“Swimmers, take your mark…” A metaphor for learning.
The starter calls the field to the blocks. “Take your mark.” There is a pause. I can feel my heart beating in anticipation of the starting device that will be begin the race. It was March of 1993, I was about to swim my last race of my last meet of my competitive career. For 18 years, I trained countless hours side by side with my father who was my swim coach. I dedicated myself mentally, physically, and emotionally for almost two decades to swim this last race. The starter goes off. This is it.
Educational metaphors use symbolism to link ideas about teaching and learning to something more familiar. There exists nothing more familiar to me than the sport of swimming. The more I contemplated the use of this metaphor, the more similarities between learning and swimming arose. Next, I will elaborate on one of the similarities that I found.
Social
Throughout my swimming career, I was surrounded and supported by a team. We worked, laughed, and cried together every step of the way. We formed a group of people who shared common goals over an extended period of time. Our performances were a direct result of premeditated training whether it was for conditioning and strength or drill work for better stroke technique. However, a fortuitous result occurred in that we learned to function as a team and strive to reach beyond our potential.
Educational theorist, Etienne Wenger defines Communities of Practice (CoP) on his website as “groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” Further Wenger points out that his definition of CoP allows for but does not require intentionality. Learning can be an incidental outcome that accompanies the social interaction within a group that shares common goals. Wenger (1998) states, “The point is not that classroom instruction is to be avoided or that a training function is useless, but that both are supplement, not substitute for, the learning potential inherent in practice” (pg. 250). Even though, in practice, teachers are required to teach the curriculum, a deliberate set of outcomes, there are times when students create and construct knowledge through engaging in and contributing to the practices of the classroom.
Wenger’s theory of CoP is rooted firmly in social development theory as discussed by Vygotsky and Piaget. According to Vygotsky and Piaget, social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. Vygotsky felt social learning precedes development. In his book Mind and Society: The development of higher mental processes, Vygotsky (1978) notes that a child’s development occurs first on the social level, then on the individual level. This is in contrast to Piaget’s understanding in that he held that the development of the child comes before learning. In either case, Vyotzsky and Piaget agree that social interaction plays a key role in learning. Wenger expands the consensus to include both intentional and non-intentional occurrences of learning.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity: Cambridge University Press.
Wenger, E. (n.d.). Communities of Practice. Retrieved from http://www.ewenger.com/theory/
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