Action Theory

Most, but not all Emergent Complexity Discourses are explicitly aligned with Complex Systems Research – that is, they are concerned with understanding systems that transcend their parts. A uniting theme of Emergent Complexity Discourses is that global behaviors cannot be predicted on the basis of the rules governing the individual agents.

Complex Systems Research focuses on systems comprising sets of agents that form unified wholes in their interactions, relationships, or dependencies. Their emergent, global behaviors cannot be predicted on the basis of the rules governing the individual agents. Definitions and descriptions of complex systems revolve around such terms as emergent, adaptive, nonlinear, irreducible, noncompressible, non-decomposable, multi-level, self-organizing, context-sensitive, and adaptive.

The Attainment Metaphor is prominent in current discussions of formal education. It frames knowledge as existing in discrete regions (e.g., fields, areas) to be traversed, and learning is typically framed as progressing across (and sometimes dwelling in) those regions. Learning is cast in movement-based sensibilities –e.g., as “getting there.”

Activity Theory simultaneously considers the individual’s cognition and the social reality by focusing on “activity systems” – that is, taking into account the knower’s history, motivations, mediating artefacts (language, tools, etc.), community, situation, and culture. More broadly, it looks at systems comprising multiple actors, such as teams and organizations, with particular given attention to rules and divisions of labor.

Action Learning is a team-based approach to solving real-life problems, intended for businesses, non-profits, and other organizations. Key components of Action Learning are becoming aware of lack of relevant knowledge and, when the problem at hand is solved, reflecting on the process and results. Most forms of Action Learning include a coach, although the team is encouraged to be self-managing.

Introspection is the examination of one’s own mental states, which includes awareness sensory, bodily, cognitive, emotional, and other states. It is most often considered as a means of learning, operating alongside perception, reason, memory, and testimony. As such, it is usually encountered as an aspect of other theories (e.g., Reflective Practice, Metacognition) rather than being engaged as a theory itself.

Cybernetics is the study of control and communication among biological, mechanical, social, and/or other systems that can adapt or adjust. More specifically, Cybernetics examines “circular causal” relationships – that is, the sort of looping feedback observed when a system triggers a change in its environment which then triggers a change in the system … and so on.