Expansive learning

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In critical psychology, expansive learning describes a form of self-determined learning ( self-determined learning ) in which the subject expands its ability to act and, because it is less exposed to others and determined by others, increases its quality of life. Klaus Holzkamp developed this term as part of his learning theory on the basis of a criticism of the school as an institution , in which defensive or resistant learning predominates through the authoritarian transfer of knowledge from outside in curricula to the students .

concept

Critical Psychology wants to give people a theory with which they can better understand their own learning experiences and difficulties. That is why Holzkamp's learning theory is based on the point of view of the learning subjects (and not from a normatively set educational ideal). This subject-based learning approach is distinguished from two aspects of other approaches. On the one hand, he opposes the "unpublishing of the learning subject" in pedagogical theories, concepts and discourses (particularly prominent in the teaching-learning short circuit), and on the other hand against the practice of "subjectless learning", that is, against the variously produced compulsions, Getting people to learn without their own learning problems (Langemeyer 2005, Chapter 3).

"Learning" in general means in critical psychology the acquisition of an object meaning by a learning subject. Learning objects can not only be concrete things and tools, for example when a child learns the meaning (and thus also the use of a spoon), but also abstract and symbolic relationships (music, for example). According to this learning theory, the meanings of objects are socially pre-structured and fixed. In order to be able to act within a society, people have to acquire these meanings. However, they can always be critical of these object meanings, for example using a chair with the object meaning "To sit" to stand on.

With expansive learning, the learner comes up against limits in their actions, for example they cannot communicate in a foreign language. This action problem turns into a learning problem if the person now moves on to a learning action out of their own interest and the foreign language becomes a subject of learning - for example through a language course. If the learning loop is successfully completed, the learner has gained the ability to act through their new knowledge, i.e. expansively expanded their own scope for action. Since the concept of expansive learning is based on the justified self-interest of the learner, it turns against the prevailing theories of motivation, which strive for externally determined motivation. Expansive learning is only possible if the learner sees the meaningfulness of the learning goal and accepts it for himself.

Expansive learning in cultural-historical activity theory

In the activity theory of the Finnish educator Yrjö Engeström there is also a concept of expansive learning. Engeström's theory development is partly based on Holzkamp's foundation of psychology. In his dissertation from 1987, "Learning by Expanding", the term "expansive learning" is introduced into English-language literature. Holzkamp introduced the German term "expansive learning" in his book 'Lern' and in it partly refers to Engeström.

For Engeström, learning not only takes place in the form of people absorbing knowledge, but also in actively changing their environment and their relationships with life. In research projects that represent a kind of action research, attempts are made to promote "expansive learning" in institutional or operational contexts. An institutional or operational context is understood as an "activity system" in which the subjects act on their world with the help of artifacts, media, tools, machines or other instruments, whereby they do this not simply as isolated individuals, but as members of a certain community which has its rules and certain structures based on the division of labor. In order to design new activity systems or to further develop existing ones, "expansive learning" is modeled in eight steps:

  1. Raising questions ( Questioning , Need State )
  2. Analysis of the past
  3. Analysis of the current situation; the two analyzes mentioned here are divided into a) and b). Strictly speaking, you can say that it is only seven steps.)
  4. Modeling common solutions
  5. Testing the new model
  6. Discussion of further contradictions
  7. Joint reflection on the process
  8. Consolidation of the new practice

Relation to other approaches

Both Holzkamp's learning theory and Engestrom's approaches refer to the work of the so-called cultural-historical activity theory, a psychological approach that was founded in the Soviet Union in the 1920s by researchers such as Lev Semjonowitsch Wygotski , Alexander Romanowitsch Lurija and Alexej Leontjew . While the Engeström scheme aims to optimize existing processes within or between several "activity systems" and is similar to learning from organizations, Holzkamp's learning theory has a socially critical claim that aims at the emancipation of the individual against externally determined learning requirements. Holzkamp insists that social upheavals cannot be brought about by individuals, but only collectively, so that not every restriction of action can be lifted through expansive learning. The approach of expansive learning opens the way to a self-determination-oriented pedagogy that sees the learner not as an object but as a subject.

literature

  • Klaus Holzkamp : Learning. Subject-scientific foundation. Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 1993, ISBN 3-593-35317-2
  • Yrjö Engeström : Learning through Expansion International Studies in Activity Theory. Marburg: BdWi-Verlag, 1999 ISBN 3-924684-75-8 (English original edition from 1987)
  • Yrjö Engeström : Developmental Work Research. Expanding Activity Theory In Practice. Berlin: ICHS, 2005 ISBN 3-86541-069-3
  • Yrjö Engeström : Developing Labor Research. The theory of activity in practice. Berlin: ICHS, 2008 ISBN 3-86541-279-3
  • Ines Langemeyer: Competence development between self-determination and external determination. Work-process-integrated learning in IT. A case study. Münster: Waxmann Verlag 2005 ISBN 3-8309-1555-1
  • Ines Langemeyer: Contradictions in expansive learning. Towards a critical analysis of self-dependent forms of learning in relation to contemporary socio-technological change. Forum Qualitative Social Research, Vol. 7, No. 1, Art. 12, 2006: "Learning at Risk" [1]
  • Michael Bannach: Self-determined learning, Baltmannsweiler 2002, ISBN 3-89676-525-6
  • Rihm, Thomas (ed.). Participation in school: About the effective influence on school development. 2nd Edition. Vs-Verlag, 2010.
  • P. Faulstich, J. Ludwig: Expansive learning. Basics of vocational and adult education. Volume 39.Schneider Verlag Hohengehren GmbH, Baltmannsweiler 2004
  • Rihm, Thomas (ed.). School development. Start from the subject's point of view. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-531-14857-1
  • Funke, E.-H./Rihm, Thomas (eds.). Being a subject in school? An examination of the concept of learning by Klaus Holzkamps. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt, 2000, ISBN 3-7815-1076-X