Negotiating identity and agency amidst pedagogical change: The case of student push back. Issue 4 (20th October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Munson, Jen
• Is Part Of: Journal of the learning sciences. Volume 30:Issue 4/5(2021)
• Page Start: 646
• Page End: 675
• Publication Date: 2021-10-20
• Subjects: Education -- United States -- Periodicals; Learning -- Periodicals; 370.97305
• DOI: 10.1080/10508406.2021.1954522
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1050-8406

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Background: When mathematics teachers embrace the call for pedagogical change, instructional shifts are likely to unfold in complex ways. While we typically view teachers as leading this process, within a figured worlds framework, students play active roles in negotiating the identities, rights, and obligations of all members of a classroom in the midst of pedagogical change. Methods: Drawing on a comparative case study approach, the study examined the case of student push back moves in student-teacher discourse during nine sensemaking mathematics lessons in two fourth grade classrooms. Findings: Analysis of the case of student push back moves shows how classrooms in pedagogical transition represent not a single coherent figured world, but multiple, clashing figured worlds. Students exercised agency to press the teacher to adhere to obligations to support sensemaking, thus supporting pedagogical change. Contribution: These findings indicate the complexity of negotiations within transitioning classrooms, with implications for understanding how figured worlds evolve and the ways that students participate in pedagogical change.