The Materiality of Learning: Technology and Knowledge in Educational Practice (Learning in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives) - Hardcover

Sørensen PhD, Estrid

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521882087 ISBN 13: 9780521882088

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Synopsis

The field of educational research lacks a methodology for the study of learning that does not begin with humans, their aims, and their interests. The Materiality of Learning seeks to overcome this human-centered mentality by developing a novel spatial approach to the materiality of learning. Drawing on science and technology studies (STS), Estrid Sørensen compares an Internet-based 3D virtual environment project in a fourth-grade class with the class’s work with traditional learning materials, including blackboards, textbooks, notebooks, pencils, and rulers. Taking into account pupils’ and teachers’ physical bodies, Professor Sørensen analyzes the multiple forms of technology, knowledge, and presence that are enacted with the materials. Featuring detailed ethnographic descriptions and useful end-of-chapter summaries, this book is an important reference for professionals and graduate or postgraduate students interested in a variety of fields, including educational studies, educational psychology, social anthropology, and STS.

About this title

Book Description

Based on classroom ethnography, the book compares traditional learning materials with digital technologies. It shows how these gave rise to different forms of knowledge and different ways of teachers and pupils being present in the classroom and computer lab. The book proposes six steps to the study of the materiality of learning, highlighted in six boxes.

About the Author

Estrid Sorensen is currently a Research Associate in the Department of European Ethnology at Humboldt University in Berlin. She is also Associate Professor at the Department of Learning in the School of Education at Aarhus University, Denmark. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Copenhagen, where she was a research leader in the EU-funded project '5D - Local Learning Communities in a Global World.' Previously, she was a visiting scholar at the Centre for Science Studies at Lancaster University, and she has held various other research and teaching positions at universities in Berlin and Denmark. She also worked on research projects concerning protection of children from harmful media content as well as on computer game health information. Moreover, she has been a member of the Danish film classification board. In 2006 Professor Sorensen was granted the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship. She has contributed to several edited volumes and to many peer-reviewed journals, including Comparative Sociology, Forum Qualitative Social Research, Nordisk Psykologi, Nordiske Udkast - Tidsskrift for kritisk samfundsforskning, Outlines - Critical Social Studies, and Psyke og Logos.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521882087
• ISBN 13: 9780521882088
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 226