Studenting : The case of "Now you Try one"

Studenting: The case of "Now you Try one" - Peter Liljedahl & Darien Allan

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. 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? THE PHENOMENON

The concept of studenting or pupiling is far and away the more parallel concept to that of teaching. [..] there is much more to studentingthan learning how to learn. In the school setting, studentingincludes 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) 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) STUDENTING

Studenting is what students do while in a learning situation. conducive to learning conforms with the teacher’s wishes OR NOT OR NOT STUDENTING

STUDENTING STUDENTING vs. GAMING

METHODOLOGY

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) • … INITIAL CONTEXTS

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. TEACHER’S INTENTIONS

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. AMOTIVATION (N=3)

went to the bathroom (n=2) • sharpened their pencil • looking for calculator • Barry I was waiting until there was a break in the lesson. STALLING (N=4)

pretended to try • KeeshaI 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. FAKING (N=2)

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. MIMICKING (N=17)

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. REASONING (N=6)

N=32 catching up on notes (n=0) NOW YOU TRY ONE

NOW YOU TRY ONE

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. NOW YOU TRY ONE – Ms. Duo’s view

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 • It has relevance for a great many teachers and a great many classrooms. • verisimilitude – “the appearance of being true or real” (Oxford Dictionaries) SO, WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

STUDENTING CONCLUSION - STUDENTING vs. GAMING

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) MORE WORK - THEORIZING ABOUT STUDENTS

MORE WORK - TAXONOMY OF GAMING

THESE RESULTS … • are recognizably problematic • are a recognizable reality • have verisimilitude • are familiar • provide a reality check YET … • are seen as important to change • are within the realm of things that can be changed CONCLUSIONS - 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 MORE WORK - THEORIZING ABOUT TEACHERS

QUESTIONS and ABUSE Q & A

THANK YOU! liljedahl@sfu.ca www.peterliljedahl.com/presentations

Studenting : The case of "Now you Try one"