56 research outputs found
Making Sense Through Participation
In this chapter we discuss the issue of social differences in relation to learning. In theories on co-operative learning or
collaborative learning social differences are treated as characteristics of individual learners. The focus on learning as
a social process is primarily elaborated in terms of interaction between pupils and the combined construction of knowledge. Sociocultural
theory (Vygotsky, Lave & Wenger), however, understands ‘social’ not only in terms of knowledge/meaning being constructed in
interaction with others, but also in terms of the cultural practices/activities informing these interaction processes. Learning
can be understood as increasing participating in communities of practice. As social differences are an intrinsic part of the
culture in which students are learning to participate, these are also an inherent aspect of learning processes in schools.
Students learn to participate in practices in different ways, depending on their social position, and thus develop distinguished
cultural identities. In this chapter we elaborate on this tenet, using examples from various empirical research projects on
learning in secondary education. We not only show how social differences in the cultural practices that underpin learning
influence what is learned by whom, but also explore the consequences of this perspective for the pedagogical space of the
school
Debugging the Writing Process: Lessons From a Comparison of Students’ Coding and Writing Practices
Investigating persuasive writing by 9–11 year olds
Within research into children's persuasive writing, relatively little work has been done on the writing of advertisements, how such writing develops in the primary school years and the textual features that help to secure this development. Framed within rhetoric, writing and linguistics, an exploratory study was undertaken in which a standardised task and a repeat-measures design were used to investigate the writing of an advertisement by 112 nine–ten year old pupils from two English Local Authorities, in the spring term and again a year later. The scripts were first rated for five generic constituents of writing using the standardised task guidelines. The scripts were then rated for the use of specific textual features of advertisements. All constituents, and many textual features, showed increased use across the sample as a whole, even though further analysis showed that some children who had used certain features in Year 5 had not used them in Year 6. Qualitative analysis revealed common features within attainment sub-groups in content, language use and overall effectiveness of the writing. There were indications that, if appropriately supported, experience of advertisement writing could contribute to children’s abilities in tackling other forms of persuasive writing
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