Art - Design in the Term Paper

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Experiential cognition and reflective cognition are defined and in this area, Norman says that they overlap, yet must be balanced. What one experiences is important, but one needs to reflect and contemplate in order to have a rational mind. This is where entertainment can fixate a person's mind on one side, so that it becomes unbalanced.

In other chapters, Norman gives examples of "reflective" games and charts that allow the mind to contemplate information given, rather than just "experiencing" it. Norman gives multiple examples where graphic illustration or charts illustrating logical processes clarify confusing sentences, paragraphs or instructions. Finally "naturalness" is extolled, saying that the easier something is, the more natural it is, and therefore becomes the preferred way of solving a problem. The final chapter describes how time is involved in the technology of TV and entertainment. How one is forced to see or listen to commercial messages in order to get to the desired program. This, he purports, "violates its affordances" and the medium gets in the way (1993, 107).

Things That Make Us Smart provides a very convincing argument for the fact that technology provides a poor trade-off for human interaction. Each of its assets has been offset with a found deficit. Norman admits that different people may come to different conclusions, but he finds that, overall, technology is in arrears.

The final text, Understanding by Design, touts the theory that in teaching, one may instill longer-lasting information in a child's mind by pointing out enduring understanding of a theory.

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When designing a lecture one may "work backward" by deciding what is "worth being familiar with," pulling out of that what is "important to know and do," and out of that, "enduring understanding." A diagram of this "backward" philosophy

This text also emphasizes the importance of narrative in understanding theories for everyone. Images that stay in the mind serve better than multiple words. Understanding, they say, involves explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathizing, and a resulting self-knowledge. Narratives or stories help one to understand a concept. The authors quote Jerome Bruner as he discusses a narrative view of understanding, "since no one narrative rules out all alternatives, narratives pose a very special issue of criteria" (Wiggins 50). Yet one narrative does not explain everything about a theory, and this was also pointed out. The context is very important in dialogues and to understand different perspectives and different points-of-view is to understand a broader concept. Empathy with the explanation and insight into its meaning are also dealt with.

The authors of Understanding by Design have presented a well-balanced view of a teaching principle that is easy and valuable to remember. They have illustrated it in numerous ways and presented all viewpoints, including points at which it may be misunderstood, all throughout the book. It is a well-prepared and valuable text for teachers.

Norman, Donald. "The design challenge" the Design of Everyday Things. New York: Currency/Doubleday. 1988.

Norman, Donald a. "A human-centered technology." Things That Make Us Smart. New York: Basic Books. 1993......

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