Before introducing the Parallel Instruction theory we have to know the idea of the parallelism.
Parallelism is a phenomenon that occurs frequently in class and in ordinary life, e.g. in museums or libraries where one is flooded with information. For example in a classroom the geography teacher will talk about a country while the pupils has a book in front of them; a map will be visible in front of the class; and in a glass case they may even see a display of various pieces of equipment from that country. A second example of parallelism is learning pronunciation and writing word perfect with headphones and a cassette recorder with instruction and visual paper in front of you.
The Parallel instruction theory is based on the concept that in a simulation environment everything should be in view in parallel way such as view instruction on screen or hearing voice. Apart from the graphic output of the computer simulation program, the instruction program, possibly a help system or video window, and the paper instruction materials can be seen. For example on the CNN television channel when you are watching the news you will hear the Announcer and behind of him/her you will see one or more pictures, in that time you are hearing the news and seeing the events on the screen. The voice of the Announcer will help you to illustrate the pictures and which picture s/he are talking about it.
This theory supposes that for simulation environments the need for instruction is great but parallelism is essential (Min, 1992). Open learning environments for simulation fail without instruction or with poorly shaped instructions. A complete learning environment with computer simulation should provide, parallel to the core simulation, instructional possibilities on the other elements of the dynamic process. This instruction should include explanation of the processes, instruction on the entities involved and explicit statements of the relationships between entities. This instruction should always be accessible to the audience.
The Dual Code theory is based on the general view that cognition consists of the activity of symbolic (nonverbal) representational system on computer program that is specialized for dealing with environmental information. This view implies that representational systems must incorporate perceptual, affective, and behavioural knowledge. Human cognition is unique in that it has become specialized for dealing simultaneously with language and with non-verbal objectives and events. Moreover, the language system is peculiar in that it deals directly with linguistic input and output (in the form of speech or writing) while at the same time serving a symbolic function with respect to nonverbal objects, events. The most general assumption in dual coding theory is that there is two classes of phenomena handled cognitively by separate subsystems, one specialized for the representation and processing of information concerning nonverbal objects and events, the other specialized for dealing with language.
The idea of separate subsystems means that the two systems are assumed to be structurally and functionally distinct. Structurally, they differ in the nature of representational units and the way the units are organized into higher order structures. Functionally, they are independent in the sense that either system can be active without the other or both can be active in parallel.
At the same time, they are functionally interconnected so that activity in one system can initiate activity in the other. The structural and functional distinctions combine to produce qualitative differences in the kinds of processing for which the two systems are specialized.
The structural representations of dual coding theory refer to relatively stable long-term memory information corresponding to perceptually identifiable objects and activities, both verbal and nonverbal. Processing refers to functional activities that engage the two classes of representation, including activation of either by appropriate stimuli, activation of one by the other, organization and elaboration of information within each, as well as transformation, manipulation, and retrieval of information from either class.
The Parallel instruction and Dual Code theory are interconnected to each other for making complete simulation program. As the PI theory refer to the open multi windows in computer simulation program, in some of these widows you could see the video windows or hear voice that help the users to illustrate some figures, graphs or information that represent a especial phenomenon in our life. The dual code theory refers to that what will happen in the user’s minds when they are hearing voice and observe the computer simulation program. This theory will illustrate how could someone organise these information in his/her mind and s/he could precisely understand the phenomenon that is represented by computer simulation program.
| Orthogonal conceptual relation between symbolic systems and sensorimotor systems with examples of types of modality-specific information represented in each subsystem |
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Symbolic Systems Sensorimotor Verbal Nonverbal Visual Visual words Visual objects Auditory Auditory words Environmental sounds Haptic Writing patterns 'Feel' of objects Taste -- Taste memories Smell -- Olfactory memories |
This analysis was original proposed specifically to accommodate episodic memory phenomena (Paivio, 1972) but it is applicable to cognition in general. It represents a kind of modularity position without the exclusive nativism associated with recent computational views on the modularity of mind (fodor, 1983). It is more closely related to empirically based approach that emphasize a high degree of functional specificity between and within sensory subsystems, for example, rather than being viewed as a single system for producing an integrated representation of the external world, the visual system appears to consist of a network of the independent sensorimotor channels (Goodale, 1983).
A dictionary defines system as a combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole familiar examples include railroad system, solar system, nervous system and circularity system. Such systems are mainly functional in character, or at least the structural integrity is not obvious. For example, language is generally viewed as a functional system, although it actually consists of a number of subsystems, especially in literate societies. Thus, in addition to the auditory-vocal system, it also includes the coordinated activities related to reading and writing. Gearing singers may have all of these functional subsystems for comprehension and production of speech, writing, and sign language. Still other variants include systems specialized for processing Braille, semaphore signals, Morse code, and typing. A further example is the bilingual or multilingual individual, who has two or more functional language systems, each comprising a set of subsystems for speaking, understanding, reading, and writing.
The different subsystems comprise an integrated whole in the sense that each can be functionally mapped onto any other for example, each could be expressed in some common from such as speech or writing, or in one language or the other in the case of the bilingual. At the same time, each is a separate, integrated subsystem that can function more-or-less independently, as evidenced, for example, by the selective effects of focal brain lesions, which might impair one subsystem while leaving others functionally intact.
The structural information is characteristically organized in a synchronous or simultaneous manner into perceptual hierarchies or nested sets (Paivio, 1971). An example is the human face, which consists of eyes, nose, lips, and other holistic components that are themselves composed of still smaller parts iris, pupil nostril, and so on. All are part of a synchronously organized hierarchical structure, and that structure is itself part of a larger structure, the human body. The meaning of simultaneous or synchronous organization is apparent at the perceptual level: the organized elements of a face are seen together in time because that is the nature of the visual system. At the cognitive level, this characteristic is illustrated be mental images of complex objects, the parts of which are simultaneously available for processing (Paivio, 1975b).
The activation of one system by the other implies that representations in the two systems must be interconnected. The interconnections are incomplete or partial in the sense that "access routes" are only available between certain representations in each system. Thus, a structural connection exists between those representations, but interunit processing is nonetheless optional in the metaphorical sense that the pathways are only "used" or activated under certain conditions but not others. This means, for example, that picture naming is not automatic although it is highly likely to occur under some circumstances.
This conceptualization of the structural-functional relation between systems is important theoretically because it provides for the possibility of flexible yet organized processing activity of the symbolic systems, so that they can function independently and additively for some purposes and coordinate their activities for others.
Transformation processes, this deals with the hypothetical processes that account for our ability to manipulate symbolic information activity so as to change the order of representational components or otherwise transform representational structure.
The verbal transformations presumably operate on a sequential frame, imposing changes in temporal order or substitution of new elements for ones that occupy a particular temporal slot. These sequential changes could entail simple reordering of a randomly ordered list of words, or syntactic transformations analogous to those described by Chmosky (1975).
Nonverbal transformations, on the other hand, are governed by the structural and processing constraints associated with nonverbal representations. Thus, they can include spatial transformations and changes in the sensory properties of representational content. For example, spatial transformations as manifested in imagery include mental rotations on any plan, changes in imaged size, distortions of shape, and changes in the relative position of two or more objects. All of these are dynamic changes, so they could be regarded as imagined movements of different kinds.