Negotiating identity and agency amidst pedagogical change: The case of student push back

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.