Living With Contradiction: Cultural Historical Activity Theory as a Theoretical Frame to Study Student Engineering Project Teams

Michael L. Jones

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Conference: 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Publication Date: June 15, 2014
Start Date: June 15, 2014
End Date: June 18, 2014
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Critical Thinking, Leadership, and Creativity
Tagged Division: Liberal Education/Engineering & Society
Page Count: 15
Page Numbers: 24.871.1 - 24.871.15
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--22804
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/22804
Download Count: 636

Paper Authors

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Michael L. Jones Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

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Michael Jones is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto and professor of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology at Sheridan College, Oakville ON. Michael's research interests are in project-based learning in technology education, with his dissertation looking at how Formula SAE engineering student project teams engage information management contradictions.

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Abstract

Living With Contradiction: Cultural Historical Activity Theory as a Theoretical Frame to Study Student Engineering Project Teams Problem-‐based learning supports collaborative constructivist learning by encouraging students to engage in independent investigation of specific problems (Savery, 2006). Engineering disciplines tend to engage project-‐based learning opportunities that are characterized by longer engagement with more complex projects than traditional PBL(Bédard, Lison, Dalle, Côté, & Boutin, 2012), such as capstone projects or competitive project teams. Such extended, complex projects provide students with multiple opportunities to develop both technical knowledge and professional judgment – and multiple challenges that might jeopardize a project group’s success. This paper outlines cultural-‐historical activity theory (CHAT) as a theoretical lens to understand the challenges engineering PBL student groups face. Building from Vygotsky’s social constructivism, CHAT squarely situates human agency in sociocultural forces that shape and constrain the nature and execution of that activity. (Engestrom, 1987). By balancing human agency with rules, community and power concerns, contemporary CHAT highlights the situated nature of technical work and highlights multiple points of contradiction that must be negotiated and considered (Engestrom, 1999). Perhaps particularly disquieting for engineers, these contradictions are often highly social and political in nature and resist simple analysis or resolution. This paper grounds CHAT analysis in continuing research into the management practices of Formula SAE (FSAE) student engineering teams. The core activity of a FSAE team is to design, manufacture, test and race a small racecar in intercollegiate competition. Towards this goal, FSAE teams must learn to negotiate a range of organizational contradictions. FSAE teams must recruit and retain team members in a high-‐turnover environment. They must learn to operate within the constraints established by the competition, school administration and societal laws and mores. Teams may also strategically choose to share some information and collaborate with competitive teams for mutual gain. CHAT as a theoretical frame highlights these and other points of potential contradiction and allows for sharing of experiences to help determine best practices in a variety of team contexts. References Bédard, D., Lison, C., Dalle, D., Côté, D., & Boutin, N. (2012). Problem-‐based and Project-‐ based Learning in Engineering and Medicine: Determinants of Students’ Engagement and Persistence. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-‐Based Learning, 6(2). doi:10.7771/1541-‐5015.1355 Engestrom, Y. (1987). Learning by Expanding: An activity-‐theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-‐Konsultit. Engestrom, Y. (1999). Activity Theory and Individual and Social Transformation. In Y. Engestrom, R. Miettenien, & R.-‐L. Punamaki (Eds.), Perspectives on Activity Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Savery, J. R. (2006). Overview of Problem-‐based Learning: Definitions and Distinctions. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-‐Based Learning, 1(1), 9–20.

Citation
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Jones, M. L. (2014, June), Living With Contradiction: Cultural Historical Activity Theory as a Theoretical Frame to Study Student Engineering Project Teams Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--22804

TY - CPAPER
AB - Living With Contradiction: Cultural Historical Activity Theory as a Theoretical Frame to Study Student Engineering Project Teams Problem-‐based learning supports collaborative constructivist learning by encouraging students to engage in independent investigation of specific problems (Savery, 2006). Engineering disciplines tend to engage project-‐based learning opportunities that are characterized by longer engagement with more complex projects than traditional PBL(Bédard, Lison, Dalle, Côté, &amp; Boutin, 2012), such as capstone projects or competitive project teams. Such extended, complex projects provide students with multiple opportunities to develop both technical knowledge and professional judgment – and multiple challenges that might jeopardize a project group’s success. This paper outlines cultural-‐historical activity theory (CHAT) as a theoretical lens to understand the challenges engineering PBL student groups face. Building from Vygotsky’s social constructivism, CHAT squarely situates human agency in sociocultural forces that shape and constrain the nature and execution of that activity. (Engestrom, 1987). By balancing human agency with rules, community and power concerns, contemporary CHAT highlights the situated nature of technical work and highlights multiple points of contradiction that must be negotiated and considered (Engestrom, 1999). Perhaps particularly disquieting for engineers, these contradictions are often highly social and political in nature and resist simple analysis or resolution. This paper grounds CHAT analysis in continuing research into the management practices of Formula SAE (FSAE) student engineering teams. The core activity of a FSAE team is to design, manufacture, test and race a small racecar in intercollegiate competition. Towards this goal, FSAE teams must learn to negotiate a range of organizational contradictions. FSAE teams must recruit and retain team members in a high-‐turnover environment. They must learn to operate within the constraints established by the competition, school administration and societal laws and mores. Teams may also strategically choose to share some information and collaborate with competitive teams for mutual gain. CHAT as a theoretical frame highlights these and other points of potential contradiction and allows for sharing of experiences to help determine best practices in a variety of team contexts. References Bédard, D., Lison, C., Dalle, D., Côté, D., &amp; Boutin, N. (2012). Problem-‐based and Project-‐ based Learning in Engineering and Medicine: Determinants of Students’ Engagement and Persistence. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-‐Based Learning, 6(2). doi:10.7771/1541-‐5015.1355 Engestrom, Y. (1987). Learning by Expanding: An activity-‐theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-‐Konsultit. Engestrom, Y. (1999). Activity Theory and Individual and Social Transformation. In Y. Engestrom, R. Miettenien, &amp; R.-‐L. Punamaki (Eds.), Perspectives on Activity Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Savery, J. R. (2006). Overview of Problem-‐based Learning: Definitions and Distinctions. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-‐Based Learning, 1(1), 9–20.
AU - Michael L. Jones
CY - Indianapolis, Indiana
DA - 2014/06/15
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Living With Contradiction: Cultural Historical Activity Theory as a Theoretical Frame to Study Student Engineering Project Teams
UR - https://peer.asee.org/22804
DO - 10.18260/1-2--22804
ER -