Changing Concepts in Activity: Descriptive and Design Studies of Consequential Learning in Conceptual Practices

Abstract

Concepts and conceptual change have been studied extensively as phenomena of individual thinking and action, but changing circumstances of social or cultural groups using concepts are treated as external conditions. We describe research on consequential learning in conceptual practices, where concepts include representational infrastructure that coordinates meaning and activity across time, setting, and social participation. Consequential learning changes one's relation to conceptual practice, creating access to and valued possibilities for participation in practices at a broader scale. We illustrate our approach to conceptual change with case studies and design research in workplaces, schools, and urban communities. We compare our approach to previous efforts to bridge theoretical perspectives published in this journal, focusing in particular on Greeno and van de Sande (2007). Our efforts provide new constructs and studies that may yet create a span between cognitive and sociocultural theories of learning and conceptual change.

Notes

¹ This description of our research methods is consistent with what is taught in most doctoral-level, qualitative research methods courses in educational research, including courses we teach.

² There is not space in this article to present the details of interaction and conversation analysis from our cases, but the articles we cite contain these details.

³ A pseudonym.