Why the Periphery Can Be More Vital Than the Core: Extracurriculars as Powerful Learning Environments

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: Meaning Making and Perspective Taking in Learning Environments

Abstract

While most research on K-12 schooling focuses on disciplinary classes, in this paper we argue that extracurriculars are an overlooked site for powerful learning. Drawing on extensive case studies of theater and debate in two very different schools, this research seeks to unpack the nature of these learning environments. While the particulars vary considerably, we find that these environments are promising platforms for learning because they have an animating and clear purpose, because students have choice over whether to be there, because they build community, in part by creating interdependent roles; and because there is apprenticeship learning, and opportunities to play the whole game at junior level. Implications of what these “peripheral” spaces can teach core classes are discussed.

Authors

• Jal David Mehta, Harvard University

• Pooja Bakhai, Harvard University