The cognitive revolution and its implications for creating knowledge tools needed in achieving a sustainable society

Abstract

The last 30 years have witnessed a qualitative change in our conception of how people learn (usually called the "cognitive revolution"), so that we think today not only in terms of acquiring discrete facts and skills but also in far more powerful terms of acquiring new ways of thinking. Of particular importance is the process of acquiring the habits of systematic and disciplined inquiry characteristic of organized science. To the social theorist and policy maker, however, the existence of a new, more powerful view of learning is a mixed blessing. Decisions of how best to implement the lessons of the cognitive revolution require technocratic know-how as well as social and political judgment. I discuss the cognitive revolution by offering a comparison of two contrasting views of education that it has produced, which I call "institution-centred" and "person-centred" methodologies. In terms of their pedagogical effectiveness, both methodologies have been shown to be successful, when implemented in a congenial social environment by competent professionals. The essential difference is political. An institution-centered methodology has as side-effect to encourage a greater sense of commitment, loyalty and perhaps even dependence in regard to teachers, educational and social institutions and authority figures in general; in contrast, a person-centered methodology encourages a greater sense of autonomy and self-reliance. Cognitive methods can be useful for policy makers with a wide range of priorities and commitments, if correctly chosen.