Gresalfi (2009)

Taking Up Opportunities to Learn: Constructing Dispositions in Mathematics Classrooms

• Author: Melissa Gresalfi
• Journal: Journal of the Learning Sciences
• Year: 2009
• Source: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10508400903013470

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of how students' dispositions toward learning shift and change over time through their engagement with particular classroom practices and identifies classroom practices that support the development of more productive dispositions. An analysis of 4 purposefully selected students from 2 different classrooms reveals that membership in a classroom activity system does not determine one's emergent disposition toward learning. However, it is likely that similar types of dispositions might emerge within a single classroom activity system. The analysis further seeks to understand the mechanisms that underlie the ways in which dispositions are enacted in moments of interaction, and how aspects of classroom practice impact this enactment. The findings support the argument that social, affective, and motivational factors are not simply influences on learning but are, instead, central to and inseparable from the learning process.

Outline of Headings

• Introduction
• Literature Review
  • Individuals In Context, Not With Context
  • Classroom Practices Are Central, Not Merely Influential
• Case Studies
  • Data Collection
    • Participants
    • Procedure
  • Data Analysis
    • Characterizing Participation
      • Parsing the data
      • Characterizing participation
    • Forcefulness of Opportunities to Learn
• Results
  • Dispositions Are Neither Solely Innate, Nor Solely Determined
  • Dispositions Shift
  • Classroom Practices and Dispositions
• Discussion
• Implications

Also

APA

Gresalfi, M. S. (2009). Taking up opportunities to learn: Constructing dispositions in mathematics classrooms. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 18(3), 327–369. doi:10.1080/10508400903013470

BibTeX

@article{Gresalfi2009,
abstract = {This article presents an analysis of how students' dispositions toward learning shift and change over time through their engagement with particular classroom practices and identifies classroom practices that support the development of more productive dispositions. An analysis of 4 purposefully selected students from 2 different classrooms reveals that membership in a classroom activity system does not determine one's emergent disposition toward learning. However, it is likely that similar types of dispositions might emerge within a single classroom activity system. The analysis further seeks to understand the mechanisms that underlie the ways in which dispositions are enacted in moments of interaction, and how aspects of classroom practice impact this enactment. The findings support the argument that social, affective, and motivational factors are not simply influences on learning but are, instead, central to and inseparable from the learning process.},
author = {Gresalfi, Melissa Sommerfeld},
doi = {10.1080/10508400903013470},
journal = {Journal of the Learning Sciences},
number = {3},
pages = {327--369},
title = {{Taking up opportunities to learn: Constructing dispositions in mathematics classrooms}},
url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10508400903013470},
volume = {18},
year = {2009}
}