The Interplay of Developmental and Dialogical Epistemologies

The paper examines Developmental Work Research (DWR) –based interventions from theperspective of qualitative research. The motive comes from two directions. First, the DWR hasturned the scientific focus quite early toward trans- and interdisciplinary collaboration andmethodology. However, the approach has been recognized more through its intervention theoryand practice, and less as a particular research design, which can contribute to qualitativeresearch strategy. Second, there is a trend towards one-dimensional evidence-based approach,which foregrounds standards of methods in the context of new public management of science.The paper views developmental interventions as representing an alternative way of research withthe practice-inspired methodology offering practice-based source of evidence. To examine morethis alternative the paper deals with the question how developmental interventions can beconsidered research designs that make context and dialogue the basis of research. Consideringthe DWR methodology, the paper argues that although dialogue is central in actualizing anintervention, dialogical epistemology has remained as underdeveloped in the approach. Thepaper focuses on dialogicality and sense making in developmental interventions examining theprocesses of anchoring and objectification, object in relation to personal sense, and how theindividual and collective processes are linked and coexist in the complex relationship betweenpragmatic activity and social processes. As illustrations of ideas, pieces of data from conducteddevelopmental interventions are used

Ascending from the Abstract to the Concrete as a Principle of Expansive Learning

The article examines the potential of the dialectical principle of ascending from the abstract to the concrete for transforming practices of learning. It is shown that V.V. Davydov's work has created a foundation for such transformation. The theory of expansive learning builds on Davydov's legacy and brings the principle of ascending from the abstract to the concrete into learning and concept formation outside schools, "in the wild." Three studies investigating different scales of expansive learning are discussed, focusing on the internally contradictory germ cells discovered and used in those studies. The article concludes by emphasizing the need to integrate Davydov's revolutionary pedagogy and the broader agenda of school transformation as part of societal transformation.Peer reviewe

Using Activity Theory to transform medical work and learning

This article introduces key concepts of activity theory and expansive learning. Expansive learning builds on the foundational ideas of the cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT). It is a research approach designed for studying the complexities and contradictions in authentic workplace environments. Change Laboratory is a formative intervention method developed for studying workplaces in transition and for stimulating collaborative efforts to design improved patterns of activity. We present concrete examples of formative interventions in healthcare, where good patient care was compromised by the fragmentation of care and disturbances in collaboration between the healthcare experts. This implies that physicians are challenged to develop collaborative and transformative expertise. We present three spearheads into a zone of proximal development, representing opportunities for change of medical expertise: (1) reconceptualizing expertise as object-oriented and contradiction-driven activity systems, (2) pursuing expertise as negotiated knotworking, and (3) building expertise as expansive learning. While medical expertise needs to expand, medical education must also look for ways to evolve and meet the challenges of the surrounding society. We call for adopting an interventionist approach for developing medical education and intensifying collaboration with the practitioners in healthcare units, their patients, and target communities.Peer reviewe

Kriittinen tutkimus koulun ja yhteiskunnan rajoja ylittävästä oppimisesta: tapaustutkimus yrittäjyyskasvatuksesta

Background: Recent alternative concepts of school knowledge emphasize knowledge creation via networks of learning around real-world phenomena. We studied entrepreneurship education as an example of new epistemic activity which opens institutional boundaries for active engagement with society in learning. Methods: We used a case-study strategy and a methodology informed by the cultural-historical activity theory for investigating an entrepreneurship course of a middle school. We focused on meaning making in object formation of learning of the groups involved in boundary crossing. Meaning making was studied in a context-sensitive way with an analytic tool designed in the study. Findings: Lacking a knowledge system of a disciplinary school subject, the findings show that entrepreneurship becomes constructed in practice epistemologically as a value-free and politically neutral learning object. In light of these findings we discuss the theoretical link between conceptual learning and learning around real-world phenomena. Contribution: In addition to economic activity, globalization and climate change are also presently forming the social realities of school learners. Our study shows that more theoretical and empirical research on intermediate epistemological practices is needed to avoid a risk that teachers are left on their own to sort out the complex epistemic interrelationships.Peer reviewe

