examples
• Writing, reading, art, music
• Logic, textbooks, encyclopedias
• Science and engineering

9
Technology can make us stupid

• Examples?

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What is an Artifact?
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Cognitive artifacts

• Tools that aid the mind
• Physical artifacts
• Paper, pencils, calculators, computers
• Mental artifacts
• Reading, arithmetic, logic, and language
• Rules and structures
• Procedures and routines

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• ...much of our human intelligence results from
  our ability to construct artifacts.
• capable brains, .limited in power

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Limitations of people?
14
Advantages of machines
15

• new tools have moved us in unexpected ways to
  accept experience as a substitute for thought.
• page 15

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Two kinds of cognition

• Experiential
• Reflective

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Experiential cognition

• we perceive and react to events around us,
  efficiently and effortlessly.
• The mode of expert behavior

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Experiential cognition

• The patterns of information are perceived and
  assimilated and the appropriate responses
  generated without apparent effort or delay.
• Experiential thought is the essence of skilled
  behavior. It appears to flow naturally but years
  of experience or training may be required to make
  it possible.

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Reflective cognition

• Comparison and contrast
• Thought
• Decision making
• Reflection is greatly aided by systematic
  procedures and methods, and these are learned
  primarily by being taught.

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Reflective cognition

• The reflective mode is that of concepts, of
  planning and reconsideration.

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Three kinds of learning

• Accretion
• Tuning
• Restructuring

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• Reflection is necessary for restructuring.

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Optimal flow
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Informal learning versus school learning

• Characterize each

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Multimedia

• What is it?
• Symbols (words, numbers)
• Graphics (pictures, illustrations)
• Sound (voice, music)
• Animation (dynamic display, changing)
• What can we do with multimedia that has
  educational value?

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Attention
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Motivation