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Time Complexity and Learning
Author(s) -
GUALA ELDA,
BOERO PAOLO
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb10416.x
Subject(s) - citation , computer science , annals , artificial intelligence , library science , history , classics
The debate about the physical existence of time1–3 suggests the possibility that time could also be considered an intellectual construction in order to “treat” (that is, to describe/order/analyze) the flux of external events; in addition, it raises the problem of intellectual constructions suitable for “treating” the flux of internal events. On this point, we can speak about “mind times,” metaphors that may help in “treating” mental processes, especially those intervening in complex problem solving. Bearing in mind our competencies (cognitive and epistemological aspects of teaching and learning mathematics), we will consider in a phenomenological manner the variety of “times” that the mind must manage in mathematical problem solving. We will also consider the intertwining among them, mentioning some examples4,5 in which success or failure seems to depend on the capacity to manage such time complexity. Finally, we will consider the hypothesis that the analysis of “mind times” may be useful (in an “embodied cognition” perspective) for singling out some mental processes on which basic mathematical ideas and skills are founded.