THE NEW SCIENCE OF LIFE AND LEARNING-DIFFERENCES

In the study of learning differences, attention has recently been give n to holistic, dialectical concepts of development and learning such t hat cognitive processes are defined and investigated relative to their dynamic, transforming, hierarchically organized systems of energy. Su ch a point of view is consistent with the new science of life in which matter has, as its essence, active, dynamic forms of hierarchically o rganized energy that are bound within fields. The hierarchical nature of energy forms is due to their organization into distinct systems of order with varying levels of complexity. Openings for energy exchanges within and between individual energy systems are created from perturb ations as systems interact with the environment and result in the reor ganization and expansion of activity that give birth to more complex s tructures. Piaget's description of cognitive processes as dynamic, tra nsforming, hierarchically organized systems of energy that evolve in i nteraction with the environment calls into question the validity of cu rrent reductionist assumptions regarding learning differences, At the same time, Piaget's insights (and those of similar progressive thinker s) provide a foundation upon which to build an understanding of learni ng differences consistent with the principles of the new science of li fe.