EDC&I 503: Culture, Learning, and Development

Fall 2014 Wednesdays 10:00-12:50 Miller 112

Prof. Megan Bang

322E Miller Hall & Life Center
mbang3@uw.edu
Office Hours: Mondays 2-4:30 and by Appointment

COURSE OVERVIEW

The meanings, roles, and impacts of culture in human learning and development are
central questions across social science disciplines and have figured centrally in
psychological and educational research. For a long time there have been divides between
what people think, how people think and individuals social-emotional development. Over
the past 30 or more years a significant shift has occurred unearthing studies of social and
material arrangements of activity and their impacts on learning and development. This
shift in foci is often described as situative perspectives on learning and development and
has been taken up in a multitude of ways. Although there is on-going debate, it is
increasingly accepted that what people think and how people think form a reciprocal
relationship that is sculpted by the daily activities, discursive practices, participation
structures, and emergent identities that shape development over the life course. The
study of culture, learning, and development from this perspective focuses on systemic
interactions between ideas, beliefs, values, artifacts, social practices and ecological
environments that comprise what we might call cultural ecosystems. Critically, these
different dimensions co-develop and may reinforce one another in ways that make it hard
and perhaps even irrelevant to give explanatory priority to any single factor or dimension.
From this view, socialization and learning depends on interactions and subsequent
meaning making between individuals as well as an individuals interpretation of,
participation in and responses to their environment. Increasingly these perspectives are
being applied to the study of a variety of domains.

In this course we will explore influential contemporary research and theory that view
culture as foundational to learning and development. We will engage scholarship that has
taken up the study of these issues in a range of settings (classrooms, informal
environments, families, early childhood to adult learners, etc) and within specific
domains, for example in science, literacy, and mathematics. As a continual thread we will
explore how views/understandings of culture of human learning and development carry
implications for practice, scholarship and policy.

The seminar will heavily rely on readings and discussion and we will spend significant
chunks of time: (a) analyzing and discussing the focal texts and their implications and (b)
collectively delving into text of your choosing.

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 ASSIGNMENTS

1. Readings, Class Discussions, Activities. All class members are expected to have
read the assigned reading for the week to actively participate in the discussions
and activities each week. This is crucial for a graduate seminar of this size and
purpose. Also, you will need to check on the readings as we continue during the
quarter. I will likely change them depending upon the trajectory of our class. For
each reading, I ask that you each come to class prepared with at least one question
or issue to bring up for discussion (related to the next assignment) and one
specific place in the text to draw attention to.

2. Post Thoughts to Shape Our Understanding of the Readings. By noon on Tuesday

(i.e., the day before class), students should post at least two questions or topics for
class discussion related to the readings assigned for that week. These may be
general issues, or they may relate to linkages you see to other class readings or to
your own research. Post your questions and topics on the Discussion space on
Canvas.

3. Article/Text summary and Class Presentations. As a way to broaden our

collective knowledge of literature and to give everyone practice at two
fundamental skills of being a graduate student, each student will be asked to
choose two articles from a journal of significance on the same or similar topic (I
have suggested several), write a 1-2 page summary of each article to be
distributed to the class and make a 10 minute presentation to the whole class,
followed by a classroom conversation.

4. Learning to See Cultural, Learning, and Development in Practice. Three times

over the course of the quarter you will be required to go to a locationone site
will be chosen for you and two you will choose. Guidelines for preparing
fieldnotes will be given to you. Those notes will be turned in for a
complete/incomplete and used in a classroom activity.

5. Study Group and Group Presentation/Paper. There have been many, many,
people over the course of human history to consider what culture is. The field of
education has its intellectual geneology both in scholarship and the unfolding
social dynamics of history. As part of this course you will form groups of 5 and
take up a core social theorist, read a critical text of theirs, write a 5-page co-
authored paper due in week 9, and make a final presentation in class about the
thinker in week 11. I have made suggestions about who to take up however you
will submit a proposal with your group member in week 3 and may propose
alternative texts. Further you will be given some time in class to discuss the work
together.

a) Week 2 Brainstorming/Forming Groups

b) Week 3 -1 Page Proposal for Study Group Text and Proposed Reading
Schedule

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 c) Week 4, 6, 8, and 10 (to prepare for Week 11) you will be given 30
minutes to work in your study groups.
d) Week 9 Co-authored paper of thinkers major points and implications is
due.
e) Week 11 Class Presentation

6. Culminating Course Product

Depending on how the course relates to your broader interests and priorities, the
final product for the course can take the form of either: (a) a detailed analysis of a
series of observations you have made in this class or in your on-going work taking
up the ideas from this course, (b) an annotated bibliography of work related to
culture and your topic of interest, or (c) a research proposal to study some aspect
of culture, learning, and development relevant to you. Specifications for each
product will be shared in class. Papers/products should be no less that 8 pages and
no more than 20 pages double-spaced. More details will be provided around the
bounds for an annotated bibliography. Your paper/product will be due Monday,
December 8th at 4pm.

