The Role of Experiential Learning and Social Interaction for Changing Practices? Toke Haunstrup Christensen Danish Building Research Institute Aalborg University Copenhagen, Denmark thc@sbi.aau.dk Abstract — The paper presents initial theoretical suggestions of learning as an experimental and social activity. I hope that on how practice theory might be combined with understandings these tentative ideas can inspire to further thinking about how of learning as an experiential and social activity. The aim is to to make practice theory more “applicable” for designing inspire to further thinking about how to make practice theory changes towards a low-carbon energy system. I will use energy more “applicable” for designing changes towards a low-carbon energy system. feedback as a general example for the discussion. Index Terms— Practice theory, smart grid, feedback, II. BRINGING DAILY PRACTICES INTO REFLECTION households, learning, social interaction. We perform most of our daily practices as unconscious I. INTRODUCTION routines. If the aim is to promote less energy-intensive everyday practices, it therefore takes efforts to make people Many researchers – particularly within the field of practice reflect on their daily practices. theory studies – have criticized the dominant approach towards Drawing on practice theory, R. Wilk [4] has developed an the involvement of citizens in the smart grid for being naïve. analytical model (Fig. 1) showing how unconscious habits and For instance, Y. Strengers writes that it is based on a routines can be made “visible” and subject to reflection and misleading understanding of the individual (energy) consumer discussion through the process of cultivation. There are many as a resource man who is “an efficient and well-informed ways to foster cultivation. Other people can make us aware of micro-resource manager who exercises control and choice over habits that we do not think about ourselves; we can experience his consumption and energy options” (p. 34-35 in [1]). conflicts between different routines that make it necessary to Social practice theory offers an alternative to the make a conscious choice or adjustment; or – with reference to individualistic and rational-choice based understanding within energy feedback – information can be delivered to the smart grid community. Instead of the individual agent, householders with the aim of bringing daily, energy-consuming practice theory places social practices as the central unit of practices into question. analysis (see, e.g., [2] [3]). Practices are collective entities of “doings and sayings” constituted by heterogeneous and mutually dependent elements, while energy consumption is seen as the outcome of people performing daily practices that are meaningful to them (e.g. preparing meals or making their home comfortable). Therefore, changes in practices (and energy consumption) are only achieved if some or all of these elements are changed. However, saving energy through a comprehensive approach that simultaneously addresses all the elements constituting energy-consuming practices appears as an insurmountable task. Therefore, there is a need for developing a more pragmatic, mid-level approach, which is – on the one hand – grounded in Fig. 1 Processes of cultivation and naturalization (based on [5]) the practice-theoretical insights about the collective nature of social practices, but at the same time indicates ways to design The opposite of cultivation is naturalization, which interventions that also involve (individual) citizens actively in describes “the processes which push conscious practices back changing everyday practices in a less energy-intensive into habitus, or keep them from surfacing into consciousness in direction. the first place” (p. 150 in [4]). In this paper, I outline some first theoretical suggestions on how practice theory could be combined with an understanding In many cases, practices never surface from the realm of a help [8]. It emphasizes that learning cannot be compared with unconscious routines (habitus) because they are so widespread simple adoption of new (formal) knowledge as provided in, for and closely associated with the social and cultural instance, many energy saving campaigns. Instead, learning is a understanding of “normal behavior” that it takes great effort to prolonged process that involves also practical experiments and make people aware that these practices are contingent and can reflections about the outcome of these. Figure 2 shows the be subject to changes. Examples could be daily showers or model with examples relevant to energy saving in households. indoor temperatures. Wilk calls this submersive naturalization, as this kind of routines “remains thoroughly submersed in the habitus.” Another type of naturalization is repressive naturalization, which describes how people often force a practice back into habitus if alternatives have challenged this practice or if it is a new practice that people intend to turn into a normal routine. Examples could be when people try to change their diet or change practices in order to save energy. Without cultivation, it will not be possible to make householders think about their own practices and how to save energy. Typically, feedback projects aim at promoting cultivation through information and visualization of energy consumption, e.g. via smart phone apps. In most cases with limited success [5], because – among other things – it takes competences to interpret energy data and linking these to one’s daily practices. Fig. 2 Kolb’s experiential learning cycle – with examples related to energy feedback III. PROMOTING PRACTICE CHANGES THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AND SOCIAL INTERACTION? Ideally, feedback designs should promote the householders’ When certain practices are brought into consciousness, the active experimentation with (changing) their daily practices next step in promoting energy savings is to ensure that these and facilitate their abilities to monitor the outcomes of these will remain at the reflective level long enough to realize real experiments (e.g. realized electricity savings) as well as the changes in the performance of the practices. Here, social reflexive observation and abstract conceptualization. Here, (community) interaction could play an important role; feedback that involves “bench-marking” and sharing exchanging experiences and ideas with others face-to-face or experiences with others (peers) could be important. via social media might help people to maintain their attention The importance of social interaction for learning is to these practices and sharing ideas on how to change them in emphasized in studies of communities of practices [9]. As order to save energy. Also, possibilities of experimenting with Sahakian & Wilhite [10] write, the key is to “view learning not changing practices are important – e.g. supported by real-time as an individual experience but as participatory and social” (p. feedback on energy consumption (also called direct feedback). 31). Therefore, creating forums for social interaction between Previous studies (e.g. [6]) show the importance of householders participants in feedback demonstrations in order to support the being able to see what impact their changes of daily habits have participatory and collective learning processes could be on the energy consumption as this supports their personal important. These should support the participants’ learning process. considerations about, experimenting with and adoption of less Community interaction and experimentation support both energy-intensive everyday practices. individual and social learning. Thus, we should regard energy IV. CONCLUSION saving as a continual (or at least prolonged) learning process and not as a single incident aimed at making people adopt a Figure 3 summarizes the theoretical perspective suggested new technology or specific behavior. If energy savings are in this paper. This is surely a tentative approach, which needs going to be significant and lasting, it is important to base further elaboration. In particular, it seems important to develop practice changes on learning processes that ensure that new the understanding of the role of social interaction (e.g. in practices become (embodied) daily routines at the non- communities) for the cultivation process and the experiential reflective level (i.e. naturalized). Otherwise, there will be a learning cycle further. high risk of the “fallback effect”, i.e. when energy savings However, I hope that these initial thoughts can inspire to wears off again after some time ([6], [7]). further thinking about how to develop also more pragmatic or For inspiration on how to create energy feedback designs “applicable” versions of practice theory, which could be useful that support this kind of thorough and prolonged learning for the design of smart grid solutions that “work in practice”. processes, D. Kolb’s experiential learning cycle model could be Fig. 3 Wilk’s and Kolb’s models combined REFERENCES [10] M. Sahakian and H. Wilhite, “Making practice theory practicable: Towards more sustainable forms of consumption,” [1] Y. Strengers, Smart Energy Technologies in Everyday Life, Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 14, pp. 25-44, 2014. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. [2] A. Reckwitz, “Toward a Theory of Social Practices: A Development in Culturalist Theorizing,” European Journal of Copyright © Toke H. Christensen. Copying permitted only for private Social Theory, vol. 5, pp. 243-263, 2002. and academic purposes. This volume is published and copyrighted by its editors. [3] E. Shove and M. Pantzar, “Consumers, Producers and Practices: Understanding the invention and reinvention of Nordic Walking,” Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 5, pp. 43-64, 2005. [4] R. 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