Note: The following is reproduced from the web page for the 1996 meeting.

The SIG had an exciting program at its first full meeting at AERA. There were three "events" last year: A business meeting, a symposium and a set of seven roundtables. Each had its special attractions. Thanks are due to Bill Doll for sheperding this program to completion.

(More information about the AERA program is [or was] available from an informational page at the AERA website, its gopher hole, and a very useful web-based engine [link gone] which searches the program.)

SIG/Chaos and Complexity Theory Meeting

6:15--8:15 Sheraton, Liberty 4, 3rd

PRESIDENT Robert Kahn, University of Missouri, Kansas City

SECRETARY-TREASURER John St. Julien, University of Illinois,

Urbana-Champaign

DEMONSTRATOR John Geake, Southern Cross University, Australia

Potential members are encouraged to join us for the evening! Members are encouraged to bring a friend. This session will probably be our best chance to "mill" and get acquainted.

At the business meeting we will be reporting on progress during the first year of the group, as well as electing new officers. When this is done we have two exciting talks.

First, Bill Doll will address the meeting. His title is, "Reflections on Complexity and Chaos."

Bill is a Professor of Curriculum at Louisana State University. He has written widely on issues of chaos and postmodernism in education including: A Post-Modern Perspective on Curriculum (1993).

Then Jeffrey Goldstein will give a Demonstration on Phase Graphing Techniques.

Jeff is Professor of Organizational Behavior at Adelphi College. His publications include The Unschackled Organization: Facing the Challenge of Unpredictability through Spontaneous Reorganization (1994) and Brainwaves for a Diverse Workplace (1994). He is former President of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences.

SIG/Chaos and Complexity Theory Interactive Symposium

8:15--10:15 Sheraton, Madison 4, 5th

CHAIR David Yaden, Jr., USC

PARTICIPANTS

Brent Davis, University of British Columbia; Dennis Sumara, Simon Fraser University

DISCUSSANT John St. Julien, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

Davis and Sumara push us to consider the ethical implications different understandings of complexity. The presentation will draw on The Collapse of Chaos, Discovering simplicity in a complex world by Cohen and Stuart. Participants are encouraged to pick up a copy; one of the tasks of the SIG will be to develop a common frame of reference-having a reading or two in common will certainly help!

SIG/Chaos and Complexity Theory

9:35--10:15 Hilton, East Ballroom Foyer, 3rd

TABLE 3 Chaos Theory in Retrospect: Synthesis of a 5-Year Study in

Educational Administration. Billie Blair, CSU, San Bernardino

TABLE 4 Metaphors of Chaos Theory and Some Implications for

Educational Leadership in Democratic Schools. Jeanne Fiene,

University of Missouri, Columbia

TABLE 5 The Role of Systemic Change in Effecting Liberation and

Dissipation of Deep Structures: One School's Story Through

the Lens of Chaos and Complexity. Patrick Jenlink, Learning

Systems Change Group; Alison Carr, Penn State University

TABLE 6 Application of Chaos Theory to Family Interaction. Mattmijs

Koopmans, Board of Education, Newark

TABLE 7 A Rigorous Indeterminacy? Chaos, Complexity, and Curriculum

Inquiry. Noel Gough, Deakin University, Australia

TABLE 8 [New Title!] Moving from Deconstruction to 'Enconstruction':
Creative Literacy and Phase Diagrams. Robert Kahn,

University of Missouri, Kansas City

TABLE 9 A Generative Transformational Approach to Educational

Theory. Jean McNiff, independent consultant

As a brief survey of the titles will reveal, educators are applying complexity theories to a wide range of phenomena. The roundtable format will allow us a chance to discuss these ideas with their authors in an intimate setting. Come out and get an earful.




Comments and corrections to John St. Julien at: stjulien@udel.edu