GRADING POLICY

I expect all assignments to be completed in a timely fashion. Please double-space all

written work and use a 12-pt. font. Please use the canvas site to submit all work unless
prior arrangements have been made. Assignments will be weighed according to this
scheme:

Class Participation 20%

Thoughts to Shape Literature Discussions 10%
Single Article Summary and Presentation 10%
Learning to See CLD in Practice 15%
Study Group Presentation/Paper 20%
Final Course Project 25%

Administrative Notes about Teaching at the University of Washington

If you have any concerns about the course or your instructor, please see the instructor
about these concerns as soon as possible. If you are not comfortable talking with the
instructor or not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact Prof.
Elham Kazemi (ekazemi@uw.edu) or Deborah McCutchens
(mccutch@u.washington.edu). For your reference these procedures are posted on the
bulletin board just outside Student Services, 206 Miller.

Academic Accommodations
Your experience in this class is important to us, and it is the policy and practice of the
University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments
consistent with federal and state law. If you experience barriers based on disability,
please seek a meeting with DRS to discuss and address them. If you have already
established accommodations with DRS, please communicate your approved

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accommodations to your instructor at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your
needs in this course.

Disability Resources for Students (DRS) offers resources and coordinates reasonable
accommodations for students with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are
established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS. If
you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary or permanent
disability that requires accommodations (this can include but not limited to; mental
health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are
welcome to contact DRS at206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu.

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES, MILESTONES & READINGS

Week 1, September 24 Course Introduction and Overview

This session will provide an introduction to the people, purposes, themes, and activities
of this course. We will start by discussing initial ideas relevant to the course.

Watch: Babies

Read:
1. Bang, M. (2014) Culture and Learning. A Synthesis Brief for Practioners.

2. Lee, C. D. (2003). Why we need to re-think race and ethnicity in educational

research. Educational Researcher, 32(5), 3-5.

Week 2, October 1 Core Ideas Towards Formal Understandings of Culture

1. Lee, C. D. (2002). Interrogating race and ethnicity as constructs in the

examination of cultural processes in developmental research. Human
Development, 45(4), 282-290.

2. Gutirrez, K. D., & Rogoff, B. (2003). Cultural ways of learning: Individual traits
or repertoires of practice. Educational researcher, 32(5), 19-25.

3. Nasir, N. I. S., & Hand, V. M. (2006). Exploring Sociocultural Perspectives on

Race, Culture, and Learning. Review of Educational Research, 449-475.

Week 3, October 8 Conceptualizing Culture and Learning

1. Nasir, N. I. S., Rosebery, A. S., Warren, B., & Lee, C. D. (2006). Learning as a
cultural process: Achieving equity through diversity. The Cambridge handbook of
the learning sciences, 489-504.

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 2. Engestrm, Y., & Sannino, A. (2010). Studies of expansive learning: Foundations,
findings and future challenges. Educational Research Review, 5(1), 1-24.

3. Dreier, O. (2009). Persons in structures of social practice. Theory & Psychology,

19(2), 193-212.

4. Leander, K. M., Phillips, N. C., & Taylor, K. H. (2010). The changing social
spaces of learning: Mapping new mobilities. Review of Research in Education,
34(1), 329-394.

Recommended Readings:
Engestrm, Y. (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical
reconceptualization. Journal of education and work, 14(1), 133-156.

Week 4, October 15 Conceptualizing Culture and Human Communities

1. Gutirrez, K. D., & Arzubiaga, E. A. (2012). An ecological and activity theoretic

approach to studying diasporic and nondominant communities. Research on
schools, neighborhoods, and communities: Toward civic responsibility, 203-216.

2. Rogoff, B., Najafi, B., & Meja-Arauz, R. (2014). Constellations of Cultural

Practices across Generations: Indigenous American Heritage and Learning by
Observing and Pitching In. Human Development, 57(2-3), 82-95.

3. Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the
world?. Behavioral and brain sciences, 33(2-3), 61-83.

Week 5, October 22 Conceptualizing Culture and Human Development

1. Cole, M. (2008) Chapter 17: Cultural and cognitive development in phylogenetic,

historical, and ontogenetic perspective. In Handbook of child psychology.

2. Heine, S. J. (2008). Cultural psychology. New York: WW Norton.

Recommended Readings:
Cole, M. (1998). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Harvard University
Press. Chapters 2 & 4

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1997). Ecological models of human development. Readings on the

development of children, 5.

