How to teach know-how? Corrective manual demonstrations in teaching construction work

Abstract

Drawing on 20 h of video data from a vocational school construction site, this conversation analytic paper analyzes corrective demonstrations that target the skilled use of task-relevant tools in the context of learning manual work. With narrated demonstrations, the teacher shows the students how to skillfully use the tools and guides their vision to see how the material outcome should be interpreted in materially complex tasks. Orientation to the students' emerging expertise shows in how corrective demonstrations are built on participants’ existing procedural understanding that is redirected by means of corrective demonstration. A crucial element in these multimodally designed demonstrations is tool transfer that marks the beginning and the end of the demonstration sequence.