Explorations of the structure-agency dialectic as a tool for framing equity in science education

Varelas, María; Settlage, John; Mensah, Felicia Moore

doi:10.1002/tea.21230

Cited by 47 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Agency also appears in sociocultural literature, which locates human action in activity systems and explores how activity is constrained and enabled by social and physical structures and schema (Engeström & Sannino, ; Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, ). From this perspective, all science learning takes place within systems that include historically reified norms such as canonical scientific ideas, historical goals for learning, ways of sorting students, and even the structure of the school day (Carlone, Johnson, & Scott, ; Kane, ; Varelas, Settlage, & Mensah, ). Agency, then can be conceptualized as an actor's ability to mobilize resources for their own goals, shape the systems that they are acting in (Varelas, Tucker‐Raymond & Richards, ) and if necessary, disrupt structures and re‐figure available resources (Dotson, 2014).…”

Section: Epistemic Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing the epistemic elephant in the room: Epistemic agency and the next generation science standards

et al. 2018

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The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) [Achieve, Inc. []] represent a broad consensus that teaching and learning expectations must change. Rather than memorizing and reciting information, students are now expected to engage in science practices to develop a deep understanding of core science ideas. While we want to share in the optimism about NGSS, the standards are not a silver bullet for transforming science classrooms. They are, instead, another reform document designed to suggest opportunities for students to actively engage in knowledge construction themselves—to be doers of science, rather than receivers of facts. A foundational contradiction underlies these efforts—while we want students to do science, we seem to mean that students should mimic practices others have selected as important to learn, and content others have selected as foundational. As a result, students are rarely positioned with epistemic agency: the power to shape the knowledge production and practices of a community [Stroupe [] Science Education 98:487–516]. We argue that unless the field tackles significant questions around precisely how students can be active agents in knowledge construction, we will likely continue to implement learning environments that position students as receivers of scientific facts and practices, even as classrooms adopt NGSS. In this conceptual analysis article, we unpack the construct of “epistemic agency” and its relationship to the NGSS, using a vignette to illustrate how students are typically positioned in researcher‐developed curricula. The vignette, which describes a seventh‐grade class exploring which of two lakes is more at risk for invasion by the spiny water flea, provides an exemplar of what we take to be a loose consensus about learning environments consistent with the NGSS. However, when we look beneath the surface of the consensus, the vignette reveals contradictions and unresolved issues around epistemic agency.

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Section: Epistemic Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing the epistemic elephant in the room: Epistemic agency and the next generation science standards

et al. 2018

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“…Work inside science classrooms also suggests that structures within schools convey different expectations about the roles that teachers and students play in deciding what knowledge is valuable and how to go about constructing that knowledge (Miller, Manz, Russ, Stroupe, & Berland, ; Stroupe, ). That is, the power structures present in schooling inherently assign epistemic agency and authority to teachers rather than students (Apple, ; Carlone, Johnson, & Scott, ; Varelas, Settlage, & Mensah, ). And yet, when teachers retain this agency and authority, there is little opportunity for students to become collaborators in co‐constructing knowledge.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instruction that engages students in developing disciplinary ideas and making decisions about how to incrementally proceed ultimately redistributes how epistemic agency is typically allocated in classrooms and schools. Giving students this latitude requires taking steps away from models of schooling where teachers (or curriculum materials, or administrators) hold the ultimate authority in determining what ideas are valued, how the lesson ought to proceed, and the scope of the disciplinary content that is the focus of instruction (Apple, ; Carlone et al, ; Hammer, ; Varelas et al, ). Put simply, shifting epistemic agency requires shifting power.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opening up curricula to redistribute epistemic agency: A framework for supporting science teaching

Krist

2019

Science Education

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This study proposes a strategic framework to guide teachers' curriculum adaptation, planning, and enactment as a lever for redistributing epistemic agency. This framework intends to position teachers as strategic decision-makers around when and how to open up aspects of their curriculum. We argue that seeing the aspects of Next Generation Science Standardsaligned curricula-the methods of investigation, the anchoring phenomena, and the explanatory models students construct-as entry points for redistributing epistemic agency may help teachers make inroads to shifting their classroom practice towards more responsive instruction. Importantly, our tool acknowledges that there are different "levels" at which teachers might strategically decide to open up space for student decisionmaking. These decisions may have a differential impact on students' subsequent participation in science practices. In this paper, we will use three cases to highlight the specific and incremental ways that teachers can open up aspects of the curriculum and how those openings redistributed epistemic agency in their classroom. We argue that this framework may be used as a tool for engaging teachers in conversation about how they can begin to position students as partners in the epistemic decisions that drive classroom activity.

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“…In teacher education, teacher agency has been considered a key capacity for promoting student learning, teachers’ professional development, and social justice as well as supporting teacher autonomy in implementing curricular and pedagogical reforms in schools (Toom, Pyhältö, & Rust, ; Varelas, Settlage, & Mensah, ). It is characterized as “teachers’ active efforts to make choices and intentional action in a way that makes a significant difference” (Toom et al, , p. 615).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual and collective agencies in China's curriculum reform: A case of physics teachers

Clarke

2018

J Res Sci Teach

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This study explores how physics teachers in a high school negotiate the relationships between individual and collective agencies in the context of the on‐going curriculum reform in China. Drawing on Bandura's social cognitive theory, the study employs ethnographical methods including observation, interviewing, and the researcher's and teachers’ reflective journaling through the researcher's involvement with various school activities. The findings indicate that collective teacher agency creates a platform for individual teachers’ professional development, a conducive culture for teacher collaboration, and provides concrete examples that individual teachers can constantly refer to, reflect upon, and learn from for reform implementation. The results offer an understanding of the influences underlying physics teachers’ agency deployment as they engage with curriculum reform processes, especially the negotiation between individual and collective agencies. The findings justify a case for preparing physics teachers on how to deploy both individual and collective agencies in the face of the complicated social structures and ultimately shed light on the desired curriculum decentralization in the Chinese school system.

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Explorations of the structure-agency dialectic as a tool for framing equity in science education

Cited by 47 publications

References 27 publications

Addressing the epistemic elephant in the room: Epistemic agency and the next generation science standards

Addressing the epistemic elephant in the room: Epistemic agency and the next generation science standards

Opening up curricula to redistribute epistemic agency: A framework for supporting science teaching

Individual and collective agencies in China's curriculum reform: A case of physics teachers

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