5

The general consensus among Whyvillians (the citizens of the virtual community ofWhyville) is that earning a good salary and, thus, procuring a large number of clamsto spend on face parts or other goods is essential for fully participating in the socialworld of Whyville

The public and commercial spaces that I grew up with are now often seen as off-limits by both parents and teens.

education.

in dark bedrooms with only the glow of the screen illuminat-ing their faces

Vignette 6—How Young People Customize the Same Game Differently Dependingon What They Bring to Playing It From the Rest of Their Lives

From Holly’s reaction, it seems also that less shame is attachable to not knowing how toplay the game than not knowing how to do the homework, or at least that is secondary tohelping her brother accomplish something. This is striking because game play, like school,is competitively structured as a social practice, but it seems perhaps gaming might be a moreproductively motivating competitive environment than school (except, of course, for somepeople).

Confronted with identical game packages, the girls had very different goals and expectationsof what it meant to playZoo Tycoon

He is both an unabashed user of cheats, sporting a somewhat transgressive personalreputation he values at times, and, at the same time, someone who does not want his playwith friends interpreted as unfair—thus the overt display of his hands during the openingsequence to show his competitors that he is not entering cheat codes

In this section, we move outward from in-game, beyond in-room, to connections we havefound in our ethnographic data between in-game play and young people’s wider fields ofexperience “in-world.”

her own learning

our

(a) like video game play, homework is something kids doat home in shared family spaces and their rooms (i.e., the same spaces games were played in),(b) homework, like games, is—in varying degrees—strategic, repetitive, scored, and designedto challenge, and (c) there are different moral stances about how homework, like games,oughtto be played (i.e., should they be pursued collaboratively, should you cheat, etc.). Homework,therefore, provided us with a strategic context to compare with video game play

depending on the answer to the transfer question

Another casual science game includes the Spin Labwhere a player manipulates the position and center of rotation of a variety of objectsto make each spin faster to learn about momentum, rotational velocity, and inertia

to be published by MIT Press in early 2008

Finally, we need to acknowledge the time lag between data collection (2005) andanalysis that stretched well into 2009 due to the size and complexity of the data set

why

12.3 years median

New players can go to Grandma’s for donations of free face parts or purchasethem at Akbar’s Mall that lists and sells thousands of different hair parts, lips, eyes,mouths, accessories, and even animated parts (see Figure 5). All these parts are cre-ated by other Whyvillians who rent design tools and then post their creations at themall or exchange them at the trading post to cover their costs and to generate addi-tional income

Designing, selling, and buying face parts are not simply leisure activ-ities; they are core activities driven by Whyvillians’ interest in their online represen-tation of who they are and who they possibly could become

Toyota Scion

A typical day in Why-ville.net sees about 14,000 players log in

registered

in 2005

Thescale-making project has also created new forms of expertise in the neighbor-hood exemplified in the practices of thepromotoras,who have developed a newlyvalued skill set, including how to design and grow gardens, communicate with amultilingual group of residents with a range of experiences with gardening, listenand respond to resident concerns, and organize for collective action

This expansion, fueled by the cofoundersof the nonprofit’s desire to improve food access for a broader population in theneighborhood, has been met with some frustration on the part of thepromotoras,who value the focus on the Mexican community

FreshRoots has also developed partnerships with local foundations to pay highschool and college students from the neighborhood to apprentice with them in thetechnical aspects of maintaining the hydrofarm

people who can payfor locally grown and organic food

We use scale making as an analytic lens to studyhowpeople are thinking across

The data I gather each time I visit includes informal interviews, photos, videos, and field notes

informal interviews,

what speeds they are running

How is identity shaped by participation in the class?

At the same time, we believe that engaging with a small group of learn-ers across settings, or studying the learning experiences and encounters of one student across the lifespan, can afford its own kind of interpretive depth.

In coordinating with each other, people show themselves, to those who would look carefully, to be orderly, knowledgeable, and precise.

(Erickson, as cited in Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993, p. ix)” (Gutiérrez & Vossoughi, 2010, p. 101)

the opportunities for learning that emerge as people, tools, practices, and interests move across settings and across the social contexts or activity systems that constitute any given setting

A view of learning as a cultural process, located in time and space, helps us to understand that people and their cultural practices both develop and transform through participation in the routine activi-ties of relevant communities of practice

intellectual work involved in navigating modern borders and their myriad macro- and micro-political manifestations

In this way, researchers can substantively trouble the common dichotomies of home/school and academic/everyday by studying, rather than presuming, points of continu-ity or rupture across social settings.

