“The Tailored Practice of Hobbies and its Implication for the Design of Interest-Driven Learning Environments.”

Kristen Bergsman

“The Tailored Practice of Hobbies and its Implication for the Design of Interest-Driven Learning Environments.” F.S. Azevedo. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 22 (3), 462-510.

My house is a museum featuring artifacts from my husband’s hobbies, past and present. I have never met someone who follows an interest with such passion that it flares hot and burns itself out. Then he’s off again, pursuing his next interest with that same energy and enthusiasm. The trumpet was like that. He immersed himself in the world of “trumpet.” He took lessons. He bought multiple instruments and an entire lot of mutes on eBay. He listened exclusively to CDs of famous trumpet performers. He played trumpet, listened trumpet, read trumpet, talked trumpet. And then, he was off to the next pursuit. Azevedo would call these bursts of intense focus “short-term pursuits.” But my husband certainly has some hobbies that are long lasting investments, “long-term pursuits” that span years or decades, like his sustained study of poker and motorcycle maintenance.

I’ve wondered how a teacher could best capture and capitalize on students’ varied interests and hobbies. The knitter. The tinkerer. The dog trainer. The Lego collector. As a science curriculum designer, I’ve tried integrating various strategies in lesson plans aimed at helping teacher elicit and connect to students’ interests.

The NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education calls for science and engineering for all students; its equity and diversity approaches include a specific focus on “building on prior interest and identity” (NRCFramework, p.286). Science and engineering instruction that connects to students’ personal interests—including hobbies—is authentic and inclusive. But how do instructional designers create interest-driven curricula? How do teachers design interest-driven classroom environments?

In his four year ethnographic study of the hobbyists pursuing amateur astronomy, Azevedo’s goal was to “sharpen current conceptulatizations of interests and engaged participation” (Azevedo, p.X). Through his ethnographic studies—embedded in the world of amateur astronomy societies—and his survey and synthesis of potentially relevant theories, Azevedo presents his own Lines of Practice Theory (p. 27). He presents a series of “lessons and issues for instructional design” developed from this theoretical perspective. These are arranged around the following themes: 

1. Topic/Domain-Centered Activities
2. Flailing Interests: Issues of Dynamics in Interest-Based Participation
3. Boundaries and Ends of Interest-Driven Practice
4. Material Infrastructures
5. Practicing Across Several Sites and Communities
6. Structuring Resources
7. Collective Supports for Participation in Preference Aligned Ways

Summary

1.     Critical Reflection or Important Point

In Azevedo’s Lines of Practice Theory, a line of practice is defined as “a specific subset of a person’s preferences (in and beyond the hobby practice) attuned to a subset of conditions of practice in his or her life” (p. 27). They are “long-term structures with short- and long-term consequences for how one participates in a practice of interest” (p. 27).

2.     One Substantive Discussion Question Brought Up by the Reading

Think of a time that you’ve been witness to (or personally experienced) interest-driven teaching or learning. What made this learning experience successful? What could have been done differently to better support learning? In your conversations, link back to Azevedo’s Lines of Practice Theory and his in-depth study of hobbyists pursuing amateur astronomy.