Key Findings
Analytic Approach
To make sense of my research data, I chose to focus on key elements of the boot camp experience that are represented as my key findings. During my observations, I noted moments and aspects of the show that connected to my learning lenses: constructivism and situativity. I then used my notes to expand on these ideas and supported these findings with texts. You can read it all below and watch video clips that further support my analysis.
Constructivism
Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition is established as a constructivist learning environment centered around the cast’s previous knowledge about relationships. It is explicitly stated by the co-host and counselor, Dr. Ish, that the show is meant to provide the couples with the tools needed to decide if they are better together or apart instead of promising them a fixed relationship in ten days. This statement supports the constructivist idea that “learning is a continuous, life-long process” that is what the couples make it. The fact that the couples “identify and pursue their own learning goals” to start this process supports constructivism as well (Driscoll 390-391). They identify these issues through pre-interviews, couples interviews, and spontaneous confessionals that are the basis of metacognition needed for them to take control of their learning process, which includes externalizing, articulating and reflecting on their position in that process (Branford 18, Sawyer 9-10).
Dr. Ish and Judge Toler's evaluations of couple's participation together and individually both during and after group exercises, as well as their feedback and advice in one one one sessions that diffuse pressing issues amongst couples, scaffolds novices into experts over time and sets the tone for boot camp as an experience rooted in conceptual change. As Andrea A. diSessa discusses in A History of Conceptual Change Research, these learners are building “new ideas in the context of old ones” that may restrict their learning process (diSessa 88). They are tasked with breaking their misconceptions of what a relationship looks like by convincing them that it’s a good idea to abandon their old ways and concepts. The show starts this work of rational conceptual change by capitalizing on the dissatisfaction of the couples that brought them to boot camp and making the idea of change appear “fruitful for future pursuits” of a healthy and lasting relationship (diSessa 96). In the rest of the show, based on Posner, Strike, Hewson, and Gertzog’s rational model of conceptual change, the counselors’ job is to make new concepts of what it means to be in relationships intelligible and plausible for the campers to employ. They do this by naming the skills each exercise is teaching them and when they should be employed. The childhood trauma exercises on day eight --Scarred for Life and Your Heart on Your Sleeve-- are the biggest way that conceptual change is tackled on the show. These exercises show the cast how their traumas have impacted them today in their relationships through psychotherapy and role play with children.
With other exercises that are designed for the campers, there are elements of them that are personalized to the specific needs of each person or couple. This curation helps the campers make connections to their previous experiences as both an individual and couple, which speaks to the idea of knowledge building instead of deposits that surrounds constructivism as a whole (Ackermann 18). The structure of the show is also meant to build off of the exercises from the previous day, which is a constructivist idea as well.
Overall, as with all educators in constructivist learning environments, Dr. Ish and Judge Toler are faced with the reality that there are limitations to the learning that can be done in this environment because of the short time they have and the resources at their disposal to meet the individual needs of all campers. Some people need more help than they can offer and they were driven to send a couple home because of their inability to improve due to anger, insecurity, domestic violence, and toxicity that was beyond the extent of their capabilities.
Situativity
In terms of scaffolding, the idea that these couples are coming to Dr. Ish and Judge Toler for help building healthier relationships exemplifies the power of an external source that situated learning provides. Vygotsky’s “emphasis on how the presence of adults with greater expertise can ‘speed up’ and enhance a child’s self-directed learning” is also emphasized in this setting (Ackermann 22). With the proper questions, comments, and overall guidance from these experts, these couples are better equipped to overcome their limits and reach their learning goals than they were before they came to boot camp.
Filled with people living together with a common learning goal, the house also creates a situated learning community where socialization is capitalized off of and encouraged. The designed group exercises encourage learning through participation, which is critical to situated learning because “concepts are both situated and progressively developed through activity” not just words and instruction that can be attached to the learning environment and not transferred into real-life situations (Brown 33). They set the tone for participation through culturally relevant practices specifically as the exercises relate to the celebrity and hip-hop identities of the cast and their enculturation through authentic practice. These exercises speak to the “ordinary practices” of hip-hop culture that are rooted in self expression, which allows for communication to be initiated despite personal relationship struggles in the areas these activities are aimed to confront (Brown 34). As members of the hip-hop community, the boot campers are able to sit in their identities in every exercise as they develop new skills for healthy relationships. They also become more invested in the learning process because they have a personal connection to the learning tools and the educators, Dr. Ish and Judge Lynn Toler, who value their “everyday repertoires of practice” and address their “basic human needs for safety, belonging and identification, self-esteem and respect” as Black people themselves (Nasir 690). This element of representation seals the deal and allows the cast to open up even more to this learning process, which is a sentiment explicitly expressed by some of the cast.
Often during evaluations after group exercises, there is also “Jury of Your Peers” segment where each person is prompted to give their feedback to someone outside of their relationship. This activity is established to make sure everyone is thinking about the issue of the day. On a subconscious level, it sets a precedent to the boot campers that it is acceptable to insert yourself in the progress and process of another couple. So, when not in the presence of their authoritative figures and in a more relaxed setting in the house, the group then freely shares advice and opinions with other couples and even interjects into any discourse that may arise between a couple or group members. When conflict does arise, the group dynamic provides an opportunity for the boot campers to reach clarity in the midst of conflict with the various perspectives that are accessible. This speaks to the collective problem solving that Brown, Collins, and DuGuid discuss in Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning: “Groups...give rise to synergistically to insights and solutions that would not come about without them” (Brown 40). Also, the knowledge from experience that each person has to give is willingly shared in this house, especially from the older couples to the newer couples and younger adults.
Outside of conflict, the group cheers each other on to motivate each other through the hard moments and the exercises, invested in supporting the healing of each relationship. However, when the authenticity of a relationship is in question, this investment can leave members of the house feeling betrayed and looking to detach from others and retreat to only focusing on themselves and their own relationship. And when someone is looking to avoid the hard work necessary to repair their relationships, this situated learning experience can be misused as an outlet or distraction.
Bibliography
Ackermann, Edith K. “Constructing Knowledge and Transforming the World.” A Learning Zone
of One's Own: Sharing Representations and Flow in Collaborative Learning Environments, by Mario Rokoro and Luc Steels, IOS Press, 2004, pp. 17–35.
“Learning: From Speculation to Science.” How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School,
by John D. Bransford et al., National Academy of Sciences, 2000, pp. 3–27.
Brown, John Seely, et al. “Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning.” Educational
Researcher, vol. 18, no. 1, 1989, pp. 32–42. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1176008.
Accessed 18 Nov. 2020.
DiSessa, Andrea A. “A History of Conceptual Change Research.” The Cambridge Handbook of
the Learning Sciences, edited by R. Keith Sawyer, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2014, pp. 88–108. Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology.
Driscoll, Marcy Perkins. Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Pearson ®., 2014.
Nasir, Na’ilah Suad, et al. “Learning as a Cultural Process: Achieving Equity through
Diversity.” The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, edited by R. Keith Sawyer, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2014, pp. 686–706. Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology.
Sawyer, R. Keith. “Introduction: The New Science of Learning.” The Cambridge Handbook
of the Learning Sciences, edited by R. Keith Sawyer, 2nd ed., Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 2014, pp. 1–18. Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology.