Our+Session+Details

Main Session Details
Sat, Apr 9 - 4:05pm - 6:05pm Sheraton / Napoleon Ballroom C1
 * Intervening to Shape the Future**

The session features the work of Yrjö Engeström on formative interventions as a research methodology and practical change approach. Engeström's talk is titled "Formative interventions for expansive learning and agency." The methodology of formative interventions is based on Vygotsky’s principle of double stimulation and on the principle of ascending from the abstract to the concrete (Il’enkov, Davydov). It goes beyond common conceptions of design research in that the end results of learning are not predetermined by the researchers but designed by the participants as they work out expansive solutions to developmental contradictions in their activity system. New forms of collective and individual agency are key outcomes of formative interventions. The methodology has been developed and implemented in numerous studies over the past 15 years with the help of a toolkit called Change Laboratory. Findings and generalizations from these studies are presented and the place of formative interventions in the landscape of educational research is discussed. Commentaries by Jan Derry (University of London), James G. Greeno (University of Pittsburgh), and Hugh Mehan (University of California, San Diego) represent the perspectives of philosophy, cognitive science, and sociology, respectively.

=****Time and Location of Our Working Group Sessions****=

= =
 * Chairs:** Kevin O'Connor, University of Colorado at Boulder; William R. Penuel, SRI International
 * Closed Meeting 1:** Friday, April 8, 4:05 p.m. - 5:35 p.m., Sheraton, Salon 828, Eighth Level
 * Closed Meeting 2:** Monday, April 11, 2:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Sheraton, Grand Ballroom B, Fifth Level

=Plan for the First Closed Meeting= This meeting will take place before the main Presidential Session. At this session, we will:
 * Identify interests and questions of participants related to the Presidential Session
 * Discuss what we hope to learn from the Presidential Session
 * Select sessions that at least 2-3 participants might attend that are of relevance to the themes of the Presidential session

=Plan for the Second Closed Meeting= This meeting will take place after the main Presidential Session. At this session, we will:
 * Discuss themes, questions, and issues raised by the Presidential Session for participants
 * Discuss connections to other sessions attended by participants
 * Identify any conversations that could continue beyond the session