As the national debate about education intensifies, it is becoming clear that understanding how people learn is crucial to efforts to enhance education. In this book, Barbara Rogoff, author of the highly acclaimed book Apprenticship in Thinking, collaborates with Carolyn Goodman Turkanis and Leslee Bartlett, teachers at an innovative school in Salt Lake City, Utah to examine what is involved in learning - by students, parents and teachers alike. Eschewing the conventional idea that learning comes from the transmission of facts and concepts by experts, the editors and their colleagues focus on the idea of learning by collaborative participation with others in activities of mutual interest. This book demonstrates that learning as a community involves people learning together in purposeful activities, with mutual responsibilities, shared decision making, and motivation based on interest. At the Salt Lake City school, children as well as adults plan learning activities and adults learn as they guide children. The driving principle is that learning occurs through interested participation with other learners. In the view of many researchers, a paradigm shift is taking place in educational theory. This book contributes to this new theoretical perspective by examining ground breaking theory-in-practice. It should inspire researchers, educators, and parents to reflect on their own ideas about learning in their communities.
1. Lessons about Learning as a Community ; Part 1: Origins, Principles, and Structure of a Community of Learners ; Constructing Ourselves: The Beginning of an Evolving Philosophy ; An Orientation to Principles-in-Action ; Seeing the Big Picture ; Part 2: How Is This a Community? ; A Home and School Community ; Coming Home to School ; Setting the Scene: Coordinating a Classroom Community ; The Classroom Community "in Control" ; Part 3: Children Learning in a Community ; Creating Curriculum with Children ; Caring Conversations ; Respect from Respect ; "What about Sharing?" ; Learning to Manage Time ; Helping Children Learn to Make Responsible Choices ; Part 4: Teachers Learning about Teaching Children in a Community ; Teaching by Learning from Children ; Risking Saying "I Don't Know" ; A New Teacher Learning to Share Responsibility with Children ; Part 5: Parents Learning Principles of Children's Learning in a Community ; Becoming a Cooperative Parent in a Parent Co-operative ; Kindergarten, Again ; Parents' Learning about Children's Learning ; Becoming an Adult Member in a Community of Learners ; Part 6: Teachers Learning about Parent Learning in a Community ; Qualifying to Help People Learn: Becoming a Beginner ; A New Teacher Learning to Share Responsibility with Parents ; A Teacher Learning about Adult Learning ; Part 7: Communities Learning Together, Creating Learning Communities ; Teachers Learning Together in Forming a Learning Community ; Decision Making in a Learning Community ; OC Teachers Take Their Learning to Other Schools ; Never-Ending Learning
