2001‘Constructing virtual worlds: tracing the historical development of learner practices’. Cognition and Instruction 19/1

This study explores learning and instruction within a technology-rich, collaborative, participatory learning environment by tracking the emergence of shared understanding and products through student and teacher practices. The focus is not only on the interac-tions among students or between students and teachers, but on student–resource inter-actions, especially student–technology interactions. In a 1-week camp, students worked in activity groups with 3-dimensional modeling software to develop virtual worlds. Ho-listic accounts of 2 activity groups in the camp are presented, emphasizing the focus of the activity, group dynamics including the role of the teacher, and the historical devel-opment of learner practices. Then, a network methodology is used to trace the history of interactions accounting for the emergence, evolution, and diffusion of learner practices. The findings suggest that becoming knowledgeably skillful with respect to a particular practice or concept is a multigenerational process, evolving in terms of contextual de-mands and available resources. The tracings further reveal the reciprocal nature of learning and doing, with building conceptual understanding occurring in relation to lo-cal conditions and practices, and doing practices being a part of student learning