Negotiating identity and agency amidst pedagogical change: The case of student push back

Background: When mathematics teachers embrace the call for pedagogical change, instructional shifts are likely to unfold in complex ways. While we typically view teachers as leading this process, within a figured worlds framework, students play active roles in negotiating the identities, rights, and obligations of all members of a classroom in the midst of pedagogical change. Methods: Drawing on a comparative case study approach, the study examined the case of student push back moves in student-teacher discourse during nine sensemaking mathematics lessons in two fourth grade classrooms. Findings: Analysis of the case of student push back moves shows how classrooms in pedagogical transition represent not a single coherent figured world, but multiple, clashing figured worlds. Students exercised agency to press the teacher to adhere to obligations to support sensemaking, thus supporting pedagogical change. Contribution: These findings indicate the complexity of negotiations within transitioning classrooms, with implications for understanding how figured worlds evolve and the ways that students participate in pedagogical change.