Dissertation Title:  The Zone of Syntonicity: Learning Plateaus and Occasions for Growth

Abstract:

Constructionism and the related field of creative learning have focused on the importance of connecting to learners’ personal interests as a primary source of motivation for continuing to grow in a particular domain. However, it is clear that as learners engage in a domain over time, interest alone is often not enough to sustain their growth. Learners hit plateaus in which their growth stagnates, despite their continued interest in the domain, and despite their active interest in continuing to grow.

In this dissertation, I investigate the question: what happens when interest is not enough? I study this question in the context of School of HONK – a local, free, and open to the public community music school and performing brass band whose pedagogy is aligned with constructionist principles. Over the past several years, I have worked with School of HONK to understand when, how, and why learners make progress over time, especially through moments of plateau. Through design, ethnographic, and other qualitative research methods, I articulate the gap in constructionism’s account of growth over time as well as propose a framework to fill in that gap, focusing on syntonicity as a key factor in the learning process. This framework comprises two theoretical concepts, the zone of syntonicity and occasions which collectively provide an account of growth over time that meshes with constructionist epistemology.

Committee members:

Mitch Resnick
LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research
MIT Media Lab

Alec Resnick
Co-Founder
Powderhouse Studios

Karen Brennan
Timothy E. Wirth Professor of Practice in Learning Technologies
Harvard University