Advancing ecological conceptualizations of learning through studying world-making practices in interdisciplinary education
Abstract: Learning for complex world-making practices cannot be understood without embracing theoretical perspectives that acknowledge the complexity and dynamics of the interconnected and distributed among people and their environments nature of such practices. This symposium aims to advance the conceptual foundations for studying learning as an ecological phenomenon. It builds upon the recent special issue of Journal of the Learning Sciences, “Beyond disciplinary engagement: Researching the ecologies of interdisciplinary learning” (Markauskaite et al., 2024). The papers in this special issue adopted diverse ecological perspectives to study interdisciplinary learning, offering unique insights into how personal resourcefulness, teamwork dynamics, institutional processes, and disciplinary cultures intertwine in this context. However, the underpinning conceptual issues of theorizing and empirically studying learning as an ecological phenomenon were not specifically examined. In this symposium, we extend this work to unpack different ecological conceptualizations of learning and discuss critical directions for further development.
In this symposium we bring into the dialogue six projects that use ecological perspectives to investigate interdisciplinary learning for transformational world-making practices. On this website, you will find short interviews-conversations in which the symposium presenters briefly introduce their studies and explore their adopted ecological perspectives by reflecting on five guiding questions: 1) What makes your adopted approach ecological? 2) What are the the foundational–ontological, epistemological, and axiologica–premises of your approach? 3) What does the adopted approach reveal about learning, and what it does not reveal? 4) How can it be used to inform educational practices? and 5) What are the next steps in advancing this approach?
To continue this conversation, join us at the symposium on Thursday, June 12, 2025
10:30-12:00, at ISLS 2025.
Group-based simulations in interprofessional medical education: A micro-ecological approach for learning analysis and design
Crina Damşa in conversation with Natasha Arthars
Examining how students construct shared understanding of complex interdisciplinary problems: An ecological epistemic games approach
Natasha Arthars in conversation with Crina Damşa
Tracing relational learning processes in an interdisciplinary course-based research experience
Adam Papendieck in conversation with Baruch Schwarz
Implementing interdisciplinarity in schools as an ecological enterprise
Baruch Schwarz in conversation with Adam Papendieck
An ecological view on interdisciplinary learning in the humanities
Nurit Novis-Deutsch in conversation with Hanni Muukkonen
Navigating the complexities: Dynamics and tensions in interdisciplinary learning simulations
Hanni Muukkonen in conversation with Nurit Novis-Deutsch
Contributors
- Lina Markauskaite (co-chair), The University of Sydney, Australia, Lina.Markauskaite@sydney.edu.au
- Baruch Schwarz (co-chair), Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, Baruch.Schwarz@mail.huji.ac.il
- Nurit Novis-Deutsch, University of Haifa, Israel, nurit.novis@gmail.com
- Adam Papendieck, University of New Mexico, USA, apapendieck@unm.edu
- Natasha Arthars, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, natasha.arthars@qut.edu.au
- Hanni Muukkonen, University of Oulu, Finland, hanni.muukkonen@oulu.fi
- Crina Damşa, University of Oslo, Norway, crina.damsa@iped.uio.no
- Etan Cohen, The Center for the Study of Pedagogy, Israel, etancohen@gmail.com
- Julia A. Clarke, The University of Texas at Austin, USA, julia_clarke@jsg.utexas.edu
- Rachelle Esterhazy, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway, rachelle.esterhazy@oslomet.no<
- Einat Heyd-Metzuyanim, The Technion Institute of Technology, Israel, einathm@technion.ac.il
- Anu Kajamaa, University of Oulu, Finland, anu.kajamaa@oulu.fi
- Boris Koichu, The Weizmann University, Israel, boris.koichu@weizmann.ac.il
- Liv Mathissen, University of Oslo, Norway, liv.mathiesen@farmasi.uio.no
- Michal Tabach, Tel-Aviv University, Israel, tabachm@tauex.tau.ac.il
- Hilde Wøien, University of Oslo, Norway, hilde.woien@medisin.uio.no
- Anat Yarden, The Weizmann Institute, Israel, anat.yarden@weizmann.ac.il
- Yael Kali (discussant), University of Haifa, Israel, yael.kali@edtech.haifa.ac.il
- Peter Reimann (discussant), The University of Sydney, Australia, peter.reimann@sydney.edu.au