Distributed Cognitions: Psychological and Educational Considerations

Traditionally, human cognition has been seen and studied as existing solely 'inside' a person's head, with relative disregard for the social, physical, and artifactual surroundings in which cognition takes place. This book is a bold attempt to re-examine the nature of cognitions and to propose that a clearer understanding of human cognition would be achieved if it were conceptualized and studied as distributed among individuals, that knowledge is socially constructed through collaborative efforts toward shared objectives within cultural surroundings and that information is processed between individuals and the tools and artifacts provided by culture. The authors use illustrations from daily life and educational activities and suggest implications for education.