Theory of expansive learning: seven learning actions forming an expansive cycle, grounded in ascending from the abstract to the concrete¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 1 study (1 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The theory of expansive learning holds that learners "learn something that is not yet there": they construct a new object and concept for their collective activity and implement it in practice. It is object-oriented, with motives located in the object to be transformed, and rests on the dialectics of ascending from the abstract to the concrete, in which an initial germ cell is enriched into a concrete system of manifestations. The cycle is described as a stepwise process of seven learning actions — questioning, analyzing, modeling, examining the model, implementing it, and reflecting on and evaluating/consolidating — forming an idealized analytical tool rather than a universal formula of stages.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Applicable to open-ended learning processes in which the problem and its solution are not predefined and participants must generate culturally new practices and knowledge
• The learning process should not be pre-designed to follow the theoretical model, to avoid self-fulfilling prophecy

Constraints¶

• Real cycles of expansive learning do not neatly follow the ideal-typical order; learning processes contain both expansive and non-expansive phases, steps forward and back, and digressions

Target Learners¶

• collective activity systems such as work teams, organizations, and student groups facing open-ended problems

Target Learning Objectives¶

• construction of new objects and concepts for collective activity
• transformation and creation of culture

Claims¶

• Single Meeting Almost Complete Expansive Mini Cycle [+M]
• Learning Actions Follow Predicted Order Two Parts [+M]
• Object Formation Iterative Germ Cell Encapsulated [+M]

Related Theories¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Rantavuori, J., Engeström, Y., & Lipponen, L. (2016). Learning actions, objects and types of interaction: A methodological analysis of expansive learning among pre-service teachers. Frontline Learning Research. http://dx.doi.org/10.14786/flr.v4i3.174