Understanding

How The Mind Works

(and why it matters now)
Roger Schank
Chairman, Socratic Arts Corp
Chairman, Engines for Education
Professor Emeritus, Northwestern University

Part 1

How We Learn

That all our knowledge begins with experience there

can be no doubt. ...no knowledge of ours is antecedent
to experience, but begins with it.
Immanuel Kant

Experience

which experiences affect memory?

algebra
history
physics
literature
economics

household finances
parental advice
football
just in time stories
starting a business

Dynamic Memory

What makes an
experience memorable?
emotional reactions
satisfaction goals
surprises
deep involvement in developing a solution
catastrophic failure

A smart man makes a mistake, learns

from it, and never makes that mistake
again. But a wise man finds a smart
man and learns from him how to avoid
the mistake altogether.
Roy H. Williams

Failure is instructive. The person who

really thinks learns quite as much from
his failures as from his successes.
John Dewey

Failure

which failures matter?

a bad grade in algebra

forgetting a formula

misconceptions about
macro-economics

a misunderstanding
about history

forgetting a book that

you read

being in serious debt

crashing your car

starting a business that

is undercapitalized

making the same mistake

twice

forgetting good advice

your father gave you

how do we recover from failure?

store the failure in memory in such a way

that you can find it when you need it

get just in time advice from an expert

construct an explanation based on prior

explanations that have worked in the past

Everything is
practice.
Pele

Practice

Practice at what?

mathematics
test taking
writing research papers
sitting quietly
taking notes
studying

experimentation
prediction
planning
negotiation
teamwork
description

Part 2

How The Mind Works

The existence of forgetting has

never been proved: We only
know that some things don't
come to mind when we want
them.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Unless we remember we
cannot understand.
E.M. Foster

Memory Guides Comprehension

The mind is an expectation device;

we have expectations about...

what word will come next in this...

how our teammates will react while we work with

them...

what our government will do in a situation...

what the food will taste like...

what our spouse will look like...
what our boss will say when we present our finished
work

what will happen when we cry...

We understand and remember the

world in terms of expectations

we remember expectation failures

we remember ours (or others) explanations
we alter our memories as a result

We do not remember when

an experience conforms
exactly to our expectations
and,
we do not remember when something wildly violates our
expectations either

The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more

assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us
along the path to its fulfillment.
C.S. Nightingale

Goals

The Goals that drive TOPS

WINNING
GOAL: beat opponent
GOAL: beat opponent (with team)
GOAL: avoid loss to opponent

RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER PEOPLE

(influence, teamwork, describe)
GOAL: choose partner
GOAL: deal with others
GOAL: gain favor of somebody
GOAL: take care of offspring
GOAL: feel positive emotions
GOAL: avoid negative emotions
GOAL: help others develop
GOAL: convince someone of something
GOAL: get someone to do something

ACQUISITIONS (negotiation)
GOAL:
GOAL:
GOAL:
GOAL:
GOAL:
GOAL:
GOAL:

get something you want

achieve something
reap a gain
improve something
make life comfortable
maintain assets
acquire assets

DEALING WITH DIFFICULTIES (diagnosis)

GOAL:
GOAL:
GOAL:
GOAL:
GOAL:
GOAL:

avoid difficulties
prevent something bad
react to bad event
avoid danger
get rid of something bad
dealing with difficulties

EXPERIMENTATION (experimentation)
GOAL: try something new
GOAL: produce something
GOAL: maintain status quo
DECISION MAKING (judgment, diagnosis, evaluation)
GOAL: make a determination about something
GOAL: make a choice
CAPABILITIES
GOAL: hone a particular skill
GOAL: enhance ones capabilities
PREDICTION
GOAL: satisfy expectations of others
GOAL: determine what will happen in the future
COMPREHENSION (modeling, causation)
GOAL: convince people to see something in a new way
GOAL: come to a new view of something
GOAL: understand a situation

Cave Men knew how to communicate their plans to

members of their team; they had the same goals

I dream a lot. I do
more painting when
I'm not painting. It's in
the subconscious.
Andrew Wyeth

"I do my best thinking while in any of

the three B's: in Bed, in the Bath, or on
the Bus."
Ludwig Wittgenstein

The Role of the Unconscious

Nothing in education is so
astonishing as the amount of
ignorance it accumulates in
the form of inert facts.
Henry B. Adams

