Course Objectives
Consider these two questions:
- Have you ever wondered what makes people so competent
in their jobs or hobbies?
- How do people learn and become competent?
This course is designed to look into some answers to
these questions. The fundamental idea is to come to
understand that underlying even the simplest human actions
and activities, there is a lot of knowledge not normally
recognized.
In this class, we take a look at and talk about how
people know and learn in a variety of situations and from a
variety of perspectives. These perspectives include
anthropology, cognitive anthropology, sociology of
scientific knowledge, ethnomethodology, and historical and
philosophical approaches to the study of human knowing and
learning.
The course will be structured largely as follows (though
adapted when it unfolds to address the students' needs).
Throughout the course, we read and discuss articles and book
chapters. We also view some video and other data to engage
in analyses designed to better understand how people know
and learn in everyday settings. Students are expected to
come to class with brief summary notes of their
understanding of the readings, be able to discuss the issues
from their perspective, and contribute to brief
presentations of discussion summaries.
In the second half of the course, we begin planning and
discussion small student course projects in which students
gain some experience to find out more about knowing and
learning. During the second 6 weeks, we focus more on
student activities related to their projects and, as a
group, facilitate the efforts of each individual. Sharing
observations, presenting tentative findings, etc. are
central to this part of the course. The end point of these
activities will be a finished course paper which will
constitute proof of students' participation in the course.
Epistemology
The course is designed to facilitate learning about
knowing and learning. Throughout the course, students'
activities will be scaffolded such to produce a course
outcome (paper) of high quality. The basic idea is
learning not setting up hoops that students have to
jump. Individual initiative and participation in the
ongoing activities are central to the epistemology (see also
article by Lave, 1993).
Readings
Selected readings from the literature on everyday knowing
and learning [for reading list press
here]. These will mainly be articles to get the broadest
range possible, and allow for students to suggest and
contribute readings from their own areas of interests.
Additional readings will be posted as pdf files on the web
or links to readings will be made available.
Activities
Discussions of papers read, analysis of data, design and
discussion of student projects, student presentation of
their ongoing work.
Assignment
Students will work on a small project in which they learn
about doing a study on knowing and learning. Students select
the domain of interest, and throughout the course work on
this project. The finished course paper is simply the end
stage of a process. [A sample paper
written by a student in a previous embodiment of this
course.]
Admission
Graduate students from all departments and faculties are
welcome. Please check with Dr. Roth (Tel: (250) 721-7885 or
email [mroth@uvic.ca]).
Reading list
A course pack will be available at the bookstore
containing the following readings.
Chapman, D. (1991). Vision, instruction, and
action (Chapter 2, pp. 17-33). Cambridge, MA and London,
England: The MIT Press.
Gooding, D. (1990). Mapping experiment as learning
process: How the first electromagnetic motor was invented.
Science, Technology, & Human Values, 15, 165-201.
Goodwin, C. (1994). Professional vision. American
Anthropologist, 96, 606-633.
Hutchins, E. (1995). How a cockpit remembers its speeds.
Cognitive Science, 19, 265-288.
Jordan, B. (1989). Cosmopolitical obstetrics: Some
insights from the training of traditional midwives.
Social Science in Medicine, 28, 925-944.
Lave, J. (1993). The practice of learning. In S. Chaiklin
& J. Lave (Eds.), Understanding practice:
Perspectives on activity and context (pp. 3-32).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mandelblit, N., & Zachar, O. (1998). The notion of
dynamic unit: Conceptual developments in cognitive science.
Cognitive Science, 22, 229-268.
Orr, J. (1998). Images of work. Science, Technology,
& Human Values, 23, 439-455.
Roth, W.-M. (1998). Situated cognition and assessment of
competence in science. Evaluation and Program Planning,
21, 155-169.
Roth, W.-M., McRobbie, C., Lucas, K. B., &
Boutonné, S. (1997). The local production of order in
traditional science laboratories: A phenomenological
analysis. Learning and Instruction, 7, 107-136.
Suchman, L. (1995). Making work visible.
Communications of the ACM, 38(9), 56-64.
Varela, F. J. (1995). The re-enchantment of the concrete:
Some biological ingredients for a nouvelle cognitive
science. In L. Steels & R. Brooks (Eds.), The
artificial life route to artificial intelligence: Building
embodied, situated agents (pp. 11-22). Hillsdale, NJ:
Lawrence Erbaum Associates.