Virtual Conference: Cognitive Development and A.I.
Virtual Conference: Cognitive Development and A.I.
I connected this with my goal of gaining mastery of prominent learning theories to improve my teaching practice because this project required me to solidify my understanding of cognitive development, a key component to numerous learning theories, such as constructivism. My goal was also to improve my teaching practice with this knowledge, which meant learning how to apply a learning theory to a specific context. I believe attempting to apply cognitive development to artificial intelligence does just that and highlights my mastery of both theory and application. In addition, this artifact shows my understanding of Jean Piaget’s ideas on cognitive development as well as my ability to expand those concepts to broader applications.
This artifact exemplifies an advanced understanding of cognitive development as it is being applied to a relatively novel context. It shows that I am building the ability to look at things across multiple disciplines and bring them together. The ability to find congruence in these topics demonstrates a strong understanding of their core concepts.
I chose this artifact because it is an exemplar of my experience in taking theory and applying it to a scenario where it may not normally be applied. I believe this was a challenging task that resulted in new understanding.
This artifact connects to the overall metaphor of opposing forces because it highlights the tension between Theory and Application, however, within that, the opposing forces of Natural (Human) Learning and Created (A.I.) Learning are also present. At its core, this conference is asking if A.I. can develop in the same way that humans do, and if it can, what the end result would be. It presents numerous examples of the different stages of development and what these would look like on either side (human vs. A.I.). It also touches on the larger theme of technology use in learning and whether more old school methods are better or worse than new technology uses.
The process of building this conference was difficult because I had very little knowledge of A.I. at the outset. On the other hand, I was well-versed with Piaget's theories, which was actually part of the reason my partner and chose to tackle this project through cognitive development. Through conversation and brainstorming, we came up with this idea that we wanted to see if A.I. could be trained in a similar way to how humans learn. To get started, we mapped out how we think people learn based on Piaget's theories (generally, his cognitive developmental stages). From there, we searched the literature to find examples of A.I. design or operation that closely aligned with human development. Stage by stage, we mapped a variety of different A.I. development examples along a Piagetian pathway.
I think I demonstrated achievement of my goal through this artifact mainly because it highlights a deep understanding of cognitive development (a cornerstone of many learning theories) through its application to a new (to me) context. It also exemplifies my ability to research new topics and my willingness to branch out into new territory.
I will approach A.I. in learning contexts in a different way with a deeper understanding of how it works and how some of these concepts are similar to those of how humans develop. When evaluating A.I. tools for implementation, I will look at them through this lens of human development, which I think will impact the different contexts in which I implement it. This knowledge will also help me navigate the complicated world of A.I. in education, especially since it will continue to get even more complicated with tools like Chat GPT.