Education is an admirable thing,

but it is well to remember from
time to time that nothing that is
worth knowing can be taught.
Oscar Wilde

Factual Knowledge Unimportant

It is a miracle that
curiosity survives formal
education.
Albert Einstein

Sit down before fact as a little child, be

prepared to give up every conceived notion,
follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses
nature leads, or you will learn nothing.
Thomas Huxley

Curiosity

Part 3

Teaching

Those who know how

to think need no
teachers.
Mahatma Gandhi

The art of teaching is

the art of assisting
discovery.
Mark Van Doren

The Role of Teachers

expertise is in
the right place
access to the
expertise is
obvious
capable of
understanding
the expertise

Access to
information

indexing

coaching

the cave man

interface

practice

the story
centered
curriculum

expertise is in
the right place
access to the
expertise is
obvious
capable of
understanding
the expertise

Access to
information

indexing

coaching

the cave man

interface

practice

the story
centered
curriculum

If you've heard this story

before, don't stop me, because
I'd like to hear it again.
Groucho Marx

The trouble with telling a

good story is that it
invariably reminds the
other fellow of a dull one.
Sid Caesar

The Role of Story Telling

Once upon a time there was great

kingdom that was under
constant threat from dragons

The King asked scholars from the best

universities to form a curriculum
committee to design a curriculum to
train dragon slayers

The committee consisted of

arts faculty from Columbia

science faculty from Princeton
business faculty from Stanford
medical faculty from Johns Hopkins
law faculty from Harvard
engineering faculty from MIT
humanities faculty from Yale

They all had some important

questions to contribute

Arts: what do we know about how we have traditionally

depicted dragons?

Science: what do we know about its habitat and mating rituals?

Humanities: How is dragonese related to other known

languages?

Business: Is there a sustainable business in dragon hunting?

Medical: What is the physiology of the dragon?
Law: Do dragons have rights? Might there be lawsuits?
Engineering: Will we need to build roads and bridges or design
new weapons?

The New Curriculum

MCDB060a, Topics in Reproductive Biology of Dragons
ENGL342b, Mythology and Community in Eighteenth-Century Dragon\
Literature.
ENAS445a, Environmental Risk Assessment
ENAS194b, Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations with Applications.
HIST234b, Epidemics and Society in the West caused by Dragons since 1600.
PHYS461b, Relativity, Astrophysics, Cosmology, and Dragons.
PHIL427b, Vagueness and the Sorites Paradox.
PSYC149b, Dragon Communication and Human Language.
PSYC302b, How the Dragons Brain Works.

Second Year

Dragon Rights
Workshop

Intro to Negotiations

Contagious: How
Dragon-Related
Products, Ideas and
Behaviors Can Catch
On

Business Ethics and

Corporate
Responsibility in
Dragon Hunting

Dragons

and Globalization
Cost Benefit Analysis of
Slaying Dragons
Mathematical Modeling
and Its Application in
Financing Dragon
Expeditions
Urban Public Policy and
Private Economic
Development

Two Years Later:

there were 25 new
graduates (most with honors)
So, they went out
to slay dragons

Team 1 encountered the

dragon...

They tried to reason

with the dragon but
only one graduate could
remember how to
speak Dragonese

He had failed the

negotiation course

He really annoyed the

dragon

Team 2 found the dragon

and engaged it in battle

But they had never

fought a dragon before

It was faster than they

expected

Its flame was hotter

than they expected

Their plan of attack was

not well coordinated

The dragon had

a good lunch

Why are you teaching subjects?

asked the King

Why arent you teaching facility in

cognitive processing?
asked the King

The students should be living a

story
said the King

Part 4

Cognitive Processes

Some people will never learn

anything, for this reason, because
they understand everything too
soon.
Alexander Pope

I learned more about the

economy from one South
Dakota dust storm than I did
in all my years of college.
Hubert H. Humphrey

Comprehension

Modeling
Judgement

MODELING
TASK:Constructaseriesofwireframesforan
e-commercesite.

Students create an architecture for the site

that accurately models the relevant processes.

JUDGEMENT
TASK:ChoosebetweentwoPRfirmsto
helpyoumarketanewproduct.

