What is Sensory Augmentation/Extension

The practice of educational technology has long been driven by a relatively restricted set of operational metaphors: typically, computers are identified as potential “teachers” or “tutors” of material or (arguably more productively) as “learning tools” for students. Recent developments in technology suggest the advent of another, perhaps still more fruitful metaphor – namely viewing educational technology (not limited to computers) as a means of sensory extension. In this view, technology is seen not as a repository of content, but rather as an extension of scientific instrumentation (telescopes, microscopes, bubble chambers) and prosthetics (eyeglasses, cochlear implants). This chapter is intended as an initial, partly speculative exploration of what it would mean for science and arts education to rethink the role of technology in terms of sensory extension rather than classroom instruction.