Modeling design as situated and distributed process

Abstract

In recent years, design learning environments have received considerable attention as contexts for learning diverse subjects such as mathematics, science, or engineering. In this paper, I show how designing can be modeled as a distributed process. Empirical examples are used to show three core aspects of situated design. First, material aspects of the setting facilitate negotiation of design concepts, a process modeled as constraint satisfaction in PDP networks. Second, materials and artifacts afford the creation of virtual design concepts. Finally, fact construction in school science laboratories is intimately tied to the artifacts that constitute students' design elements. As part of the analysis, constraint satisfaction models (implemented in PDP networks) and ontological maps are introduced as modeling tools that formalize the distributed aspects of designing.