Use 'think like a ...' perspective shifting to mobilise different ways of knowing on a problem¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article operationalises epistemic control through the phrase 'think like a ...': groups adopt different disciplinary or role perspectives as the problem-solving process requires — thinking like an economist, an artist, a lawyer, an accountant, a student, a parent, an expert, a novice or a competitor. This deliberate perspective shifting focuses attention on aspects of the problem beyond a default disciplinary view and helps groups resist limiting assumptions about what the problem is and which knowledge forms are relevant.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Students need prior epistemic awareness of their own discipline's games and forms so adopted perspectives are understood as ways of knowing rather than stereotypes

Constraints¶

• The article notes the most appropriate disciplines may not be clear until the problem is defined, so groups should trust emergent creativity and not limit ways of knowing too early

Target Learners¶

• upper secondary, undergraduate and postgraduate students working in groups

Target Learning Goals¶

• mobilising appropriate ways of knowing for different aspects of complex problems
• avoiding perspective blindness and premature epistemic lock-in

Affordances¶

• Epistemic Control Framework Four Stages

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Gardiner Paul. (2020). Learning to think together: Creativity, interdisciplinary collaboration and epistemic control. Thinking Skills and Creativity. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100749