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P M E 2 0 1 3 STUDENTING: THE CASE OF "NOW YOU TRY ONE" - Peter Liljedahl & Darien Allan
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STUDENTING: THE CASE OF "NOW YOU TRY ONE"
- Peter Liljedahl & Darien Allan
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THE PHENOMENON
Pretending to try to solve a problem.Doing their French homework in class.Pretending to use cell phone as a calculator. Copying homework from someone else.Mimicking the teacher’s example.Sharpening their pencil.Passive note taking.Pretending to have done homework.Pretending to be collaborating. Pretending to be doing in-class assignments. Pretending to be studying.Pretending to be reading.Forgot something in the locker. Going to the bathroom.
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THE PHENOMENON
Common Traits• there is a façade (seems to be directional)• it subverts the teacher’s intentions (not
always deliberately)• it isn’t learning!
SO WHAT TO CALL IT?
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STUDENTING
The concept of studenting or pupiling is far and away the more parallel concept to that of teaching. [..] there is much more to studenting than learning how to learn. In the school setting, studenting includes getting along with one’s teachers, coping with one’s peers, dealing with one’s parents about begin a student, and handling the non-academic aspects of school life.
(Fenstermacher, 1986, p. 39)
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STUDENTING
[T]hings that students do such as ‘psyching out’ teachers, figuring out how to get certain grades, ‘beating the system’, dealing with boredom so that it is not obvious to teachers, negotiating the best deals on reading and writing assignments, threading the right line between curricular and extra-curricular activities, and determining what is likely to be on the test and what is not.
(Fenstermacher, 1994, p. 1)
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STUDENTING
Studenting is what students do while in a learning situation.
conducive to learning conforms with the teacher’s wishes
OR NOTOR NOT
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STUDENTING vs. GAMING
conforming
gaming
learning
STUDENTING
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METHODOLOGY
Observation Phase• lots of observation in many classrooms• short interviews (audio), field notes, video
Taxonomy Building• continuous analysis (grounded theory)• looking for contexts and saturation in contexts
Taxonomy Testing• focused observation, field notes, interviews • analytic induction
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INITIAL CONTEXTS
now you try one (PME 2013) grade 10 (n=32)
homework (PME-NA 2013) grade 10-12 (n=100)
note taking (TBA) grade 12 (n=30)
…
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TEACHER’S INTENTIONS
Ms. Duo Well, I use them to give the students a chance to check their understanding of what we had just learned. This way, if they don't understand something we can catch it right away.
Researcher And what do the students do with these problems?
Ms. Duo For the most part they do the problems. You'll see when we are in there that there are a couple of boys in the back that don't do them but they don't really do anything. Everyone else, though, does them.
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AMOTIVATION (N=3)
• disengaged for the full class.
Frank I don’t get it. [shrugging his shoulders and looking back
down at his cell phone]Andrew My tutor will help me with this
tonight.Jason I'm just tired today.
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STALLING (N=4)
• went to the bathroom (n=2)• sharpened their pencil• looking for calculator
Barry I was waiting until there was a break in the lesson.
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FAKING (N=2)
• pretended to try
Keesha I don't want to mess up my notes. Jennifer Not only will she give us the
answer, she will give us the best answer. This is the one I want in my notes.
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MIMICKING (N=17)
• constant referencing to the previously solved problem [ntask (n-1)example]
• John This is how we do things in this class. The teacher gives us an example and we write it down. Then she gives us one to try and we copy what we did in the example.
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REASONING (N=6)
• tried it on their own• reasoned their way through it• anticipated next example
Kenneth I don't know. Maybe. … I mean it all makes sense. If anything
maybe the examples just showed me what kinds of questions are possible.
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NOW YOU TRY ONE
Slacking(n=3)
Reasoning(n=6)
Stalling(n=4)
Faking (n=2)
Mimicking(n=17)
catching up on notes (n=0)
N=32
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NOW YOU TRY ONE
gaming(n=27)
conforming(n=6)
N=32
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NOW YOU TRY ONE – Ms. Duo’s view
gaming(n=3)
conforming(n=29)
N=32
Ms. Duo So, as predicted, those three boys in the back didn't do much. But everyone else was pretty much on task. I mean, they didn't all get the problems right, but they did them. And the ones that made mistakes had a chance to learn from their mistakes when we went over it.
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SO, WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
1. It gives us insight into the student as opposed to the learner.• didactic contract – “the teacher is obliged to
teach and the pupil to learn” (Brousseau and Otte, 1991)
• learning is often NOT the goal
2. It has relevance for a great many teachers and a great many classrooms. • verisimilitude – “the appearance of being true or
real” (Oxford Dictionaries)
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CONCLUSION - STUDENTING vs. GAMING
conforming
gaming
learning
STUDENTING
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CONCLUSION - STUDENTING vs. GAMING
conforming
gaming
learning
STUDENTING
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MORE WORK - THEORIZING ABOUT STUDENTS
• doing being … a student (Sacks)• practical rationality (Aaron)• law of least effort (Kahnemann) • motivation and avoidance (Hannula)• didactic tension (Mason)• goal regulation (Hannula)• self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan)
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MORE WORK - TAXONOMY OF GAMING
GA
MIN
G WITH FAÇADE(intentional)
ALTERNATE IDEAS
preferred learning style
teacher is wrong
institutional norms
BEATING THE SYSTEM
avoidance
economy of action
doing being
practical rationality
…NO FAÇADE (unintentional)
wrong objective
wrong rules
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CONCLUSIONS - THEORIZING ABOUT TEACHERS
THESE RESULTS …• are recognizably problematic • are a recognizable reality• have verisimilitude• are familiar• provide a reality checkYET …• are seen as important to change• are within the realm of things that can be changed
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MORE WORK - THEORIZING ABOUT TEACHERS
PROBLEMS PRESENTED IN OTHER RESEARCH:
• are seen as social engineering → teaching methods are seen as solutions in need of a problem
• are far removed from individual teachers’ classrooms
• are seen as abstract or theoretical • represent an ideal• do not easily bridge to the practical• are often seen as systemic
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Q & A
QUESTIONS and ABUSE
