Patricia Alexander – The power of patterns in thinking and reasoning: Implications for educational research and pedagogical practice
For her celebratory colloquium in honor of Erno Lehtinen, Professor Alexander will focus on the topic of patterns as the bedrock of learning and development in all realms of human activity. She will consider how the search for patterns and the explanations for their existence are defining features of all academic disciplines and domains, from the discipline of mathematics to the fields of reading and writing. Alexander will then link the nature of pattern recognition to the literatures on relational thinking and relational reasoning and how these cognitive abilities play critical roles in conceptual and procedural learning, transfer, and in critical and creative thinking. Finally, Professor Alexander will weigh the implications of this growing body of work for effective teaching and learning and for needed lines of inquiry.