Layered Roles: Understanding Children and Adults' Co-Construction of an After-School Program

• In Event: Layers of Learning: Working Toward Mediated Praxis by Positioning Researchers, Practitioners, and Students as Learners

Abstract

Objectives
In a community of learners model novice and expert participants are active contributors to the development of the community, thus challenging dichotomy of adult-run and child-centered models (Rogoff, Turkanis, and Bartlett, 2001). However, applying this model to educational settings raises questions about power relations and how participants of in community of learners negotiate power. The purpose of this study is to understand when and how children at an afterschool program, known as B-Club, take (or attempt to take) an active role in the construction of activities and how peers and adults respond to these. College students and elementary school students participate in a range of activities to establish a community of learners at B-Club. College students are introduced to the community of learners model and sociocultural learning theory and encouraged to translate theory into practices at B-Club.

Theoretical framework
A Community of Leaners model guides B-Club’s design that aims to be an after school space for children to participate in a range of play-based activities and as a space for young adults to prepare to be teachers. Rogoff (1994) defined a community of learners as a model where all members of a community are conceived as active, with responsibility to construct the community shared by all participants. This suggests that in this active role, participants also share power. However, power relations within the community are layered. Childhood studies of space problematizes the co-construction of a community of learners by reminding us that children’s spaces are often bounded, supervised, and designed by adults (James et.al. 1998, Olwig and Gulløv, 2003). The co-construction a community of learners with children, young adults, and researchers can be understood by attending to the interactions, contradictions, and collaboration of B-Club members.

Data sources and methods
Data for this study were collected during the 2014-2015 academic year and include ethnographic fieldnotes based on participant observation, and video recordings of naturalistic interactions at B-Club. Fieldnotes offered a narrative of interactions at B-Club, and video captured “information about the engagement and orientation in space of participants” (Goodwin 2006, p.4). We analyzed data to identify when children proposed activities and games and how adults and peers responded to these proposals.

Results
Emerging findings for this study suggest that children and adults negotiate power as they co-create B-Club. However, the voices and ideas of some children are acknowledged and taken up by adults and peers, while others are ignored or challenged. For example, when creating lyrics for the B-Club theme song, a group of six elementary students and one adult collaborated but only the suggestions of older children were incorporated into the actual song with little to no negotiation with younger children.

Scholarly significance
Understanding the nuances of the co-construction of a community at B-Club offers insights for practitioners on how they can enact and mediate a community of learners in schools with children. This paper also contributes to theoretical discussions of the community of learners model.

Authors

• Lilia Rodriguez, University of California - Los Angeles

• Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, University of California - Los Angeles