Making meaning of learning trajectories amidst multiple metaphors

In this theoretical report we focus on the issue of communicating learning trajectories (LTs) to researchers. There is great variation in the body of work on LTs including how researchers communicate what a LT entails, and the kinds of metaphors employed for making meaning of LTs. We elaborate possible affordances and limitations of different metaphors for LTs including “a garden path” and “growing flowers.” This work has implications for how LTs are taken up by researchers, and also how LTs are leveraged to inform student-centered teaching practices.