developmental approaches/expansive learning/design experiments

From: Bill Barowy (wbarowy@lesley.edu)
Date: Mon Apr 30 2001 - 13:21:55 PDT


From LBE (the 21st page of chapter 3)

"What is not so drab is that this view suggests a new approach for developmental and learning research. Instead of asking how the individual subject developed into what he is, the developmentalist might start by asking, how the objects and structures of the life-world (themselves understood as activity systems) have been and are created by human beings, how something objectively new is developed all the time. The researcher would thus start with Bronfenbrenner's 'train', but as a train which is continuously constructed and reconstructed by its passengers. On the other hand, this kind of constructivism does not mean seeing 'individuals as producers of their own development'. Rather, individuals are seen as co-producers of societal and cultural development and only indirectly as producers of their own development. Consequently, a learning researcher might not be satisfied with recording what is learned within the period of the initial acquisition of new knowledge or skills. Rather, he would concentrate on the practical application as an integral part of the process of learning and trace the mutations of the acquired contents as they become integrated into the life activities of the learner, i.e., truly socialized and generalized. "

At first glance, what is mentioned above seems to advocate research changes in a similar direction as what some others have been more recently advocating with Design Experiment approaches :

"Traditional research often does not provide the information that is most useful to educators for making changes. Understanding of how different parts of the instructional context may be influenced by a particular innovation is needed. What processes and problems can be expected? What are the effects on the learning environment and outcomes?

Documenting that a particular set of materials can lead to better learning-in conditions designed to control for all variables other than the technology resources themselves-provides initial evidence that the technology is worth trying. But this kind of information has been seldom shown to be sufficient for teachers and administrators to effectively adopt a new approach. "

[pause]
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