The aim of the project is to illuminate how students construct knowledge within complex knowledge domains by use of ICT-based learning resources in different institutional settings. The unit of analyses is speech and interaction amongst students working with the topic gene technology by means of the web-resources FLE and Viten.no.
The project is based on a socio-cultural perspective on learning. This means that learning is viewed as a process that incorporates different forms of signs, symbols and tools in social activities (Vygotsky 1978). Learning can not be understood by separated from the symbolic and material artifacts that have been historical developed by humans (Säljö1999). This implies that artifacts tie together and mediate our activities. Learning is also viewed as socially grounded, which means that intellectual development and learning have their orgin in social interaction: The learner does not construct knowledge in a vacuum, but in interaction with others.
The empirical data that form the base for the analyses are gathered from two design experiments. In DoCTA-NSS the students are collaborating in a combined local and distributed setting, writing articles on the topic gene technology (Ludvigsen and Wasson 2003). In the other design experiment, students are collaborating using the web-resource Viten.no solving tasks implied in the program. Classroom studies and video recordings of the students’ trajectory of interactions and data logs of their work form the main data material in the study.
Analysis of speech and interactions amongst students, teachers and artifacts form the basis of the studies. This corresponds with the view of construction of knowledge as a social and distributed process which takes place in interaction between individuals, artifacts and tasks.
The anticipated outcome of the project is two fold. Firstly it is to develop a broader understanding of students’ construction of knowledge in complex knowledge domains. Secondly, it is to develop an understanding of the relation between institutional conditions and students’ productive interactions.
Students’ categorization in institutional talk. The tension between
everyday and institutional categories in computer environments. Paper to be presented at the 3rd Nordic Conference on Cultural and Activity Research. September 3-5, 2004, Copenhagen, Denmark