Skip to main content
Unpublished Paper
The collaboration particle; Applying the formalism of quantum theory to cognition.
(2013)
  • Kelsey E Landis, DePaul University
  • Hontas F Farmer, DePaul University
Abstract
We propose that collaboration between two people can be thought of as a quantum cognitive process wherein the relevant reality to be comprehended is an idea being communicated from one person to the other. Through a combination of writing center pedagogy and quantum theory, supported by mathematical evidence, we assert that collaboration can be effectively and equally established in both face-to-face and online writing tutoring sessions through conscious, active meditation to harness what can be thought of as a particle. Included is an analysis of writing center scholarship to show how collaboration is traditionally considered in a writing center context, as well as a comparison of online and face-to-face learning. The result is a pedagogical, psychological, and scientific approach to collaboration that can be extended into the classroom. The implications of this study are important to educators of physics, offering an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning. The study also has personal implications that encourage the reader to think of collaboration through physical terms as a very real phenomenon.
Keywords
  • Philosophy of mind,
  • Neuroscience,
  • Analogy,
  • Communication,
  • Distributed cognition,
  • Learning,
  • Knowledge representation,
  • Mathematical modeling,
  • Language and thought
Publication Date
July, 2013
Comments
Submitted to the Journal of Cognitive Science.
Citation Information
Kelsey E Landis and Hontas F Farmer. "The collaboration particle; Applying the formalism of quantum theory to cognition." (2013)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/hontas_farmer/7/