ABSTRACT
This book evolved from the debate instigated by Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006), where they set out to theoretically support the superiority of direct instruction over “minimally guided instruction” by describing a human cognitive architecture. Articulating a human cognitive architecture is a very important goal in the evolution of a science of learning, and I support the collaborative articulation and construction of such an architecture. I believe that the architecture that Kirschner et al. (2006) articulate is too focused in its theoretical orientation, does not account for considerable contemporary research in psychology, and therefore cannot adequately account for many or most cognitive activities. Their architecture is based entirely on changes (without regard to their nature) in long-term memory. Kirschner et al. (2006) claim “minimally guided instruction appears to proceed with no references to the characteristics of working memory, long-term memory or the intricate relation between them” (p. 76). My concern is that their cognitive architecture focuses only on working memory and long-term memory, ignoring all other cognitive constructs. A cognitive architecture must account for the context, the learner, and the processes of cognition (social and cognitive) in order to explain or predict cognitive activities. At the risk of being dismissed as a relativist, I support those claims in this chapter in an attempt to contribute alternate perspectives to a human cognitive architecture. Kirschner et al. (2006) claim that “ long-term memory is now viewed as the central, dominant structure of human cognition” (p. 76); however, they make no attempt to articulate what is stored in long-term memory, how it gets there, or what learners do with it, except to retrieve it. Although few educators or psychologists would ever deny the essential role of long-term memory in learning (there are some who would), decades of learning research has examined many facets of cognition that affect and are affected by long-term memory. A human cognition architecture cannot be adequately defined by the stuff of long-term memory. Difference in long-term memory cannot “fully explain problem-solving skills.” The ability to solve problems clearly relies on the contents of long-term memory but is not sufficient to explain learning or problem solving. Solving a problem is not merely a process of retrieving a solution from long-term memory. Long-term memory is not the only component or mechanism of cognition.
