Workshop on Human Potential (Reed Stevens, Northwestern University)

This workshop has been cancelled due to illness and will be rescheduled.

Reed Stevens, Professor, Learning Sciences, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, will present, "Why Early Learning Research Needs A Substantive Ethnographic Branch."

Abstract:

In this talk I will argue for two ideas related to research on early learning. First, I will argue that the dominant methods of studying early learning are insufficiently rooted in the familiar everyday contexts of children’s everyday lives. Laboratory methods of studying learning and development in early childhood have dominated over the last few decades. As a result, too little is known about core phenomena like imitation, attention, media use, and concept formation ‘in the wild’ (Hutchins, 1995). In particular almost nothing is known—because of the necessary control conditions of laboratory studies—about two central issues: the social functions and social occasioning of these and other core phenomena.  For example, joint attention and imitation have clear cognitive functions in everyday life (and in laboratory studies) but they also have social meanings. Acts of imitation can be perceived as flattering or they can be mocking; attention can be sought or invited or attention can be avoided or rejected. These social meanings and their distribution in everyday life are important phenomena in their own right. I will therefore argue that analyses of naturalistic events must take account of the intersubjective definition of situations among interactants in which these phenomena present, an often tricky issue when one or more of the interactants is a young child.  In sum, I will conclude the first part of the talk with the two part argument that: (a) the social and interactional foundations of early learning are neither adequately understood nor well documented and, (b) programmatically, achieving these goals requires a substantive naturalistic, micro-ethnographic, field studies approach to early learning research. 

The second broad argument I will make involves the promise of new interdisciplinary complementarities between this micro-ethnographic/naturalistic approach and familiar laboratory methods. I will base this part of the talk on ongoing interdisciplinary collaborations as a lead of the NSF LIFE (Learning in Informal and Formal Environments) Center, now in its eighth year, and in particular on one extended example of collaboration with developmental neuroscientist Patricia Kuhl. This collaboration has involved infant language learning. This example will show the possible synergies and real payoff between controlled laboratory studies and micro-ethnographic studies. I will conclude with a broad assessment of the conditions of possibility for an interdisciplinary research program that combines naturalistic and experimental approaches.

Bio:

Reed Stevens is a Professor of Learning Sciences at Northwestern University. As an ethnographer of everyday experience, Stevens conducts field studies exploring how learning, thinking, and joint action are comparatively organized in naturally occurring settings. The goal of these studies is to understand the ways settings and cultural practices organize meaningful activity and, in particular, how people learn together. These studies then often become the basis for designs of new learning technologies and new learning experiences, often in out of school settings. Settings where he has conducted field studies span schools, professional workplaces, homes, public libraries, and museums. Recent research topics of focus have included: learning in families, media use by young children, and STEM learning in and out school.  He specializes in video data capture and interaction analysis methods. Much of his current work is focused on learning among young children, as part of his efforts as co-lead of the NSF Learning in Informal and Formal Center (LIFE). Current studies are investigating how learning is organized for and by young children across contexts and how contemporary media practices are shaping learning and early life.  His ethnographic study looking at young people’s everyday video game practices (cf. Stevens, Satwicz, & McCarthy, 2007) led to two new informal learning design projects, funded by NSF and the Macarthur Foundation, each of which is exploring the idea of using the cultural frame of games as a context for learning. One of these projects, called FUSE (formerly YouSTEM), is being increasingly adopted in the Chicago area (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcra9M5QmtM).

The Workshop/Working Group on Human Potential is one of the core intellectual activities of the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy. It is an interdisciplinary forum for graduate students, post docs, and faculty whose work concerns behavior, health, and well-being across the lifespan and the ways in which technology and public policy shape human potential and achievement. The Workshop/Working group has active members in the areas of the social, behavioral, health, and policy sciences.

The Workshop/Working Group on Human Potential alternates between two types of sessions. Not only do we regularly invite outside speakers for a traditional "workshop" presentation, but we also provide a forum for faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students to present research-in-progress in order to receive critical and constructive feedback.