The distributed cognition systems in university teaching in terms of the type of science

Abstract

From the psychological approach known as “Distributed Cognition” it is possible to postulate three ways of cognitive distribution in the activity systems: physical, social-communicational and symbolic-instrumental. This communication broaches the configuration of said systems, in terms of the institutional practices prevailing in the National University of Rosario (Universidad Nacional de Rosario-UNR), Argentina. These institutional practices vary in compliance with the type of knowledge given in the teaching action: social and non-social.
The research involved the naturalistic observation of 28 university classes belonging to three social courses and three exact-natural courses (14 classes per epistemic course type).

The observation focused on three distribution cognition systems. Gathered results suggest a meaning relationship between the mentioned epistemic-institutional types and the configuration of the physical and symbolic systems.