Sociomaterial Assemblages in Learning Scientific Practice: Margherita’s First PCR1

Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which apprentice scientists learn how to work in the laboratory day by day, the hypothesis being that practical learning is part of the process of becoming a scientist. The paper’s theoretical intention is multi-perspective, and unites various approaches: laboratory studies, practice studies, the corporeal turn perspective and that of communities of practice. The paper argues that learning is produced through the bodies of the apprentices. These embed a sociomaterial assemblage of heterogeneous elements, sustaining the collective laboratory work.