Taking Explanation Seriously

Explanation has three richly entwined roles in science. Good explanations are central to inspired teaching. However, as David Deutsch has argued, building on work by Karl Popper, explanation also plays a central role in the creation, refinement, correction and refutation of scientific theory. This role in science is widely overlooked. The third role concerns the links between Embodied Cognition and the Cognitive Science of Explanation, as explored by Lakoff and Nunez in Where Mathematics Comes From. Explorations of aspects of these interconnections have been carried out in domains such as Music (Zbikowsky, Wilkie et al.) and HCI (Hurtienne). These three complementary roles of taking explanation seriously help illuminate my teaching and research, particularly in the following areas.

Object-Orientation via Pure Objects First
Embodied Cognition and Music Interaction
Reflective Composition - rethinking the foundations of computing.
Direct Combination - rethinking interaction between multiple objects
Geometric Algebra- using spatial intuitions to engage fully with the algebra of space.
Harmony Space - using spatial intuition to understand, create and analyse tonal harmony.
Strophic - using spatial intuition to understand, create and analyse manipulate rhythm.
Quantum Computing: taking explanation seriously

Some suggestive examples