Formative Interventions for Expansive Learning and Transformative Agency

This article examines formative interventions as we understand them in cultural-historical activity theory and reflects on key differences between this intervention research tradition and design-based research as it is conceived in the learning sciences tradition. Three projects, including 2 Change Laboratories, are analyzed with the help of conceptual lenses derived from basic epistemological principles for intervention research in activity theory. In all 3 interventions, learners expansively transformed the object of their activity. The Change Laboratory cases, however, show that this learning process included productive deviations from the researchers' instructional intentions, leading to significant outcomes, both practical and theoretical, that were not anticipated by the interventionists. Together these cases illustrate that an activity-theoretical formative intervention approach differs from design-based research in the following ways: (a) formative interventions are based on design done by the learners; (b) the collective design effort is seen as part of an expansive learning process including participatory analyses and implementation phases; (c) rather than aiming at transferable and scalable solutions, formative interventions aim at generative solutions developing over lengthy periods of time both in the researched activities and in the research community.Peer reviewe

From controlled experiments to formative interventions in studies of agency : Methodological considerations

Peer reviewe

Co-generation of societally impactful knowledge in Change Laboratories

Formative interventions and the specific method of the Change Laboratory (CL) are presented as examples of intervention research that generates actionable and societally impactful knowledge. In contrast with stabilization knowledge that fixates phenomena into static categories, actionable knowledge is understood here as collaborative and generative possibility knowledge intertwined with transformative action. The article asks what can be learned from the different ways the epistemological principles behind formative interventions are implemented in different CLs. Three CL interventions are analyzed. The analysis is summarized with the help of a grid covering the key characteristics of formative interventions: contradictions, conflicts of motives, double stimulation, zone of proximal development, germ cells and emerging concepts. Comparison of the three cases shows that understanding the specific historical stage of the development of contradictions in a given organization is of foundational importance. In transformations induced by CLs, contradiction and conflict may be seen as acute push and the future-oriented concept as gradually emerging pull, with the change actions of the local practitioners in the middle. Constructing a germ cell and eventually an expanded concrete concept based on it are the most demanding challenges for CL interventions.Peer reviewe

A test platform of viable methods to improve production and learning on construction sites

Purpose - A comprehensive intervention test platform, Valla Coach, including quantitative and qualitative methods to measure and improve work flows on site and promote coaching and collective learning has been developed jointly by researchers and practitioner. The study aims to describe the methodological underpinning of the platform, and discusses the preliminary results and implications. Design/Methodology/Approach - Expansive Learning Theory grounded in a cultural-historical perspective underpins the conceptual realisation of the test platform. The viability of the platform was tested in four contextually different construction sites (and contractors), combining established and new measurement tools, qualitative intervention approaches and coaching according to the production challenges at hand. Findings - Valla Coach created a space on site where researchers-as-coaches and operatives converged to co-construct (new) knowledge and learn together. The knowledge that emerged from the interactions gained legitimacy through its situatedness and practical value for the operatives. Research Limitations/Implications - Valla Coach provides opportunities for researchers and practitioners to probe the taken-for-granted. Moreover, a variety of methods and tools are tested in different contexts. The interventions prompt questioning of assumptions and make contradictions visible. Valla Coach remains work-in-progress and needs further evaluation and validation. Practical Implications - We contribute insights from negotiating socio-technical complexities, evaluating digital measurement tools and technologies and experiences of operatives. Tensions at the interface between the organisation and project are rendered visible. Originality/Value - A bottom-up approach that is a combination of practice-based tools and methods and of theories of learning and sustainable and continuous improvements where the operators are the main actors that enable productive activity

Employees’ narratives about a development project as a resource for managing organizational change

Non peer reviewe