A boundary-crossing approach to support students’ integration of statistical and work-related knowledge

Abstract

Vocational students and beginning professionals typically find it hard to integrate the mathematics and statistics that they have learned at school with work-related knowledge.To explore how such an integration process could be supported, we conducted an intervention in secondary vocational laboratory education. Our boundary-crossing approach was informed by the literature on boundary crossing and accompanying learning mechanisms (e.g., reflection in the form of perspective making and taking, and transformation in the form of hybridization). We hypothesized that reflection, as making and taking perspectives on school-taught and work-related knowledge, could lead to transformation, i.e., help students integrate these types of knowledge into a hybridized whole. Data collection included video and audio recordings of five 1-h meetings with three students, the data from their research projects, and interviews with the teacher and two workplace supervisors. The analysis of the students' reasoning during the meetings revealed that their level of integrating school-taught statistics and work-related knowledge increased significantly and with a medium effect size. This suggests that a boundary-crossing approach can support students in integrating school-taught and workrelated knowledge.

An inferentialist perspective on the coordination of actions and reasons involved in making a statistical inference

“…In our view, this highlights the need for a holistic view on concepts and techniques, and shows that integration of different types of knowledge is required to draw sensible conclusions (cf. Bakker and Akkerman 2014).…”

“…Such a focus does not necessarily give much insight into the fine-grained inferential structure of practices or how actions, knowledge, and emotion can be interwoven. Yet such fine-grained analysis may be useful for designing learning environments, not only in vocational education where actions and practical knowledge are evidently important (Bakker and Akkerman 2014), but also in general education that aims to take coordination (coherence and integration) seriously and seeks for holistic development of students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes.…”

“…Bakker and Akkerman (2014) propose that inferentialism may provide a useful theoretical framework to analyze vocational and workplace knowledge as coordinating various types of reasoning and actions (see also Guile 2006). In the current article, we suggest that the different types of reasoning (practical, mathematical, statistical, and chemical) and actions become coordinated through inferential relations into webs of reasons and actions.…”

“…The case is one of the knowledge and actions required to reduce uncertainty so as to arrive at a valid statistical inference (not Sam's learning process). Sam (pseudonym) is 19 years old and attends the highest level (4) of a Dutch senior secondary vocational laboratory school (MBO) with which Bakker had prolonged engagement through both survey and design-based research (Bakker 2014b;Bakker and Akkerman 2014). This level of vocational education is below bachelor level; but with a diploma, Sam would be entitled to enter higher professional education at a bachelor level.…”

Learning and teaching in the regional learning environment : enabling students and teachers to cross boundaries in multi-stakeholder practices

“…But, learning at the boundaries does not happen easily and needs explicit support (Akkerman & Bakker, 2011;Ludvigsen et al, 2010;Wenger, 2000). Whether explicit support stimulates students' boundary crossing activities and learning is a question that has not yet been studied in the context of higher education (Akkerman & Van Eijck, 2013;Bakker & Akkerman, 2014). In earlier studies, the theoretical concept of boundary crossing is found to provide a good lens for understanding learning that occurs when people learn across practices (e.g.…”