1 Initial Sketch Acquisition

Imitation, Explanation, and Learning Apprentices

Infinitesimal creativity cannot begin from nowhere. Assimilation presupposes a schema within which experience can be interpreted; accommodation presupposes a schema that can fail and be revised. A creator must therefore begin with some provisional theory of the domain. That theory may be supplied explicitly, reconstructed from demonstrations, acquired through coached practice, inherited from an earlier domain, or assembled from all four.

This chapter makes that initialization process explicit. Its target is not a perfect theory. It is an inspectable first sketch whose objects, arrows, equations, observers, and uncertainties are explicit enough for subsequent learning to begin. The sketch remains corrigible: acquisition establishes a starting declaration, not an immutable ontology.

. The DIAL cycle begins only after a learner possesses a provisional sketch. Initial sketch acquisition constructs that starting point from instruction, demonstration, explanation, interaction, and prior theories. Assimilation and accommodation then test and revise what has been acquired.