L’univers des possibles dans l’apprentissage

Abstract

We are examining approaches that try to understand learning, and we focus in particular on the element of the eventual, the possible, that is entailed. An attempt is made to view learning mainly from a constructivist point of view, and examine how it involves a variety of possibilities. Such possibilities may have to do either with the person teaching, or with the one that is learning. Though learning involves an element of change, how, when and if this change will occur is never a certainty; the experimental examination of whether it is only possible for one to learn according to one’s abilities and cognitive level, as well as the concepts of assimilation and accommodation are discussed and their relevance to our theme are outlined. A child growing out of his egocentrism, and enriching his world with all the possibilities his increasing ability to understand other points of view offers him, or the experimenting that children embark on from an early age, are part of our subject matter. Commencing with some of Piaget’s remarks, we attempt to trace connections with these of Vygotski, and the Theory of Mind concepts; finally we refer to Bateson and the steps in learning that he proposed.