Using complexity theory to understand the teaching and learning process

This thesis explores the proposition that in the development and application of effective principles and the practice of teaching at a tertiary level of study, complexity theory can complement current, established theories of learning, including the social learning theory of Bandura, the socio-cultural theory of Vygotsky, the student-centred learning of Rogers and Farson, the experiential learning theory of Kolb, the stimulus response model of Skinner and the constructive dialogue of Socrates. There are two aspects to this argument. The first is that complexity theory enables the teacher to move beyond the detail of events, to achieve a strategic view of the teaching and learning process and its effect on student behaviour. It can be viewed as the equivalent of a pedestrian surrounded by noise and confusion at ground level, moving to an elevated viewpoint and from that higher level looking down on the crowds below, observing and interpreting the patterns of pedestrian traffic. The second aspect is that complexity theory can provide the teacher with a meta-language which enables description and understanding of the sequence and content of events over a semester of study. The perspective here is that complexity theory is able to translate and accommodate the ideas of a range of existing theory and practice of teaching and learning at an undergraduate level of study. An example of undergraduate study over the period of a semester was used to provide a frame of reference from which to consider this proposition. The subject of this study was a tutorial group for the unit 200148 Business, Society and Policy in autumn 2013 on the Parramatta campus of the University of Western Sydney. The research process for the study used a combination of methods to collect the range and depth of data required for description of events in the teaching and learning process over a semester of study. Data such as student attendance of tutorials and performance in assessments provided context for qualitative research using written, semi-structured observations of student behaviour. The intent was to collect thick information, to enable thick description and then thick interpretation