The field of educational research lacks a methodology for the study of learning that does not begin with humans, their aims, and their interests. The Materiality of Learning seeks to overcome this human-centered mentality by developing a novel spatial approach to the materiality of learning. Drawing on science and technology studies (STS), Estrid Sørensen compares an Internet-based 3D virtual environment project in a fourth-grade class with the class’s work with traditional learning materials, including blackboards, textbooks, notebooks, pencils, and rulers. Taking into account pupils’ and teachers’ physical bodies, Professor Sørensen analyzes the multiple forms of technology, knowledge, and presence that are enacted with the materials. Featuring detailed ethnographic descriptions and useful end-of-chapter summaries, this book is an important reference for professionals and graduate or postgraduate students interested in a variety of fields, including educational studies, educational psychology, social anthropology, and STS.
Author(s): Estrid Sorensen
Series: Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 224
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Series Foreword......Page 11
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgments......Page 13
1 A Minimal Methodology......Page 15
Going Beyond Technology as a Means to an End......Page 19
Paths Toward the Study of the Materiality of Learning......Page 22
The Chapters......Page 24
Beyond Conceptual Confrontation......Page 25
Theoretical Technologies and Imaginaries......Page 26
Performativity......Page 29
Participation......Page 31
Data Collection Methods......Page 33
Spatial Imaginaries......Page 40
2 Components and Opponents......Page 44
Constructing the Research Object and Research Field......Page 46
Femtedit as an Enrollment of Heterogeneous Components......Page 48
Association of Otherwise Disparate Parts......Page 50
Capturing and Keeping the Children's Attention......Page 53
Face-to-Face Localism Versus Online Technology......Page 60
Technical Limitations Versus Smooth Operation......Page 62
Characteristics of Trials of Strength......Page 64
Classic-ANT and the Network......Page 66
Conclusion: The Construction of a Stable Technology......Page 72
Optional Components......Page 76
Ongoing Trials......Page 78
Absorbing Parts from the Outside......Page 79
Managerial Perspective......Page 80
Focus on Stability......Page 81
Singularity......Page 82
From Classic-ANT to after-ANT......Page 83
From Relations to Patterns of Relations......Page 84
Spatial Imaginaries......Page 85
Femtedit as Fluid......Page 91
To Be or Not to Be Fluid: A Few Examples......Page 93
Multiplicity......Page 95
Conclusion: Spatial Formations and Flexible, Multiple Technology......Page 99
4 Forms of Knowledge......Page 103
The Quest for Resemblance......Page 106
Classroom Jumping Demonstration: The Standard Measurement and Resemblance......Page 108
The Regional Imaginary......Page 111
Regional Knowledge in the Classroom......Page 112
Boyle's Experiment: The Material Technology......Page 114
Representational Knowledge......Page 116
The Bed-Loft Inaugural Ceremony: Resonance Space......Page 118
Boyle's Experiment: Literary and Social Technologies......Page 121
Communal Knowledge......Page 122
The Creation of the "Twin Towers"......Page 126
The Lack of Representation in Fluidity......Page 130
The Lack of Communal Knowledge in Fluid Space......Page 132
Translating Fluid Space into Regionality......Page 137
Liquid Knowledge......Page 139
Conclusion: Knowledge and Learning......Page 144
5 Forms of Presence......Page 151
Blackboard and Songs, Regions and Collectives......Page 154
Regional Presence in the Classroom......Page 158
Authority and Subjects......Page 162
Restlessness and One-to-One Relationships in the Virtual Environment......Page 168
Offline Researcher Interacting with Online Child......Page 170
Online Interaction Between Researcher and Child......Page 173
Separation in the Virtual Environment......Page 175
Discontinuities and Agents in Fluid Patterns of Relations......Page 178
Fluid Authority......Page 180
The Power of Interactivity, the Power of Fluidity......Page 182
Conclusion: Posthumanist Presence......Page 184
6 The Materiality of Learning......Page 191
PISA and the Multiplicity of Educational Practice......Page 196
Comparing Technologies......Page 203
The Reality, Reimagining, and Rearranging of Educational Practice......Page 205
Reference List......Page 209
Index......Page 221
