IMPLEMENTING MENTAL MODELS:

EXTENDING INSIGHT AND WHOLE PERSON

LEARNINGRobert E. RobinsonRonald K. MitchellJ. Duane Hoover

ABSEL 2013

BACKGROUND

Hoover, Mitchell, and Wu (2012) developed the concept of Insight Learning, a type of whole person learning (Hoover, 2007)

BACKGROUND

Insight learning involves a four step process

1) The instructor and student must agree upon the goal of changing mental states

2) The instructor and student must design the intended alternative mental framework

BACKGROUND

Insight learning involves a four step process

3) participation in a simulation or experiential exercise

4) integrating the new/enhanced mental frame into the student’s intellectual and behavioral repertoire

This paper focuses on these final two steps.

Do – Look – Learn

Instead of the more typical “learn-look- do” approach, we suggest a “do-look-learn” process.

The traditional approach involves students learning the material first, observing how it applies, and then using the material in practice.

Do – Look – Learn

By placing the experience first, students may be more open to learning opportunities without the constraint of prior teaching.

“Do-Look-Learn” can help students get out of their own way by breaking down barriers to learning created by preconceived notions.

Example Theory – Transaction Cognitions

The specific exercise included as part of step three in the insight learning process can be utilized for several learning concepts in a variety of courses.

We chose to demonstrate the specific example of transaction cognition theory (Mitchell, 2001) in this paper.

Transaction Cognition Theory

For new value to be created, transactions must be brought into existence (Mitchell, 2001)

Specifically,

“Transaction Cognition Theory proposes that the existence of each element in the transaction is, in fact, the primary reason for the introduction of one of the sources of variability in human economic behavior.” – Mitchell, 2001, page 27

Transaction Cognition Theory

The transaction thus becomes the unit of analysis most basic to understanding economic activity, and particularly the formation of organizations.

A transaction requires three components:

1) an individual

2) A work

3) An “other”

Transaction Cognition Theory

Elements of a Transaction

Adapted from Mitchell, 2001

Other Work

Individual

Simulation Exercise

A cooperative game is utilized to help students consider elements of teamwork - specifically trust, resource sharing, and goal accomplishment

The game is intentionally unrelated to business to reduce the focus on prior knowledge utilization and to increase the focus on teamwork itself.

Simulation Exercise

The game used in this is called PANDEMIC.

It can be played by 2-4 people, but the exercise calls for students to be broken into groups of four.

Instead of competing against each other, the joint goal of each group is to cure four diseases that spread across a map of the world.

Simulation Exercise

The game is won by creating a cure for all four diseases before one of the following happens:

1) The resource pile is depleted (all the cards have been drawn)

2) There are not enough cubes to place for any one color when the result of an infection round calls for that color to be placed

3) Eight outbreaks occur

Simulation Exercise

The game is played at least twice, though a third time is optional

1) First time players are told to allow everyone to see their resource cards and roles. This allows for all available information to be freely shared between participants.

2) The second time students play, they must hold up their hands and their special skills.

3) The third time would involve including individual (potentially conflicting) goals. If times does not allow, this third round could be assigned as a written assignment – a “what if” scenario to be described by the student.

Simulation Exercise

In keeping with the do-look-learn process, the series of play should be completed before students are told the goal of the learning exercise.

After each round, students should turn in a written description of their experience of the exercise, which should include their thoughts regarding what they saw as the intended learning objectives. This feedback links back to the insight learning process.

Simulation Exercise

After the instructor has reviewed the students’ written reports, a debrief of the intended learning processes should follow. Including specific examples where students identified elements related to the intended concepts can help students feel more included in the learning.

After the debrief, students should develop a model depicting how this new learning will be incorporated into their own thinking. This new mental frame completes the fourth step of the insight learning process.

Implications for Whole Person Learning

Hoover (2007) defines experiential learning from a whole person perspective:

Experiential learning exists when a personally responsible participant (s) spiritually, cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally processes knowledge, skills and/or attitudes in a learning situation characterized by a high level of active involvement.

Implications for Whole Person Learning

This exercise keys on all the elements of this definition:

1) Spiritual: By including the student in the decision to change, they are more connected to the whole learning process. They also get a feeling of being part of something as they work toward a common goal.

2) Cognitive: The particular element of cognitions being taught, along with the individual development of mental models specific to the student keys the cognitive element

Implications for Whole Person Learning

This exercise keys on all the elements of this definition:

3) Emotional: The immersive nature of the simulation tends to engage the participant’s affect

4) Behavioral: Experiential exercises by their nature involve connecting behavior to learning through action

Implications for Whole Person Learning

This exercise has served as only one example of insight learning, and the Do-Look-Learn approach.

This approach can help bring back the experiential approach to teaching in a variety of courses, and at all levels of education.

For example, our co-author Dr. Mitchell utilizes this method in his cross-listed entrepreneurship courses as well as his doctoral seminars on management theory.

Thank you for your attention.

Questions?

Appendix for Transaction Cognition Theory

Transaction Cognition Theory

Transaction Cognition Theory suggests that each element of a transaction contributes to the nature of transacting, because transaction cognitions about the individual, the work, and other persons are impacted (respectively) by bounded rationality, opportunism, and the more general notion of “work”-specificity.

Transaction Cognition Theory

Transaction Cognition Theory suggests that

1) the cognitions of an individual, about the work and others, are shaped primarily by bounded rationality.

2) the cognitions about other persons, in relationship to the individual and the work, are shaped primarily by opportunism

3) and that cognitions about the work, in relationship to the individual and others, are shaped primarily by work-specificity

These three cognitions are called planning, promise, and competition, respectively, when they are positively related to the reduction of transaction costs

Appendix for Simulation Exercise

Simulation Exercise

Each student begins with two cards (resources which have cities of a certain color or special actions) and a special skill that allows that person to perform certain actions more easily than others.

The resource cards must be used to create a cure by getting five of one color to one person, who must turn them in at a specific place on the board, called a research station.

Simulation Exercise

Each person can use four actions per turn to 1) move, 2) treat disease, 3) give cards, 4) turn in a cure, or 5) create a research station.

Cards can only be given to others who are in the same city, and only the card of that city may be given.

At the end of each turn, two new resources are drawn, and new cubes are placed according to the infection rate.

Simulation Exercise

If one of the cards drawn is an Epidemic, a new city is drawn from the bottom of the infection pile, three cubes are placed there, and all of the previously infected cities (including the newest one) are shuffled and placed back on top of the infection pile.

If any city has more than three cubes of a particular color when it is drawn, an outbreak occurs. A cube of that color is placed in all cities that are connected to that city by a line on the board.