Networking Individuals and Groups

Abstract

Throughout this book, we saw that, alongside the material elements, there are essential social aspects to knowing and learning. Both knowing and learning are expressed in and through (changing) participation in everyday settings. Communities are produced as individuals interact with others and enact common practices. Most interactions are within small groups so that communities (their rules of conduct, patterns of behavior, social phenomena) are produced in face-to-face encounters between individuals. That is, students act in some way not because of a teacher’s power; rather, in the interactions between teacher and students, power is produced. In the same way, “rules” are produced in action. Whether a student “followed” or “broke” a stated rule can only be established after the fact. As we saw in the previous chapter, “Don’t use cardboard rolls!” led in some situations to the inclusion of cardboard rolls in a tower, whereas in other instances, cardboard rolls were not included. Communication and culture are therefore produced and maintained continuously through the collective activities of individual persons. Bernard, the teacher of Moussac had realized this and accepted that learning arises from the collective activity of the class. Communities are produced through the networking of people, and the concomitant circulation of stories, artifacts, materials, and practices that are relevant to members.