Dr Luis Moreno-Armella
Friday 26th October 2007 3.30-5pm
Abstract:
The human brain has traveled a long way to become symbolic. A symbol generates a duplicate of the world of human experiences and that is a doorway to metacognition at an unprecedented level. In a few words, this is the story of our own evolutionary adventure. How did this begin? The heart of the answer is simple: by gesturing.
Charles S. Peirce (1839- 1914), the American semiotician, very aptly explained that our interpretations of signs may be iconic, indexical and most importantly, symbolic. Another American scholar and scientist, Terence Deacon, has recently explained that the iconic and indexical levels of interpretation of signs, are the common territory of all species with sufficiently developed brains. The symbolic level then, defines us. With the symbols, we crossed our cognitive Rubicon. From thereon, culture became our new environment. We live in a symbolic reality that opens a world of possibilities for human expressivity.
First, writing, and today, digital environments have provided the conditions for the interpenetration of culture and symbolic technologies, mainly through the creation of external cognitive mirrors with varying levels of co-action between humans and responsive environments. This is perhaps, in the words of Merlin Donald, the most revolutionary single event in the history of the human species.
My presentation will follow the deep lines of these processes and consequently, show their relevance for 21st century mathematics education, especially with respect to the role of digital technologies.
