However, it has received relatively little research attention. It seems often to be taken for granted or overlooked, perhaps because researchers are especially familiar with contrasting instructional approaches used in schooling. Our aim is to articulate the multifaceted features of intent participation. To do so, we contrast it with assembly-line instruction, which is based on transmission of information from experts, outside the context of productive, purposive activity. This tradition of organizing learning is common in many U.S. schools and middle-class family interactions, perhaps related to historical changes connected with industrialization and child labor laws. Our contrast between intent participation and assembly-line instruction is not a dichotomy or a single dimension.The contrast is intended to bring features of each of these two systems into relief. |