Natan Samuels

We describe a physics teacher's successful pedagogical changes, which were based on the teacher’s attempts to match the physics learning environment with her students’ learning preferences. The pedagogical changes were observed during the teacher’s implementation of the Cogenerative Mediation Process for Learning Environments (CMPLE). CMPLE is a formative intervention designed to help students and instructors collaborate to improve their classroom environment through a combination of cogenerative dialogues and time allotted to work towards their collective goals. The teacher’s change in pedagogy resulted from her students' involvement in reforming their classroom. For this instrumental case study, we examined a veteran high school teacher's semester-long use of CMPLE in her Modeling Instruction classroom. Analysis of classroom videos and teacher interviews indicates that the teacher used CMPLE to adapt her pedagogy in complex ways, in order to balance her past experience and teaching values with her students’ desires to be taught in ways seemingly counter to her then-current methods. We will trace her teaching practices and her self-described awareness of her students’ prior experiences, to highlight notable changes concerning a particular cogenerative goal.

I
 describe
 a
 high
 school
 physics
 teacher’s
 pedagogical
 change
 process,
  concerning
 her
 students’
 whiteboard
 presentations
 during
 class
 discussions.
 
  Contextualized
 through
 a
 formative
 teacher-­‐student
 intervention,
 the
 teacher’s
  change
 in
 practice
 developed
 from
 her
 expanding
 understanding
 of
 students’
  learning
 preferences
 and
 classroom
 experiences.
 
 As
 a
 result
 of
 the
 cogenerative
  changes
 the
 teacher
 put
 into
 practice,
 the
 teacher
 was
 able
 to
 help
 students
 address
  their
 own
 barriers
 to
 communicating
 and
 understanding
 each
 other’s
 presentations.
 
  Data
 presented
 include
 classroom
 video
 transcripts
 and
 pictures,
 classroom
  artifacts,
 and
 teacher
 interview
 transcripts
 that
 were
 recorded
 during
 the
  instructor’s
 semester-­‐long
 use
 of
 the
 formative
 intervention
 known
 as
 the
  Cogenerative
 Mediation
 Process
 for
 Learning
 Environments
 (CMPLE).
 
 In
 CMPLE,
  students
 and
 instructors
 use
 discourse
 to
 negotiate,
 develop,
 and
 implement
  changes
 to
 their
 classroom
 structure,
 based
 on
 their
 collective
 learning
 preferences.
 
  Through
 following
 the
 steps
 of
 CMPLE,
 the
 teacher
 proceeded
 through
 her
 own
  individual
 change
 process.
 
 My
 Activity
 Theory-­‐based
 analysis,
 has
 identified
 the
  teacher’s
 change
 process
 as
 1)
 the
 questioning
 of
 areas
 of
 concern
 and
 behavior
  patterns,
 2)
 analyzing
 the
 current
 state
 of
 affairs,
 3)
 constructing
 a
 new
 model
 of
  behavior,
 4)
 implementing
 the
 new
 model,
 and
 5)
 evaluating
 her
 changes.
 
  Implications
 include
 that
 teachers
 who
 enact
 CMPLE
 may
 be
 able
 to
 address
  problematic
 aspects
 of
 their
 classroom
 environment
 in
 conjunction
 with
 their
  students,
 rather
 than
 having
 to
 figure
 out
 and
 implement
 solutions
 by themselves.

Using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), we discuss how cogenerative dialogues in a learning environment can affect participants’ learning preferences. For this ethnographic case study, we examine pre-service elementary teachers’ (and their instructors’) use of the Cogenerative Mediation Process for Learning Environments (CMPLE) in a science content and teaching methods course. CMPLE is designed to help students and teachers reflect on their learning preferences, and then take part in the responsibility for changing their shared environment. Our analysis of the artifacts from the CMPLE activities, as well as student and instructor reflections, indicates that adapting the learning environment to meet the preferences of a cogenerative culture of learning affects that culture in multiple and complex ways. By comparing the week #4 and week #12 preferences of the class, we were able to see an increase in student agency, development of teacher identities, and a changed culture of learning. In terms of CHAT, the participants’ community expanded from people in a college class to include in-service teachers, their motivation moved from following instructions towards a focus on self-directed learning, and the outcome changed from merely passing the class towards the learning of science content and teaching methods.

Abstract:
We propose a process designed to help actors (instructors and students) reflect on their classroom learning environments, and negotiate social action to modify those environs. Usually actors implicitly negotiate their roles in, and expectations of, their classrooms. However, an explicit process whereby actors list, rank, and discuss their important learning elements, and then rate their classroom with respect to those elements, can shape this negotiation into a cogenerative goal setting activity. This mediation is useful for continuously identifying and addressing specific targets for classroom reform. Furthermore, all community members can have the opportunity to be collectively engaged in building a unique learning environment. Benefits to students and instructors include a concrete method for negotiating a frame shift toward student-centered learning modes. Advantages to educational researchers include new opportunities to analyze artifacts produced as a result of a collective process.

Abstract:
We have designed a classroom goal setting process whereby students and instructors rank, discuss, and combine their learning preferences and then rate their classroom with respect to those preferences. All participants have the opportunity to be collectively engaged in building a preferred learning environment.