on the Practices of Learning Scientists
Nichole Pinkard
Center for School Improvement, University of Chicago, 1313 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773-834-0276, Fax: 773-702-2010
Email: pinkard@csi.uchicago.edu
Abstract: Research on how learner's cultural and social histories mediates opportunities to learn with computer-based learning tools is seriously under-conceptualized in the field of learning sciences. I argue, that in order for learning scientists to create theories of learning and/or learning tools that provide equitable opportunities to learn for all learners, the field needs to rethink how learners' social and cultural histories impact the conceptualization of questions we explore, the population of users upon which we study the phenomena we are exploring, our process of design and or methods of analyzing the effectiveness of our designs. All facets of our research process need to be reexamined to ensure that our theories and designs are inclusive of the nuances of human experiences influenced by learners' social and cultural histories.
Some people believe it possible to draw on aspects of cultural experience to facilitate some form of teaching and learning. When we try to do this, however, it's a shot in the dark. We don't really understand what that nexus is about. It would be incredibly important to have a kind of cultural analysis, a linguistic analysis, even collaboration from the worlds of entertainment and design, to help us think about how to design systems that make meaningful contact to cultural experience so that people learn better. (Louis Gomez in an address to the National Science Foundation)
Below I argue, that in order for learning scientists to create theories of learning and/or learning tools that provide equitable opportunities to learn for all students, the field needs to rethink how learners' social and cultural histories impact the conceptualization of questions we explore, the population of users upon which we study the phenomena we are exploring, our process of design and or methods of analyzing the effectiveness of our designs. All facets of our research process need to be reexamined to ensure that our theories and designs are inclusive of the nuances of human experiences influenced by learners' social and cultural histories.
As a learning scientist by training and a socialcultural researcher in training I have often been torn by the theoretical overlapping of ideology but disconnect in practice that exists between these two research communities. As a learning scientist I am concerned with creating learning environments that are pedagogically sound, enhance learning and build upon children's prior knowledge. As a sociocultural researcher, I am focused on understanding how who we are as people influences how we learn and interact and make sense of the world and the tools that we use to mediate our interaction in the world. In theory these two research communities appear to have common concerns. However, a deeper analysis of the practices of these research communities reveals that because each starts from a different unit of analysis, their research findings never quite inform the practices of each other. In this paper, I argue that, particularly for the field of learning sciences, as more and more of the learning science research moves from the laboratory to the diversity of real-word classrooms, there are lessons to learn from sociocultural theory that can enable technologies designed by learning technologists to speak to all students in the classrooms in which we enter.
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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Embracing Diversity in the Learning Sciences:Proceedings: June 22-26, 2004, University of California Los Angeles, Santa Monica, CA.
Contributors: Yasmin B. Kafai - Editor, William A. Sandoval - Editor, Noel Enyedy - Editor, Alfhea Scott Nixon - Editor, Francisco Herrera - Editor.
Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Place of publication: Mahwah, NJ.
Publication year: 2004.
Page number: 412.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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