First International School On Mind, Brain And Education

2005 July 16-20

Summer Institute on
Mind, Brain and Education

Directors: Antonio M. Battro and Kurt W. Fischer
Program officer: MarĂ­a Lourdes Majdalani


Abstract: Paul L. van Geert
Department of Psychology, The Heymans Institute, University of Groningen. NETHERLANDS

Dynamics of mind, brain and education
In order to arrive at a reasonable understanding of the short- and long-term processes of human development, we need models that try to capture the multi-directional causality of such processes, as they unfold over various time scales. The Mind-Brain-Education triad provides a good example of such type of developmental processes. Multi-directional causal processes over time are often hard to understand without the aid of theoretical tools that help us capture the multi-directionality and time-dependent nature of such processes. Dynamic systems models offer such a tool, which is conceptually transparent and didactically feasible. I will show how simple models can give us a feeling both of the complexity of the processes and of the ways they can eventually be empirically investigated, given this complexity.