Interest and Self-Sustained Learning as Catalysts of Development: A Learning Ecology Perspective

Abstract

Adolescents often pursue learning opportunities both in and outside school once they become interested in a topic. In this paper, a learning ecology framework and an associated empirical research agenda are described. This framework highlights the need to better understand how learning outside school relates to learning within schools or other formal organizations, and how learning in school can lead to learning activities outside school. Three portraits of adolescent learners are shared to illustrate different pathways to interest development. Five types of self-initiated learning processes are identified across these case portraits. These include the seeking out of text-based informational sources, the creation of new interactive activity contexts such as projects, the pursuit of structured learning opportunities such as courses, the exploration of media, and the development of mentoring or knowledge-sharing relationships. Implications for theories of human development and ideas for research are discussed.

Shoot For The Moon! The Mentors and the Middle Schoolers Explore the Intersection of Design Thinking and STEM

“…Vande Zande (2007) characterizes design thinking as a means of creative problem solving that relates thought and action directly and dynamically. Design has the potential to impact learning-to-learn skills such as working in groups, following a process, defining problems, and creating solutions (Barron, 2006). The methodologies of design thinking and rapid prototyping play important roles in developing transformative advances in learning and teaching (Cobb, DiSessa, Lehrer et al, 2003); (Design-Based Research Collective, 2003).…”

Rural Education in South Africa: Concepts and Practices

“…I subscribe to Barron's (2004Barron's ( , 2006 notion of learning as an activity that takes place within, between and across contexts (constituting a learning ecology). An ecology, therefore, may be construed as an environment that fosters and supports the creation of communities.…”

What have we learnt about mobile LifeLong Learning (mLLL)?

“…Learning, independently from the means used to deliver or organize it, is here in an ancillary position with respect to the true objective: the creation of skilled workers, who are able to improve the competitiveness of our societies and economies, helping to construct the knowledge society (Biesta, 2006;Brine, 2006;Coffield, 1999). Barron (2006), criticizing this vision, proposed to consider LLL as aiming to support learners in their transitions across certain borders: from school to workplace, and vice versa; from formal to informal learning; from individualized to socialized learning.…”