Agency and Affordance as Working Against Settled Expectations: Young Children of Color in Classroom Contexts

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: School-Based Surveillance of Children of Color

Abstract

This study is about how young African-American and Latinx children used materials to build relationships with one another when they had agency in their learning and control some of how and what they learned. This analysis brings together three theoretical concepts including Mill’s conceptualization of the personhood/subpersonhood line, Bang et. al’s adaptation of Cheryl Harris’s use of settled expectations and Nxumalo’s work describing how children through an engagement with the environment around them. Focusing on examples of children interacting with a blood pressure cuff and horse bones, this study finds that when afforded agency in their learning, young children are skilled at forming relationships with materials in order to learn and also build closer relationships within their classroom community.

Authors

• Jennifer Keys Adair, The University of Texas at Austin

• Natacha Jones, The University of Texas - Austin