Abstract
In this paper, we report on the structural nexus of one youth’s gaming practices across contexts and over time. We utilize data from an ethnography of youth science and technology learning, as well as expertise development, across settings and developmental time. We use Ole Dreier’s theory of persons to understand how this youth is able to develop considerable gaming expertise. Additionally, we explicate the learning practices embedded in the structural nexus of this youth’s gaming and we examine associated issues of learning and identity. We problematize the lack of continuity between his formal schooling experiences and the structural nexus of his gaming practices as situated in a variety of other contexts and we reflect on the implications for the design of STEM gaming experiences in formal school environments.
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Notes
All names—people, schools, etc.—used in this paper are pseudonyms.
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Acknowledgments
The case study reported here is drawn from research conducted by members of the Everyday Science & Technology Group as part of the Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Science of Learning Center (http://life-slc.org/). We gratefully acknowledge the intellectual influence of our LIFE colleagues and we also wish to thank the National Science Foundation for the opportunity (Award SBE-0354453). We extend deep gratitude to the youth and their families who participated in this study.
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Bricker, L.A., Bell, P. “GodMode is his video game name”: situating learning and identity in structures of social practice. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 7, 883–902 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-012-9410-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-012-9410-6