Designing Communities

327 Pages·1998·19.353 MB·English

by  Wolff-Michael Roth (auth.)

DESIGNING COMMUNITIES
Science & Technology Education Library
VOLUME 3
SERIES EDITOR
Ken Tobin, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
EDITORIAL BOARD
Beverly Bell, University ofWaikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Reindeers Duit, University ofKiel, Germany
Kathlene Fisher, San Diego State University, California, USA
Barry Fraser, Curtin University ofTechnology, Perth, Australia
Chao-Ti Hsiung, National Taipei Teachers College, Taipei, Taiwan
Doris Jorde, University ofOslo, Norway
Michael Khan, Centrefor Education Policy Department, Braamfontein,
South Africa
Vince Lunetta, Pennsylvania State University, University Park,
Pennsylvania, USA
Pinchas Tamir, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
SCOPE
The book series Science & Technology Education Library provides a publication
forum for scholarshipinscienceeducation. Itaimsto publishinnovativebookswhich
are at the forefront of the field. Monographs as well as collectionsof papers will be
published.
Designing Communities
by
WOLFF-MICHAEL ROTH
Lansdowne Chair, Applied Cognitive Science and Science Education
Faculty of Education, University of Victoria
Victoria, RC, Canada V8W 3N4
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-7923-4704-0 ISBN 978-94-011-5562-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-5562-5
Printed an acid-free paper
Ali Rights Reserved
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1998
No part of this material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical,
inc1uding photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
To Sylvie and Margot
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface xiii
Learning in Moussac xiii
Overview ofthis Book xvii
Acknowledgments xxiii
PART I 1
FOUNDATIONS 1
1. Theoretical Foundations 3
1.1. Practices and Resources 3
1.1.1. Discursive Practices 4
1.1.2. Language Games Applied 6
1.1.2.1. Designing Workplaces 6
1.1.2.2. Designing and Studying Science Classrooms 8
1.1.3. Implications ofan Epistemology ofPractice 9
1.2. Communities ofPractice 10
1.2.1. Learning as Participation 11
1.2.2. Authenticity ofPractices 13
1.2.3. Actor Networks 14
1.3. Design and Designing 16
1.3.1. Designing as Professional Activity 18
1.3.2. Design as Learning Context 18
2. Empirical Foundations 21
2.1. Institutional Context 21
2.1.1. Parent Community 21
2.1.2. Teacher Community 22
2.1.3. Problems and Constraints 23
2.1.4. Improving Science Teaching 24
2.2. Study Context 25
2.2.1. Participants 25
2.2.2.1. Teachers 25
2.2.1.2. Students 27
2.2.2. Data Construction 29
2.2.2.1. Becoming Part ofthe Culture 30
2.2.2.2. Assessment ofKnowing and Learning 32
vii
Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS
2.2.2.3. Interaction of Data Collection and the
Emerging Curriculum 35
2.2.3. Data Interpretation 36
2.2.3.1. Constructing the Evidence 36
2.2.3.2. Credibility ofInterpretations 38
3. Engineering for Children Curriculum 41
3.1. Intended Curriculum 41
3.1.1. Conceptual Considerations 41
3.1.2. Teachers Goals 42
3.1.3. Overview ofthe Activities 43
3.2. Engineering Design Activities 43
3.2.1. Tools and Materials 43
3.2.1.1. Handyman Tools and Materials 43
3.2.1.2. Engineering Log Book 44
3.2.1.3. Engineering Techniques Board 44
3.2.2. Preparations for Engineering Design 45
3.2.2.1. Strengthening Structures 45
3.2.2.2. Stabilizing Structures 46
3.2.2.3. Designing a Creature 46
3.2.3. Design Challenges 47
3.2.3.1. Designing Towers 47
3.2.3.2. Designing Bridges 50
3.2.3.3. Designing Domes 50
3.3. Teaching Strategies 51
3.3.1. Creating an Engineering Language 51
3.3.1.1. Building on Existing Language 51
3.3.1.2. Creating New Language 52
3.3.1.3. Linking to Canonical Language 52
3.3.1.4. Reflecting On Action 52
3.3.1.5. Encouraging Emergent Design 53
3.3.2. Questioning Techniques 54
3.3.2.1. Context ofQuestioning 54
3.3.2.2. Content of Questions 55
3.3.2.3. Responses and Reactions to Questions 56
3.3.2.4. Gittes Questioning of Students in the
Context ofTheir Work 56
3.3.3. Creating a Community 58
3.3.3.1. Mediating Trouble in Collaborations 58
3.3.3.2. "Sharing" 60
3.3.3.3. Teachers as Learning Members ofthe
Community 61
3.4. Teacher Learning 62
3.4.1. Opportunities for Growth 63
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
3.4.2. Continuing Struggles 64
4. Knowing EngineeringDesign 66
4.1. Engineering Design Prior to "Engineering-for Children:
Structures" 67
4.1.1. Associations with and Talk about Engineering 68
4.1.2. Pre-Unit Engineering Challenges 73
