Constructing virtual worlds: Tracing the historical development of learnerpractices

This study explores learning and instruction within a technology-rich, coll aborative, participatory learning environment by tracking the emergence of shared understanding and products through student and teacher practices. Th e focus is not only on the interactions among students or between students and teachers, but on student-resource interactions, especially student-tech nology interactions. In a I-week camp, students worked in activity groups w ith 3-dimensional modeling software to develop virtual worlds. Holistic acc ounts of 2 activity groups in the camp are presented, emphasizing the focus of the activity, group dynamics including the role of the teacher, and the historical development of learner practices. Then, a network methodology i s used to trace the history of interactions accounting for the emergence, e volution, and diffusion of learner practices. The findings suggest that bec oming knowledgeably skillful with respect to a particular practice or conce pt is a multigenerational process, evolving in terms of contextual de mands and available resources. The tracings further reveal the reciprocal nature of learning and doing, with building conceptual understanding occurring in relation to local conditions and practices, and doing practices being a pa rt of student learning. We are so accustomed to the separation of knowledge from doing and making that we fail to recognize how it controls our concep tions of mind, of consciousness and of reflective inquiry.