Design experimentation as a theoretical and empirical tool for developmental pedagogical research

Abstract

This paper contributes to theorizing about issues of pedagogy through elaborations on the idea of design experimentation as a methodological and analytical tool within the cultural–historical activity theory (CHAT) perspective. Our aim is to show that whereas it is analytically possible to separate people and implementations of pedagogical procedures from what are referred to as ‘contexts’ and ‘learning ecologies’, in practice, these moments of activity are co-constituted. To illustrate this process of co-constitution, we present five iterative studies aimed at replicating Vivian Paley's educational activity of storytelling/story-acting in a wide variety of settings. Our results highlight the dynamic complexity of the learning ecology and help us appreciate that Paley's pedagogical activity cannot be reduced to a discrete set of mechanically combined procedures. Our results also make clear that the learning ecology, as currently conceptualized by many design-based researchers, needs to be revisited in light of central concepts from CHAT.