Elder, G. H., & Rockwell, R. C. (1979). The life-course and human development: An
ecological perspective. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 2(1), 1-21.

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Week 6, October 29 Conceptualizing Culture and Cognitive Development

1. Saxe, G. B., & Esmonde, I. (2005). Studying Cognition in Flux: A Historical

Treatment of Fu in the Shifting Structure of Oksapmin Mathematics. Mind,
culture, and activity, 12(3-4), 171-225.

2. Medin, D. L., & Ojalehto, B. (2014). Perspectives on Culture and Concepts.

Annual Review of Psychology, 66(1).

Recommended Readings:
Lemke, J. L. (2000). Across the scales of time: Artifacts, activities, and meanings in
ecosocial systems. Mind, culture, and activity, 7(4), 273-290.

Week 7, November 5 Culture, Self, Gender, and Identity

1. Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for
cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological review, 98(2), 224.

2. Wortham, S. (2004). The interdependence of social identification and learning.

American Educational Research Journal, 41(3), 715-750.

3. Umaa Taylor, A. J., Quintana, S. M., Lee, R. M., Cross, W. E., Rivas Drake, D.,
Schwartz, S. J., ... & Seaton, E. (2014). Ethnic and Racial Identity During
Adolescence and Into Young Adulthood: An Integrated Conceptualization. Child
development, 85(1), 21-39.

Recommended Reading:
Saxe, G. B. (2003). Ethnic and academic identities: A cultural practice perspective on
emerging tensions and their management in the lives of minority students. Educational
Researcher, 32(5), 14-18.

Week 8, November 12 Culture and Literacy Learning

1. Lee, C. D. (2001). Is October Brown Chinese? A cultural modeling activity

system for underachieving students. American Educational Research Journal,
38(1), 97-141.

2. Gutirrez, K. D., Morales, P. Z., & Martinez, D. C. (2009). Re-mediating literacy:

Culture, difference, and learning for students from nondominant
communities. Review of Research in Education, 33(1), 212-245.

Recommended Reading:
Luke, A., Iyer, R., & Doherty, C. (2011). Literacy education in the context of
globalisation. Handbook of Research on Teaching of English Language Arts, 3rd Ed.

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Week 9, November 19 Culture and Learning Science

1. Rosebery, A. S., Ogonowski, M., dischino, M., & Warren, B. (2010). The coat
traps all your body heat: Heterogeneity as Fundamental to Learning. The journal
of the learning sciences, 19(3), 322-357.

2. Bell, P., Tzou, C., Bricker, L., & Baines, A. D. (2013). Learning in diversities of
structures of social practice: Accounting for how, why and where people learn
science. Human Development, 55(5-6), 269-284.

3. Bang, M., Warren, B., Rosebery, A. S., & Medin, D. (2013). Desettling
expectations in science education. Human Development, 55(5-6), 302-318.

Recommended Readings:
Lemke, J. L. (2001). Articulating communities: Sociocultural perspectives on science
education. Journal of research in science teaching, 38(3), 296-316.

Bang, M., & Medin, D. (2010). Cultural processes in science education: Supporting
the navigation of multiple epistemologies. Science Education, 94(6), 1008-1026.

Week 10, November 26 Culture and Math Learning

1. Nasir, N. I. S. (2002). Identity, goals, and learning: Mathematics in cultural

practice. Mathematical thinking and learning, 4(2-3), 213-247.

2. Cobb, P., & Hodge, L. L. (2011). Culture, identity, and equity in the mathematics
classroom. In A journey in mathematics education research (pp. 179-195).
Springer Netherlands.

Recommended Reading:
Saxe, G. B. (2002). Children's developing mathematics in collective practices: A
framework for analysis. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 11(2-3), 275-300.

Martin, D. B. (2009). Researching race in mathematics education. The Teachers College

Record, 111(2), 295-338.

Enyedy, N. (2005). Inventing mapping: Creating cultural forms to solve collective

problems. Cognition and Instruction, 23(4), 427-466.

Huntsinger, C. S., Jose, P. E., Liaw, F. R., & Ching, W. D. (1997). Cultural differences in
early mathematics learning: A comparison of Euro-American, Chinese-American, and
Taiwan-Chinese families. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21(2), 371-
388.

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Week 11, December 3 Study Groups Final Presentations

Packer, M. J., & Goicoechea, J. (2000). Sociocultural and constructivist theories of

learning: Ontology, not just epistemology. Educational Psychologist, 35(4), 227-241.

NOTE: Final Paper is due on Monday, December 8th at 4pm.