ABSTRACT
This theoretical framework, which is guiding and evolving with our work, assumes existence of a continuously organizing activity field, a complex system of cognitive activation representing human experience of an activity that can be thought about and analyzed at the individual or group level. The learning activity field is a virtual “space” where, when instruction is welldesigned and facilitated, cognitive patterns activated by more perceptual aspects of instruction (e.g., video study) mesh with interpretive patterns generated through more conceptually based aspects (e.g., text study) as well as “embodied” patterns of planning and problem solving (Glenberg, 1997) representing authentic professional activity. This concept of mesh within a dynamic cognitive field is related to Clancey’s (1997) ideas about perceptual-conceptual organization and coupling.
