Creating Learning Opportunities for Teachers and Students: A Cultural‐Historical Understanding of Classroom Research

Abstract

There is considerable agreement about the fact that the presence of researchers in the classroom mediates teaching and learning. Why should two very different forms of human activity, one designed to study the other, interact and mediate each other? In this article, we propose cultural‐historical activity theory as a framework for understanding the opportunities that arise for students and teachers from the presence of researchers in the classroom. From the perspective of cultural‐historical activity theory and the concept of expansive learning, we articulate the significance of making use of the affordances that arise with the presence of researchers in educational settings. We analyze three vignettes from our research in elementary mathematics classrooms for the purpose of illustrating a cultural‐historical activity theoretic explanation of the interaction. We conclude by suggesting that the “impact” of research can be increased at least locally when participants capitalize on the opportunities that arise for teaching and learning when researchers are present.

Notes

Notes

1. The Pygmalion Effect refers to situations in which greater the expectations leads to better performance. The Hawthorne Effect concerns positive changes in behavior associated with participating in research explicitly aimed toward such improvement.

2. In dialectical theories, such as cultural‐historical activity theory, a “moment” is an identifiable structure (part) of the whole that cannot be understood independent of the whole and all its other parts. In other words, each moment is but one of the many ways in which the whole can manifest itself (Roth & Lee, ). An analogy may be clapping with the hands: both are needed, and the nature of a one‐handed clap is a well‐known riddle that Zen practitioners have to solve.

3. In the German and Russian languages in which cultural‐historical activity theory was initially articulated, a difference is made between Gegenstand/predmet (“object”) and Objekt/ob'ekt (“object”). Thus, “the totality of concrete objects [ Objekte/ob'ekta] … is the object [ Objekt/ob'ekt] … the abstract system of objects [ Objekte/ob'ekta] or the totality (the system) of abstract objects constitutes the object [ Gegenstand/predmet]” (Leontjew, , p. 16).

4. We picked this lesson from the entire database of thirty 1‐hour videotapes for no particular reasons, because any other lesson would have provided us with opportunities to exhibit the same phenomena. Roth and two (post/doctoral) research assistants videotaped the 15‐lesson curriculum using two cameras to follow whole‐class and individual groups of students interactions.

5. It might appear as if Rachel’s teaching is “simply better,” and that she does not to learn much from Tara. More space would have allowed us to counter this impression, presenting contrasting episodes (e.g., whole‐group “wrap‐ups” at the end of a lesson) where the teacher’s expertise clearly shines. Cultural‐historical activity theory is powerful in that it inherently includes this kind of learning alongside with teacher professional development.