The Interconnected and Dynamic Nature of Layers of Learning

• In Event: Layers of Learning: Working Toward Mediated Praxis by Positioning Researchers, Practitioners, and Students as Learners

Abstract

Objective
With a focus on the positioning of all participants as learners, we examined how ideas flowed and grew across three seemingly distinct, physically separate settings that were actually intimately connected through intentional design of the larger learning ecology—an innovative STEM-oriented after-school program, an associated undergraduate pre-service teacher course, and instructional team planning sessions. In this context, we were guided by the following research question: What are the affordances and constraints of designing for layers of learning on (a) individual learning; (b) collective learning; and (c) the larger ecology?

Theoretical framework
Grounded in cultural historical theories of learning, social design experiments attempt to re-organize traditional forms of learning and re-mediate functional systems by saturating environments with new tools and practices oriented toward transformative ends (Gutiérrez & Vossoughi, 2010). Designed to foster mediated praxis, social design experiments utilize layers of learning as a key design element to maintain an ecological perspective in which all participants are positioned as learners (Lee, 2010; Mendoza & Gutiérrez, 2015). We expand layers of learning as a way to gain insight in to the design of social design experiments.

Data sources and methods
Over the course of a semester, we collected data from three different sites: an undergraduate class, an after-school program, and an office where instructional and team meetings took place. These data included 35 hours of undergraduate classroom interactions, 30 hours of audio from the instructional team and research team meetings, and 100 artifacts (75 field notes designed to help students integrate theory and practice, and 25 end of semester self-reflections). Video and audio data were content logged, coded and analyzed through multiple analytic memos and data displays (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

Results
In this paper we present two key findings associated with both design and outcomes layers of learning. The first is the interconnectedness of design which underscores that to foster deep learning, layers of learning must co-exist with two additional design elements: 1) boundary artifacts, or mediational tools that can be found both physically and tangibly across three sites to work toward the unification of theory and practice, and 2) change lab principles, which foster critical reflection and a forum to work through tensions. Second, we examine how, at least in part, the dynamic nature of the learning ecology and the advancement of the team’s research agenda was fueled by the engagement of reflective practices by the undergraduates and graduate students.

Scholarly significance
By moving beyond empirical description of the layers of learning, this study contributes to the understanding of design and pedagogical practices that seek to privilege joint activity and distributed expertise in ways that challenge the binary roles of teacher and student (Rogoff et al., 2003). Further, through examining the ways that layers of learning embed research within the learning ecology allows us to conceptualize strong university and community/school partnerships in a way that promote sustainable practices, continuous growth of the learning ecology and the increased knowledge of pedagogical practices and designs that foster transformative change.

Authors

• Elizabeth Mendoza, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Kris D. Gutiérrez, University of California - Berkeley