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Thanks to Mike for bringing the cognitive science/computer modelling literature to our table.  And to all for a rich conversation growing out of it.  The challenge is indeed, as Alice said, to "bridge between computers and babies," or perhaps between what is going on in all of us at very small scales and what we directly experience of others and of ourselves.  I, for one, like a lot the notion of thinking of "feedback" as being a quite general idea that works at multiple scales, both intrapersonal and interpersonal (see Loopiness: conflict, humanness, and the universe) , and can be encouraged without the normally associated concept of error (see Replacing blame with generosity in classrooms).   Among the issues that came up that I want to think more about is the relation between small scale learning and "representations," the relation between being sensitive to external feedback and being sensitive to internal feedback, and the implications for creating educational environments that "open out" rather than being "closed."