Session Information
06 SES 05, Ecology and Learning with the Digital
Paper Session
Contribution
Research in cultural ecology has shown that the behaviour of people and the environments in which that behaviour takes place exist in mutually transformative relationships. In educational terms these transformations may be relational or co-constitutional. In relational transformations, situations are defined relative to each other (e.g. through separate disciplines), behaviour may be predicted (e.g. by setting objectives) and they are diachronic (i.e. they are part of a historical continuum which recognises a past, a present and a future) (Dillon, 2008). In co-constitutional transformations, situations are emergent, behaviours and environments co-construct each other, and things happen episodically (i.e. ‘in the moment’). Ideally, educational transformations should be both relational and co-constitutional when they can facilitate both conceptual and perceptual understandings and the links between them.
Most formal educational transformations are relational. They depend on the transfer of established constructs within defined structures. Because they are designed around defined structures, most virtual learning environments (VLE[s]) are also relational. NatureGate is such a VLE. It is a free, open access, interactive resource that supports identification of plant and animal species. Two additional features of NatureGate offer the potential for the resource to be co-constitutional as well as relational. They are (i) identification routes based on observable characteristics, in the case of plants, colour of flower, shape of leaf, overall height etc., and (ii) the ease of interfacing with knowledge building software such as Knowledge Forum and CMap tools. Both Knowledge Forum and CMap tools enable the NatureGate database to be personalised, for individual ‘in the moment’ experiences to be recorded, consolidated and represented. This is learning in an ecological sense: new experiences and established understandings relating to and co-constituting each other in ways which are themselves relational and co-constitutional.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Åhlberg, M., Kaasinen, A., Kaivola, T. & Houtsonen, L. 2001. Collaborative knowledge building to promote in-service teacher training in environmental education, Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education 10(3), 227 – 238. Åhlberg, M., Äänismaa, P. & Dillon, P. 2005. Education for sustainable living: Integrating theory, practice, design and development, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 49 (2), 167-185. Dillon, P. 2008. Creativity, wisdom and trusteeship – niches of cultural production, pp.105-118 in A. Craft, H. Gardner & G. Claxton (Eds). Creativity and Wisdom in Education. Thousand Oaks, CA, Corwin Press.
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