32.064 - Achieving Epistemic Justice by Enabling Epistemic Agency

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Current research and policy calls for students to be positioned as epistemic agents – as co-constructors of the classroom community’s knowledge and ways of knowing. While this call might at first seem universally desirable (who doesn’t want kids to feel valued!), the task of implementing the call is neither theoretically nor practically straightforward. This session is designed to explore “elephants in the room” associated with enabling epistemic agency including: enabling agency when someone else has identified what and how students should learn; promoting agency in an environment that devalues non-school knowledge; and considering the teacher’s role. As such, this session will create a context for making visible the complexities associated with positioning students as knowers and doers – as epistemic agents.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Learning Sciences

Chair

• David Stroupe, Michigan State University

Papers

• How Can Students Have Epistemic Agency When They Have Not Identified What to Learn? - Rosemary Russ, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Leema G. Berland, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• How Can Students Have Epistemic Agency When They Have Not Identified How to Learn? - Eve Manz, Boston University

• How Can Teachers Authentically Use Students' Culturally Based Intellectual Resources to Promote Epistemic Agency? - Emily Miller, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Leema G. Berland, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• What Is the Role of the Teacher in a Classroom That Promotes Epistemic Agency? - David Stroupe, Michigan State University

Discussant

• Melissa Sommefeld Gresalfi, Vanderbilt University