Firsthand Learning Through Intent Participation

Abstract

This article examines how people learn by actively observing and “listening-in” on ongoing activities as they participate in shared endeavors. Keen observation and listening-in are especially valued and used in some cultural communities in which children are part of mature community activities. This intent participation also occurs in some settings (such as early language learning in the family) in communities that routinely segregate children from the full range of adult activities. However, in the past century some industrial societies have relied on a specialized form of instruction that seems to accompany segregation of children from adult settings, in which adults “transmit” information to children. We contrast these two traditions of organizing learning in terms of their participation structure, the roles of more- and less-experienced people, distinctions in motivation and purpose, sources of learning (observation in ongoing activity versus lessons), forms of communication, and the role of assessment.

A Social Practice Approach to Understanding Teachers' Learning to Use Technology and Digital Literacies in the Classroom

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Learning Theories and Education: Toward a Decade of Synergy

“…As we described earlier, this distinction serves as an entry point into our discussion of different traditions for studying learning and marks some rough differences between self-organized, emergent learning and learning occasioned by organized instruction and designed curricula. Nevertheless, the distinction is limiting because, as argued from many perspectives, a settingbased notion of context makes too many assumptions about the homogeneity of settings (i.e., that all activities in places called "schools" or "homes" are similar) and the homogeneity of experience within these settings for individual learners (Becker, 1972;Rogoff, Paradise, Mejía Arauz;Correa-Chávez, & Angelillo, 2003;Schegloff, 1992). For example, emergent learning may be as present in some school contexts as in out-of-school ones (Stevens, 2000a(Stevens, , 2000b).…”

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“…A powerful aspect of cognitive apprenticeship is intent participation (Rogoff, Paradise, Mejía Arauz, Correa-Chávez, & Angelillo, 2003). By listening and close observation, learners gradually begin to grasp all the elements involved in a job and to put them together; the actual cognitive processes involved strongly depend on the nature of the job.…”