Preface ‘This fully revised and updated Second Edition recognizes that the future of economic well-being in today’s knowledge and information society rests upon the effectiveness of schools and corporations to empower their people to be more effective learners and knowledge creators, The theory of education pre- sented in the first edition remains viable and useful. This new edition updates my theory for meaningful learning and autonomous knowledge building along with tools to make it operational, that is concept maps, created with the use of CmapTools and the Vee diagram. The theory is easy to put into practice, since it includes resources to facilitate the process, especially concept maps, now optimized by CmapTools software. CmapTools software is highly intuitive and easy to use. People who have until now been reluctant to use the new technologies in their professional lives will find this book particularly helpful. Changes in the Second Edition Concept maps are used extensively to illustrate key ideas from learning theory, theory of knowledge, and instructional theory. Additional examples of how the theory applies in school and corporate settings have been added and more emphasis is given to the importance of applying educational ideas in the corporate setting, This edition includes discussion of ideas on metacognition and other strategies for enhancing learning. Reflecting the continuing interest in learner misconceptions, I discuss my work in this area and suggestions for remediating misconceptions. History In the decade since the first edition of this book was published, there has emerged a broad consensus among educators and psychologists that human learning involves building on prior knowledge and that this requires active construction of new meanings. This is gratifying, since this idea was a primary pillar in the arguments I presented in A Theory of Education (1977), in the firstxii Preface edition of this book (1998), and in a previous book, Learning How to Learn (1984), which has subsequently been published in eight other languages. There has also been an explosive growth in the power of computers and the World Wide Web, as well as in other technologies that now permit the move toward what we call a New Model for Education, discussed in the last chapter of this book. It has been my good fortune to work with the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) since 1987, and to serve part-time as a Senior Research Associate for the past decade. When Kenneth Ford sought in 1987 to direct a different kind of research organization that would focus on the use of computers to facilitate human capacities, not replace them, he saw concept mapping as one vehicle to do this. Under the leadership of Alberto Cafias, the Institute has developed outstanding software for making concept maps and facilitating collaboration in building concept maps and what we call knowledge models, This work has been funded in part by NASA, the Department of Navy, the National Security Agency, and other governmental and private organiza- tions, all of which employ concept maps in some of their work. The software is available at no cost at: . All of the concept maps I prepared for this book used this software, and they can be accessed via the latter web site, selecting IHMC-Internal, JDN LCUK. To gain a better under- standing of the ideas presented in the book, I suggest that the reader download the CmapTools software and move these concept maps to your own computer (under My Cmaps), and see how you can modify them to capture better the meanings expressed in these maps as you read the text. My education as a scientist convinced me that the development and refine- ment of theories to guide research and derivative practices was the primary reason for the successes we have seen in sciences and technology. It was my conviction that we needed to build a comprehensive theory of education if we are to substantively improve educational research and educational practices. My first effort, A Theory of Education (1977), was helpful to me and my students and colleagues, serving as a textbook, along with Learning How to Learn (1984), for a course I taught at Cornell University for 20 years, ‘Theory and Methods of Education. I learned much from my students, visiting professors, and other colleagues regarding strengths and weaknesses of the theory, including more recent colleagues and collaborators at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. The expanded theory of educa- tion presented in the first edition of this book has been even more useful to our programs The work I did as a consultant to Procter and Gamble from 1993 to 1998 and work with other corporations and governmental agencies convinced me that the ideas and tools we developed in our educational research programs were equally valuable in the corporate world. Some of the better writings in the field of business have been supportive of this thesis and are cited in the first edition and this new edition of this book. I was somewhat surprised toPreface xiii find that relatively few new ideas appeared in the business literature in the past decade, except the realization that accelerating globalization is further changing the way the world does business. Since my retirement from Cornell University in 1995, I have had the opportunity to work with corporations, the IHMC, and other organizations to apply what we have learned to improve knowledge retrieval and knowledge archiving as well as educational practices. One reason I chose to retire early was to have time to work with Procter and Gamble, and this association has been most rewarding. I was surprised to see how well the ideas and tools we developed in our education programs were valid and useful in the corporate world. Although we had done some work with corporations earlier, such as with Kodak and Corning, there appeared to be significant resistance to new ideas. For one thing, my background was science education and biology, not business. I had a credibility problem, and this was evident in my early associ- ation with Procter and Gamble. In fact, from my first meeting in June, 1993 with Larry Huston, who became Vice President for Innovation, until our first meeting with R&D staff in December, 1993, more than six months had elapsed. When introducing me to large groups of senior staff members in various meetings that followed, Huston often commented that they found the useful ideas we were to hear about came not from the business world, but from a professor of science education! Over the years, Huston has been very sup- portive of our work, and I owe a debt to his leadership at Procter and Gamble, Under the current Chairman and CEO, A.G. Lafley, Procter and Gamble con- tinues to be a leader in new ideas for business, and I quote in several places the good ideas in his recent book with Ram Charan (2008). My work with Alberto Cafias, Associate Director of IHMC and a native of Costa Rica, and other colleagues in the Latin world, has been most rewarding. The work we have done together over the years, including work to produce the current version of CmapTools and the implementation of an extensive program to improve education in Panama, has been personally and profes- sionally gratifying. With the primary initiative of Cafias, we have held three international conferences on research using concept mapping tools and ideas. (see: http://eme.ihme.us) The work and ideas I have been presenting have been especially well received in Latin countries in South America and Europe, as well as in other countries. Thanks to efforts by Ricardo Chrobak and his colleagues, I was pleased to receive my first Honorary Doctoral degree from the University of Comahue in Argentina in 1998. Fermin Gonzales and colleagues helped to arrange for a second Honorary Doctorate from the University of Navarra in Spain in 2002, and Giuseppe Valitutti and colleagues made possible a third Honorary Doctorate from the University of Urbino in 2006 on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the University. Over the years, I have been fortunate to have many excellent graduate students, visiting professors, and other close collaborations (over 350). Theyxiv Preface have been my mentors, and I continue to learn from them. Many of them are now leaders in their profession in many different countries. These associations have been and continue to be most rewarding. ‘As we move to into what Fareed Zakaria (2009) calls The Post American World, we shall face many new challenges, not only in the USA but throughout the world. It is pretty much agreed that vastly improved education is the key to avoid worldwide disaster. I am pleased that I chose to be an educator, rather than another botanist, in the 1950's, though at the time my botany professor advised against this. I hope this book will make some contribution to the improvement of education and the creation and use of knowledge both in schools and in corporations throughout the world. This may be what President Barack Obama (2006) called the Audacity of Hope, but I believe there are reasons to believe such improvement is possible. References Novak, J.D. (1977). A theory of education. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Novak, J.D., & Gowin, DB. (1984). Learning how to learn, New York: Cambridge University Press. Obama, B. (2006). The audacity of hope: Thoughts on reclaiming the American dream New York: Crown. Zahkaria, F. (2009). The post-American world. New York: Norton (paperback),