Abstracts - Earli

learn geometry. In Experiment 1 (n = 50), we did not find significant differences in theeffectiveness of the two tutor versions. However, the faded-example version was more efficient(i.e., less learning time). Process analyses revealed that students had substantial problems inappropriately using the faded-example tutor. In Experiment 2 (n = 30), we, therefore, providedstudents with additional instructions on how to use the tutor. Results showed that students acquireddeeper conceptual understanding when they worked with the faded-example tutor as compared tothe standard tutor. In addition, they needed less learning time. Hence, we showed that there isactually an additional benefit of learning from faded examples even when compared to wellsupportedlearning by problem solving.K 931 August 2007 08:30 - 10:30Room: 4.95SymposiumLearning to reason in institutional contextsChair: Åsa Mäkitalo, Department of Education, Göteborg university, SwedenOrganiser: Åsa Mäkitalo, Department of Education, Göteborg university, SwedenDiscussant: Sten Ludvigsen, Intermedia, University of Oslo, NorwayWithin sociocultural perspectives, learning is situated at the intersection of collective andindividual action. Learning to reason in institutional contexts, thus means learning how to makesense according to specific institutionalised forms of discourse. In analyses of learning andreasoning in institutional settings, the researcher has to be able to account for the relation betweenthe stable features of institutional context while yet maintaining the integrity of interactionalphenomena. In other words, the analyst needs to combine analyses of the ’interactional order’ withthose of the ’institutional order’. Analytically notions such as, for instance, participants’ framingof activites, specific speech genres and institutional categorisations all draw attention to thecontextual and cultural features of such institutional forms of discourse. This symposium drawsattention to the question of what it implies to learn how to reason in institutionally relevant waysand how we analytically may address such issues. Today, institutional actors (such as teachers,social workers, psychologists and others) to an increasing extent work across institutional settings,which imply their tasks may be framed in several ways. This stresses learning in terms of how toreason in everyday work as they define problems, take on conflicting demands and makedecisions. The papers in this symposium illuminate how institutional actors address their tasks asdelicate, value laden and consequential. Learning how to reason include such concerns and thusincorporates how to anticipate consequences and responses from stakeholders within as well asoutside the institution. The contributions all in different ways highlight the notion of institutionalaccountability in their studies of reasoning in such contexts.Resisting Relational Agency: shoring up the professional boundaries of schoolingAnne Edwards, Dep. of Educational Studies, University of Oxford, United KingdomThe evidence to be discussed in this paper is drawn from a four year study of the learningchallenges involved when professionals such as social workers, teachers and psychologists learncollaborate across their professional boundaries in order to work with vulnerable children and– 601 –