As the 5th-graders walk handsalong the edges of textbooksor thesmart board, pop off shoes to size up the teacher’s desk, and liedown on the floor to measure the room’s width in units of body length, the body-based design of Math Moves!again mixes with and transforms the classroom space

the exhibit invites visitors to use body parts to measure and compare different dimensions of its three chairs

While the hand version of “Whole and Half” initially drives the students out of their assigned desksand into the classroom’s edges, it is the game’s whole-body variation that most clearly impinges on the micro-geography of the classroom

deviating from the boy-girl-boy-girl seating pattern typically assigned to prevent chitchat between same-gender peers

the use of dance and music to revive European imm grant cultures and to alleviate social fragmentation of such groups

Now, youth .were drawn to dance, drama, and other forms of art as a means to form strong, safe group affiliations

using gears to climb hills

William’s more contemplative comparison ofstreets that were relatively safe and quiet, but slow for cycling because of ‘‘weaving in andout,’’ with streets that were straighter and faster for riding but more dangerous because oftraffic

Ahead was an intersection with a green light and separated turn lanes

a Workshop in which youth learned tobuild bicycles out of discarded or donated materials

Weeks 1 & 2:Youth told stories of their neighborhood activities, alternating betweenhand-drawn and computer maps (Google MapsTM) of the surrounding area;•Weeks 3 & 5:Youth used GarminTMhandheld GPS devices both to draw on thesurface of the city (e.g., Carissa and Leah drew the word ‘‘LOVE’’ over a 5-block areathat included their homes; see Lauriault and Wood2009) and to complete aneighborhood geo-cache concerning the spatial history of buildings and parks in theWoodbridge neighborhood;•Week 4:Youth compared commercial maps of the neighborhood with their experienceswhile biking from Woodbridge to a downtown park (a safety ride, described below),while adults recorded the activity using GoProTMhead cameras;•Weeks 3 & 4:Youth kept a written time-diary while carrying a GPS data logger(TrackstickTM) to record personal mobility over two five-day periods, before and afterbuilding a bicycle, and they then analyzed personal time geography visible in thesetracks (described below); and•Week 5:Youth used internet mapping tools in Google MapsTMand Google EarthTMtobuild and present map layers of desired attributes (e.g., Carissa’s desire layers, used toillustrate counter-mapping earlier in this paper).

not accessibleon foot

Changingschoolsmeansinpartchangingtheirrelationswith,andtheirroleinproducing,theseexteriorized`outsides’

Onceinside,allofthemexcepttwoAfricanAmericankids,BruceandAlice,whoIthinkwerebroke,begangrabbingstuÄtobuy:coins,fakecivilwarmoney,post-cards,little ̄ags(NorthandSouth).Somespendmorethan$10(theyweretoldtobringnomorethan$5)

participant

itstillremainstoteachpeopletoreaditthatway,oratleasttoteachthemthatthereisaparticularwaytolookatthingswhendowntown

legitimateparticipation

Wecouldhaveboughtthings

settings

institutionslikethe`Y’,thatallowedforunexpectedsightsandencounters,socialandaestheticdiversity,publicsolitude,people-watching,publicsociabilityandunprogrammedspacesofplayandfantasy

However, the spatialarrangement of the park was such that it was conceived of and experienced as a particular kindof setting for other skaters

To gather enough speed tocomplete the trick, the two had to skate to the other end of the park, giving them both enough timeto watch the other

These skateparks still contained pools, bowls, and half-pipes, but also includedimitations of urban street elements like stairs, rails, and planter boxes

Because these videos, still image sequences, and even pri-vate skateboarding lessons from experienced skateboarders are readily available, such resourcesare not entirely rejected.

opens up questions and possibilities for expansive theories of learningthat better capture social life

itseemsthat/r/learnprogrammingcandeliversomeofthesamebenefitsthatan“instructor”can,similartothe“guidedparticipation”contextwestudied,butalsoprovidethebreadthofadviceandopportunitythatwesawwhenthinkingaboutfundsofknowledge

relativelycohesive(guided?)learningpaths?

Otherresourcesincludethemuseumguidethatvisitorscantakeuponpayingtheiradmissionfee.Thereisawebsiteaswell

Isawmanyresourcesforlearningandinquiredaboutmanyofthem

A great deal of research has focused on describing the con-tents and structure of children's theories at different ages. One of the com-mon ways that researchers have assessed children's theories is to present children with a novel instance and to describe the way that children come to identify, understand, and connect that knowledge to their existing theo-ries.

The parents would probably make many more through explanations, descriptions, and questions intended to help the boy interpret the visit through the lens of their shared prior knowledge about trains

To illustrate what we mean, consider a child who, on his second birth-\ 4~-r day, is given a Thomas the Tank Engine picture book. In turns out that he J~ ~~~,...... iP'''\._ likes the book, which is about the adventures of a small steam locomotive ,----on an island railway. In fact, in turns out that he likes the book a lot and asks his parents to read it to him over and over. While waiting for a flight a few weeks later, perhaps the boy's father bu!f a Thomas the Tank Engine toy at the airport store. Maybe his parents piclfp a few Thomas the Tank Engine videos next time they are at the video store. Maybe the mother decides that the boy could be Thomas for Halloween. When planning a Sunday outing, .. ~-\.. t'"~ "Af the parents mig~t.\decide the boy would enjoy visiting a nearby train mu-. O,; 1 seum. As the bo)!Sjknowledge about trains deepens, the family checks out ll ;,~ ·fk e. L"•'ff~· ;J more advanced train books from the library. The family starts planning side-trips to other train museums when they travel. If they visit Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania, maybe the boy spends a lot of time looking at "Big Boy"-a gargantuan 4-8-8-4 Union Pacific steam locomotive-and maybe, having noticed his interest, the parents stop at the gift shop to buy the boy aT-shirt with a picture of Big Boy on the front and a list of its vital statistics on the back. When he wears the shirt later, it serves as a converSational prompt for the boy, his parents, and others

wealth of informal knowledge

hundreds of members, a strong online presence, and a full yearly calendar ofvaried events (e.g., lectures, business meetings, outreach efforts, field trips, and,of course, regular observing practice)

youngsters who play Little League baseball know that is not the way "real" baseball players talk to each other.

