Making Sense Through Participation

Abstract

Abstract. In this chapter we discuss the issue of social differences in relation to learning. In theories on co-operative learning or collaborative learning social differences are treated as characteristics of individual learners. The focus on learning as a social process is primarily elaborated in terms of interaction between pupils and the combined construction of knowledge. Sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, Lave & Wenger), however, understands 'social' not only in terms of knowledge/meaning being constructed in interaction with others, but also in terms of the cultural practices/activities informing these interaction processes. Learning can be understood as increasing participating in communities of practice. As social differences are an intrinsic part of the culture in which students are learning to participate, these are also an inherent aspect of learning processes in schools. Students learn to participate in practices in different ways, depending on their social position, and thus develop distinguished cultural identities. In this chapter we elaborate on this tenet, using examples from various empirical research projects on learning in secondary education. We not only show how social differences in the cultural practices that underpin learning influence what is learned by whom, but also explore the consequences of this perspective for the pedagogical space of the school.. INTRODUCTIONStudents have been working in groups on an assignment in a technology lesson. They were supposed to make a bridge construction. Afterwards the fourteen year old students comment on the process:Rose: 'Well, the group that did best, were really clever at it. They had chosen their materials really well, their bridge could carry 36 kilos, and that's quite a lot. They did have two girls in that group but they didn't do as much as the boys. The boys were much quicker in seeing what to do. They did it just like that, don't ask me how, but their bridge could really carry a lot, quite smart of them, actually. I couldn't do it.'Dennis: 'The girls weren't interested at all when we started, but now some are beginning to get interested. They like it when you help them. There are things that they don't know, that you have to explain to them. But the simple things, when they realise that it can be fun, then they find it nice. They are rummaging a bit together, and when it all works more or less, they find it fun. Now they start to apply things that they learned last year, but at the time they didn't want to participate … thought they couldn't do it, and the teacher was busy helping the girls all the time.'More and more educational theories emphasise that learning is not an individual but a social process, and that explicitly making use of the social dimension of learning processes, for instance by introducing group work, fosters learning (Van der Linden, Erkens, Schmidt & Renshaw, 2000). In the learning situations sketched above, plenty of social processes are going on: intended and unintended processes, processes that foster learning and pro...

Learning to collaborate: a study of nursing students’ experience of inter‐professional education at one UK university

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Modelo de análisis de videos para el estudio de procesos de construcción de conocimiento matemático

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