Theorizing practice

Timothy Koschmann

pp. 3-17

in: Timothy Koschmann (ed), Theories of learning and studies of instructional practice, Berlin, Springer, 2011

Abstract

In educational research, learning theories represent alternative conceptualizations of what we take learning to be. This volume examines three contemporary theories of learning with particular relevance to the study of practice, namely, situated learning, dialogic theory (or dialogism), and Deweyan transactionism. The chapter authors address themselves to two basic questions: How might we go about studying instructional practice in a rigorous way and what role would the three learning theories play in such investigations? Rather than considering these matters in the abstract, chapter authors illustrate their positions by applying the different treatments of learning to selected samples of instructional practice. The data analyzed here come from a particular fifth-grade classroom in which an innovative way of teaching math was being tested. The goal is to bring areas of controversy and confusion to the surface. The book offers no easy answers, but raises many important questions to fuel the next round of dialogue and debate.

Cited authors

Dewey John