The New Science of Life and Learning Differences

Abstract

In the study of learning differences, attention has recently been given to holistic, dialectical concepts of development and learning such that cognitive processes are defined and investigated relative to their dynamic, transforming, hierarchically organized systems of energy. Such a point of view is consistent with the new science of life in which matter has, as its essence, active, dynamic forms of hierarchically organized energy that are bound within fields. The hierarchical nature of energy forms is due to their organization into distinct systems of order with varying levels of complexity. Openings for energy exchanges within and between individual energy systems are created from perturbations as systems interact with the environment and result in the reorganization and expansion of activity that give birth to more complex structures. Piaget's description of cognitive processes as dynamic, transforming, hierarchically organized systems of energy that evolve in interaction with the environment calls into question the validity of current reductionist assumptions regarding learning differences. At the same time, Piaget's insights (and those of similar progressive thinkers) provide a foundation upon which to build an understanding of learning differences consistent with the principles of the new science of life.