4.2. Post-Unit Assessment ofEngineering Design Practices 74
4.2.1. Classification ofEngineering Design Knowledge 76
4.2.2. Engineering Design Language 80
4.2.3. Associating Engineering Design 81
4.2.4. Writing EngineeringDesign 85
4.2.5. Talking Engineering Design 90
4.2.6. Coping with Complexity and Interpretive Flexibility 94
4.2.7. Knowing to Negotiate Plans and Courses ofAction 95
PART II
TRANSFORMATIONS OF A COMMUNITY: THE
EMERGENCE OF SHARED RESOURCES AND PRACTICES 99
5. Circulating Resources 101
5.1. Case Studies of Resource Networking 104
5.1.1. Case Study 1: The Canadian Flag 104
5.1.2. Case Study 2: The Thimble 112
5.2. Inventors, Copy-Cats, and Everyone Else 116
5.2.1. Insiders 119
5.2.2. Outsiders-and Marginals 121
5.2.2.1. Outsiders 121
5.2.2.2. Marginals 124
5.2.3. Copying a Resource 126
6. CirculatingMaterial Practices 129
6.1. Technology, Society, and Knowledge 129
6.2. Socio-Technical Evolution: The Case ofthe Glue Gun 130
6.2.1. BriefHistory ofEvents 130
6.2.2. Limited Resources 131
6.2.3. Changing Practices 133
6.2.4. Changing Settings 136
6.2.5. Circulation ofPractices 139
6.2.5.1. Unsuccessful Circulation ofa Practice 145
6.3. Cultural Production and Reproduction in a Community of
Practice 147
6.3.1. Embodiment 147
x TABLE OF CONTENTS
6.3.2. Evolving Networks ofPractice 149
7. Emergence and Circulation ofDiscourse Practices 154
7.1. Trajectories ofCompetence 154
7.1.2. Snapshot ofan Evolving Community ofPractice 155
7.1.3. A Trajectory ofCompetence in Triangular Bracing 159
7.1.3.1. A Traditional Lesson about Triangles 159
7.1.3.2. Significant Teacher Scaffolding 163
7.1.3.3. Contingent Emergence ofTriangles 165
7.1.3.4. Competent Practice 168
7.1.4. Actor Network Approach to Changing Discourse
Practices 170
7.2. Learning to Tell Engineering Design Stories 173
7.3. Engineering Design Conversations 182
7.3.1. Presenting the Artifact 183
7.3.2. Extending Language Games 184
7.3.3. Using Artifacts as Conversational Anchors 186
7.3.4. Integrating Personal Experiences, Classroom
Discourse, and Formal Engineering 187
7.3.5. Sustaining Student-Centered Discussions 189
7.4. Teachers as Network Builders 193
PART III
NETWORKING ACROSS INTERSTICES 197
8. Networking Humans and Non-Humans 199
8.1. Heterogeneous Design Processes and Design Products 200
8.1.1. Design History ofan Earthquake-ProofTower 201
8.1.2. Material Basis ofDesigning and Design 212
8.1.2.1. Networking Tools 212
8.1.2.2. Networking Materials 214
8.1.2.3. Networking the Current Artifact 215
8.1.3. Social and Psychological Basis ofDesigning and
Design 216
8.1.3.1. Networking Individuals 216
8.1.3.2. Networking the Embedding Culture 216
8.1.3.3. Networking Teachers 217
8.2. Ontology of Resources 218
8.2.1. Interpretive Flexibility ofPlans and Artifacts 218
8.2.2. Ontology of Rules 221
8.3. Artifacts as Structuring Resources in Interaction 225
8.3.1. Inextricability ofThinking and Acting 226
8.3.2. How Artifacts Constrain Interpretive Flexibility 228
8.4. Toward a New Conception ofProblem Solving 233
TABLE OF CONTENTS xi
8.4.1. Case Studies ofProblem Solving 233
8.4.1.1. Flexible Constitution ofProblems 237
8.4.1.2. Ontology ofProblems and Solutions 238
8.4.2. Micro-, Meso-, and Macro-Problems 241
8.4.3. Negotiating Problems and Solutions 243
8.5. Designing as Context for Learning 246
9. Networking Individuals and Groups 250
9.1. Networking Within and Across Groups 254
9.2. Case Studies ofNetworking 259
9.2.1. Networking Within Groups 259
9.2.2. Networking between Groups 266
9.2.3. Teachers' Contribution to Network Construction 268
9.2.3.1. Instituting Constraints 268
9.2.3.2. Scaffolding the Construction ofAccounts of
Collective Activity 270
9.3. Networking and the Emergence ofCulture, Power, and
Norms 271
PARTlY
CONCLUSIONS 277
10. Designing Knowledge-Building Communities 279
10.1. Designing for the Circulation ofResources and Practices 281
10.2. Artifacts and the Networking ofCommunities 283
10.3. Designing and Assessing Collective Learning Experiences 285
10.4. Designing for Authentic Problem Solving 286
10.5. From Research to Practice: Curriculum on Simple
Machines 288
10.5.1. Whole-Class Conversations around Teacher-
Designed Artifacts 289
10.5.2. Small-Group Conversations around Teacher-
Designed Artifacts 291
10.5.3. Small-Group Conversations around Student-
Designed Artifacts 291
10.5.4. Whole-Class Conversations around Student-
Designed Artifacts 291
10.5.5. Making it Work 292
11. Epilogue 294
11.1. Participating is Learning 294
11.2. Networking Teachers- Learning to Teach Science by
Participating in the Practice ofScience Teaching 297