Investigating the Epistemic Activity and Agency of Preservice Teachers Within a Model of Collaborative Inquiry

• In Event: 14.043 - Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: 14.043-7 - Collaborative Inquiry in Teacher Education

Abstract

If teacher preparation programs are to fulfill the egalitarian aims of hybridity they will need to attend to the epistemic agency afforded pre-service teachers. The collaborative-inquiry model discussed in this paper takes up this challenge by having teams of pre-service, new, and veteran teachers engage in classroom-based research. Drawing on activity theory and a conceptual distinction between epistemic and regulative agency, we consider how the norms, tools, and division of labor served as entry points for agentive action by pre-service teachers. Our findings suggest that, within such a model, pre-service teachers are more likely to assume supportive roles in the absence of established norms for equitable participation or study methods that prompt richer conceptual engagement.

Authors

• Ian Renga, Western State Colorado University

• Enrique Henry Suarez, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Laurie Langdon, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Carissa Marsh, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Ryan Grover, University of Colorado - Boulder