Planning for student-driven discussions: A revelatory case of curricular sensemaking for epistemic agency

Teachers need to make sense of curricular materials and design instruction to ensure students will be positioned to pursue their own arc of inquiry in curriculum enactment. Whole-group discussions are crucial opportunities for curricular sensemaking, yet planning and enactment can be challenging. We...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the learning sciences 2022-05, Vol.31 (3), p.408-457
Main Authors: Cherbow, Kevin, McNeill, Katherine L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Classroom discussion
Classroom Environment
Cooperative Planning
Curriculum Development
Elementary Secondary Education
Epistemology
Group Discussion
Middle School Students
Middle School Teachers
Pedagogy
Power Structure
Science Education
Science Teachers
Student Participation
Teachers
Teaching Methods
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Summary:Teachers need to make sense of curricular materials and design instruction to ensure students will be positioned to pursue their own arc of inquiry in curriculum enactment. Whole-group discussions are crucial opportunities for curricular sensemaking, yet planning and enactment can be challenging. We used a single, revelatory case study approach with one focal teacher to research curricular sensemaking for epistemic agency in storyline materials. We identified episodes of pedagogical reasoning for epistemic agency in the teacher's pre- and post-interview responses and participation in discussion planning cycles (DPCs). This analysis revealed the recurrent sources of tension and ambiguity that the teacher grappled with concerning epistemic agency. The teacher made sense of two key sources of tension: curricular coherence and student coherence-seeking; equitable participation and incremental building of ideas; and one source of ambiguity: uniform or variable form(s) of epistemic agency in different discussion types. The teacher grappled with these tensions and ambiguity and learned to leverage them to position students with epistemic agency in their learning. The teacher engaged in curricular sensemaking for epistemic agency. This form of sensemaking involves the teacher's efforts to engage with students' emergent ideas and participation in their use of curricular materials.
ISSN:1050-8406
1532-7809
DOI:10.1080/10508406.2021.2024433