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GLOSSARY INQUIRY: CONDITIONS FOR EMERGENCE
Complexity science researchers have identified a number of conditions that are necessary for complex emergence. Five of the most important, in the context of fostering complex learning collectives in the classroom, are internal diversity, internal redundancy, decentralized control, enabling constraints and neighbouring interactions.
The first condition, internal diversity, relates to the variety of backgrounds, interests, knowledge, abilities and personalities within a typical classroom, as well as respectfully allowing them to contribute to the richness of lessons.
The complement of diversity is internal redundancy. It is concerned with similarities in culture, language, history, expectations and experiences—that is, the common ground that enables a classroom collective to interact and maintain its coherence, even though individual members of the class may change.
Decentralized control means changing the classroom dynamic from one in which the teacher manages information and students in a “top-down” manner, to one in which the teacher and students participate together (albeit in somewhat different roles) in the emergence of powerful, collective learning experiences (teachable moments) that cannot be precisely controlled or predicted
Complexity does not advocate “anything goes” in the classroom; rather, the aim is to establish enabling constraints, structures or boundaries that allow rich learning possibilities to emerge, like the way the rules in a soccer or basketball game, although constraining, enable the emergence of tremendous dynamism, creativity and diversity.
Neighbouring interactions does not simply mean that students work together physically in groups. Instead, means that individual ideas and interpretations be allowed to interact, or “bump up”, against one another, creating the potential for novel, innovative and insightful knowledge to emerge. Students’ diverse interpretations thus become important “building blocks” in lessons.
