This article challenges the dominant view that the transmission model of instruction is inherently authoritarian and outdated. While constructivism’s ethical critique of one-way teaching rightly highlights the fact of individual learner agency, it falls short as a standalone theory, offering only the slogan “knowledge is actively constructed.” I show instead that the transmission model inherently fosters essential mutuality: a continuously negotiated joint-representational space that bridges private experience and shared symbols. Drawing on three interdisciplinary frameworks—Frith’s joint representation, Dor’s symbolic landscape, and Clark and Chalmers’ extended mind—I illustrate how transmission naturally accommodates joint-representational meaning-making without sacrificing individual sovereignty. Far from being a relic, a nuanced transmission model remains the most robust foundation for contemporary educational theory and practice, uniting the intuitive and the codified in genuine conversational bridging.
This article challenges the dominant view that the transmission model of instruction is inherently authoritarian and outdated. While constructivism’s ethical critique of one-way teaching rightly highlights the fact of individual learner agency, it falls short as a standalone theory, offering only the slogan “knowledge is actively constructed.” I show instead that the transmission model inherently fosters essential mutuality: a continuously negotiated joint-representational space that bridges private experience and shared symbols. Drawing on three interdisciplinary frameworks—Frith’s joint representation, Dor’s symbolic landscape, and Clark and Chalmers’ extended mind—I illustrate how transmission naturally accommodates joint-representational meaning-making without sacrificing individual sovereignty. Far from being a relic, a nuanced transmission model remains the most robust foundation for contemporary educational theory and practice, uniting the intuitive and the codified in genuine conversational bridging.
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