Making a choice between competing options by

evaluating the strengths and weakness of each.

The whole of science is nothing more

than a refinement of everyday
thinking.
Albert Einstein

A man must be big enough to admit his

mistakes, smart enough to profit from
them, and strong enough to correct them.
John C. Maxwell

Scientific Reasoning

Prediction
Causation

PREDICTION
TASK:Predictwhatwillhappenwhenadrug
developmentemployeesabotagesatrial

Learning to pay attention to the key details of a business situation

necessary to formulate accurate predictions.

CAUSATION
TASK:Determinetherootcausesofthe
financialissuesfacedbyasmallwinery.

Learning how to find the cause of a current

problem by relying on a case base of similar
situations.

Diagnosis is not the

end, but the beginning
of practice.
Martin H. Fischer

All our knowledge begins with the senses,

proceeds then to the understanding, and
ends with reason. There is nothing higher
than reason.
Immanuel Kant

Data Interpretation

Diagnosis
Evaluation

DIAGNOSIS
TASK:Determinehowacompany scurrent
warehousingsystemiscausingdelays,
shortages,andqualitycontrolproblems.

Students analyze a detailed Directors Report and research

best practices to locate the source of the problems.

EVALUATION
TASK:Determinetheviabilityofanewbusinessidea.

Students look at raw financial data, sales projections,

company background, and interviews with key personnel

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is

well known to you that a thing does not
therefore cease to be true because it is
not accepted by many.
Spinoza

Simple solutions seldom are.

It takes a very unusual mind
to undertake analysis of the
obvious.
Alfred North Whitehead

Discovery

Experimentation
Negotiation

EXPERIMENTATION
TASK:Designasystemoffactories,transportation
methods,andwarehousesforatechnology
manufacturer.

Through trial and error, students learn the tradeoffs

related to supply chain optimization.

NEGOTIATION
TASK:Composeacounter-offertoabidfroma
venturecapitalfirm.

Students develop the ability to resolve a goal conflict by

developing mutually acceptable solutions.

To speak and to speak well are

two things. A fool may talk, but
a wise man speaks.
Ben Jonson

Leadership is influence.
John C. Maxwell

Speaking

Describing
Influence

DESCRIBING
TASK:Createawrittenandoralpresentation
defendingyoursolutiontoastrugglingwinery s
cashcrisis.

Students learn to effectively communicate the nature

of a situation in order to support an argument.

INFLUENCE
TASK:Developaseriesofquestionsgearedto
winthebusinessofapotentialclient.

Learning to anticipate a clients mindset and needs. Learning

communicate in order to achieve the desired results.

Plans are only good intentions unless the immediately

degenerate into hard work.
Peter Drucker

Coordination

Teamwork
Planning

TEAMWORK
TASK:Workwithateamtodevelopadetailed
launchplanforanewKaraokewebsite.

Students define the tasks, allocate tasks to team members, coordinate and
integrate completed work, and determine timelines for completion

PLANNING
TASK:Managethedevelopmentofanevent
planningproposal.

Students develop the ability to manage multiple needs and understand

which plans satisfy which goals.

Part 5

Change

we want this

not this

William Torrey Harris, US Commissioner of

Education from 1889 to 1906, wrote:
The great purpose of school can be realized
better in dark, airless, ugly places. It is to
master the physical self, to transcend the
beauty of nature. School should develop the
power to withdraw from the external world.
In 1905, Elwood Cubberlythe future Dean
of Education at Stanfordwrote that schools
should be factories
in which raw products, children, are to be
shaped and formed into finished
productsmanufactured like nails, and the
specifications for manufacturing will come
from government and industry.

School (and training) were

explicitly designed to insure that
people did not think for themselves

We cannot continue with

this kind of thinking about
education (or training)

this

not this

Liberal Education
vs.
Training
We want one class to have a liberal
education. We want another class, a
very much larger class of necessity,
to forgo the privilege of a liberal
education and fit themselves to
perform specific difficult manual
tasks

There is a 3rd choice

someone will decide to provide

global experiential learning
that is neither
academic nor mindless training

How to be the world

leader in IT
(for example)

develop and offer the best training on line in a learning

by doing approach
offer it worldwide in multiple languages

Goal: producing people who

can think for themselves and
are capable of adapting to a
changing world