Contradicting Objects: An Activity Systems Perspective Towards Transformative Learning
- Conference
- Location
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Portland, Oregon
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2024
- Start Date
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June 23, 2024
- End Date
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July 12, 2024
- Conference Session
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Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM) Technical Session 28
- Tagged Division
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Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/47075
Paper Authors
Lorena S. Grundy
Tufts University
orcid.org/0000-0001-7706-2216
Lorena Grundy is an ASEE eFellows postdoctoral fellow at Tufts University, where she works with Milo Koretsky to study chemical engineering education. She received her BSE from Princeton in 2017 and PhD from UC Berkeley in 2022, both in chemical engineering.
Milo Koretsky Tufts University
Milo Koretsky is the McDonnell Family Bridge Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and in the Department of Education at Tufts University. He is co-Director of the Institute for Research on Learning and Instruction (IRLI). He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from UC San Diego and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, all in chemical engineering.
Abstract
Despite decades of research on active learning, many university STEM classes are taught using less effective transmission-based approaches. Students are commonly considered to be “resistant” to active learning, and faculty are thought to continue using passive teaching methods due to a combination of capitulation to student demands and lack of time or incentive for change. We seek to problematize this perspective by using third generation cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) to analyze the activity systems of faculty and students in two engineering core courses. We find that all participants show evidence of two contradicting objects: meeting the demands of transactional schooling and achieving transformative learning. They respond to contradictions between these objects in varying ways, leading to different course structures and different learning outcomes. Based on an understanding of faculty and students as invested in transformative learning but grappling with complex demands, we encourage a shift in perspective from offering faculty strategies that they can use to combat student resistance to active learning to, instead, considering the ways in which the disciplinary community can provide support in shifting activity systems to resolve contradictions and achieve transformation.
Grundy, L. S., & Koretsky, M. (2024, June), Contradicting Objects: An Activity Systems Perspective Towards Transformative Learning Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47075
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