Reconsidering P-Prims Theory From the Viewpoint of Situated Cognition

Andrea diSessa's work appears to be representative of the 1980s research on the preconceptions and epistemology of physics. His theoretical framework also seems to be representative of 1980s cognitive science theory such as mental models. Although my theoretical perspective, based on a Gibsonian and situated cognition viewpoint, is different from diSessa's, I agree with him on many points. At the same time, however, I also feel that we have to reinterpret his contributions from a different perspective. In this commentary, therefore, I summarize how the situated cognition view can reinterpret diSessa's work as representative of 1980s research on the epistemology of physics.