Learning Culture and Social Interaction最新文献

This study addresses the support and responsiveness towards children's agency within early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the context of collaborative storytelling. We analyze activities in which ECEC teachers together with pairs of children (re)tell a story that they know from a book. Like in any social activity, the matter theoretically referred to as ‘agency’ is actualized. In the case of storytelling, this is a matter that could be formulated in terms of ‘authoring’ and ‘what story’ or ‘whose story’ is (to be) told. Adopting a sociocultural/dialogical perspective, we analyze the interaction in these triads, paying particular attention to shifts in the authoring of stories and in manifestations of stancetaking. The empirical data were gathered from two internationally profiled preschools in Sweden, involving 10 children aged 4–5 years who engage in multiple languages. The results clarify the continuous negotiation of agency in the activities. The results are discussed in terms of methodology and the importance of studying agency in a manner that captures it as dynamic, changing and evolving, rather than as reified possession, is emphasized.

Guiding small groups working on mathematical tasks is challenging for teachers. In this study, we investigated whether using a tool that helps teachers scaffold small student groups during mathematical discussions (the SGS Tool) leads to more and qualitatively better mathematical discussions. The participants were eight teachers and 272 seventh-grade students drawn from two schools. Five teachers used the tool (SGS condition), while three did not (control condition). SGS teachers gave relatively more support than control teachers. SGS teachers also took various steps of the SGS Tool, whereas the control teachers mostly gave content support. Significantly more and qualitatively better mathematical discussions occurred in the SGS condition. We provide a qualitative illustration of two contrasting teacher–small-group interactions (one in the control condition and one in the SGS condition), followed by an analysis of the interaction processes associated with one student group in each class during one lesson.

In a moment in which society frequently legitimizes the narrative that young children are “goal-oriented”, “competent” and “agents”, this paper denaturalizes this core value through empirical examples of how agency is enacted in family practices in which parents and siblings animate infant “speech” (voicing), fortifying the child's active family membership. The paper draws from a multimodal, longitudinal, ethnographic study examining the language socialization of infants in Spanish middle-class families from Madrid. In dialogue with a relational approach to agency, voicing is analyzed to showcase how the social construction of babies' agency dynamically changes in different positions (e. g. between competence and vulnerability) and in different verbal and no-verbal attunements between babies and family members. As we consider the interactional and verbal routine of voicing, we also move to a more vaguely defined terrain of undervalued dimensions, such as infant vocalizations and other forms of multimodal and embodied communicative practices, as they co-occur in socio-material ensembles.

This study contributes to growing scholarly interest in teacher-led, school-based learning communities and the characteristics of teacher dialogue and social interaction that support professional learning in these settings. Based on existing conceptual distinctions proposed in the literature, we term this type of teacher dialogue “collaborative inquiry into practice” (CLIP) and propose a systematic and reliable tool to measure it. We then employ a quantitative, comparative research design to study how different teacher team activities (i.e., video-analysis, peer consultations, and pedagogical planning) shape the extent to which teachers engage in CLIP. Fifty-four transcribed teacher meeting excerpts were analyzed with the CLIP coding scheme, assessing different aspects of inquiry-based reasoning, participation, and content. Quantitative comparisons and illustrative examples show that CLIP was lowest during peer consultations, in part because teachers were often not positioned as agents of change in such conversations. Pedagogical planning activities featured more instances of inquiry into each other's ideas. Contrary to common assumptions, collaborative video analysis activities were not characterized by increased attention to student thinking or inquiry orientation. Our findings provide new insights into teacher-led, collaborative learning in on-the-job settings, as well as practical implications for the design of school-based professional learning communities.

This ethnographic study investigates the dynamics of children's interactions during foosball matches at Vila do Boa school in Brazil's Federal District. Over the span of a year, participant observations and video recordings were conducted during school breaks. This paper focuses on a specific frame, “two against one”, featuring five children engaged in an intense foosball match. Using detailed transcriptions informed by conversation analysis, the Ethnography reveals the nuanced ways in which children navigate disputes and adapt rules, particularly when confronted with a significantly more skilled player. The analysis underscores the development of a unique lexicon among the children, highlighting how their language and interactions are integral to the game's dynamics and their broader socialization processes.