Although researchers have begun to document the political accomplishments ofyouth activism groups, as well as developmental outcomes associated with partici-pation, few have systematically studied their teaching practices.

to extend their schooling, and to remove them from economic competitionwith adults

Third-party observation is especially understudied, although the research onlanguage learning and learning from the media makes it clear that it is power-ful. Third-party observation appears to be especially important in some culturalcommunities. For example, learning through eavesdropping was emphasized inan African-American community where toddlers participated in daily communityevents and spent hours sitting still and listening to adults converse (Ward 1971).Similarly, in Kaluli language learning in Polynesia, little speech is directed to tod-dlers, but they are surrounded by people talking to each other and commentingon the toddlers’ activities within earshot (Schieffelin 1991). Inuit men of ArcticQuebec reported that as boys they learned to hunt from just watching the menand learned vocabulary and many other things by listening to stories that were notintended for them, staying as inconspicuous as possible (Crago 1992). Maori (NewZealand) adults reported that they were “sure that their parents and grandparentsdeliberately turned a blind eye to them hovering on the fringe of adult conversationsas adolescents, allowing them to pick up information” (Metge 1984, p. 10)

differs dramatically

Some research has compared children’s learning from observing with learning fromhands-on participation. When U.S. children observed others performing an activity,

Some research has compared children’s learning from observing with learning fromhands-on participation. When U.S. children observed others performing an activity,

Learning in European-descent NewZealand children who had participated directly in an event did not differ fromlearning in those who only observed, when children showed their learning byenacting the event (Murachver et al. 1996).

“people appreciate being given information that will help them makeintelligent choices”

While some of our research supports thefield’s generalconclusions that interactivity enhances visitor engagement, understanding, and recall, wehave also discovered that it is not always essential to a powerful and sustaining experience,and that too many interactive features may even hinder visitors’engagement and learning.

Perry and Tisdal suggest that one factor in accounting for the long holding times at APEexhibits is that, unlike the traditional exhibits studied, the APE exhibits were designed tosupport the use of exhibits by more than one member of a social group. This is compatiblewithfindings by Borun and Dritsas (1997) that exhibits that allow for multiple simultaneoususers facilitate family learning, at least in the absence of the kinds of interference problemsthat Allen and Gutwill (2004) describe

This suggests that, while recognizing the power of interactive experiences,we should be skeptical about sweeping claims that interactivity is essential to learning, oreven that it necessarily creates the most powerful, memorable, or attractive experiences inour museums

However, we have also discovered that“more is not necessarily better”when it comesto interactive features

It de-emphasized many other aspects of science, including anything requiring mem-orization (e.g., detailed vocabulary, quantitative relationships), or anything requiringlong chains of inference or effortful thinking (e.g., designing experiments to discrim-inate among competing models, arguing the relative merits of two explanations).

Weexpect these institutions to provide a hugely diverse visiting public with entertainment, thefreedom to choose their own path, follow their personal interests, do their own inquiry, andcreate their own meanings. Yet at the same time, we want our museums to be respectededucational institutions where people can spend an hour and come away having learned somecanonical science.

In this article, we examine how people in and through interactionwith others, explore, examine and experience a mixed-media installation

There is a box stuffed to overflowing with books pub-lished by individual children and collaborative small groups

Consequently, they are willingto invest considerable energy and resources in maintaining good so-cial relations with its members by participating in family rituals –birthdays, baptisms,quinceaneras(adolescent girls' "debutante"par-ties), showers, weddings, Christmas dinners, outings, and so on (fordetails, see Tapia, 1991)

she has three brothers and two sisters living nearbythat she can turn to

but to jump from one sector of the labormarket to another

"unemployed,"

These are (1) material resources, (2) relational resources, and (3) ideationalresources.

We consider learning to be shifts in use of artifacts (both cultural and cogni-tive) for problem solving, sense making, or performance. We consider identity to beone viewing participation in the practice as an integral part of who one is; what we call"practice-linked identities" (Nasir and Hand 2005,2008)

Unlike Starbucks or other popular coffee chains, it appeared that patrons needed a high level of beverage knowledge before they walked in. The menu (in the blurry photo shown here) was not descriptive at all, and the rapid-fire exchange between customers and staff was different than a more “casual” beverage establishment

Unlike Starbucks or other popular coffee chains, it appeared that patrons needed a high level of beverage knowledge before they walked in. The menu (in the blurry photo shown here) was not descriptive at all, and the rapid-fire exchange between customers and staff was different than a more “casual” beverage establishment

Institutions create myths to explain to their participants and the public generally what they do, how they do it, why society needs it done, and how successful they are