Exploring the Role of "Unstructured Thought-Partner Spaces" in Teacher Research

• In Event: 54.046 - Reciprocal Teaching and Relearning From Teacher Research

Abstract

Objectives
We explore a partnership between a university researcher (Author 1) and a secondary science teacher (Author 2), specifically the use what we term “unstructured thought-partner spaces” in supporting the development of inquiry stance in teacher research.
Theoretical Framing
This work is grounded in Cochran-Smith and Lytle’s (2009) conceptualization of inquiry as stance, particularly the development of dispositional curiosity and reflection put into practice. Inquiry stance both fuels and exists outside of research projects as recursive interrogation into practice. Our exploration of unstructured thought-partner spaces is also framed within the theory of incubation periods (Ritter & Dijksterhuis, 2014), which are characterized by avoidance of directed, goal-oriented thinking leading to potential breakthroughs in creative problem solving.
Methods
Starting in Fall 2014, we audio-recorded weekly meetings and took field notes. We categorized meetings into planning spaces (dedicated to designing research projects and data analysis) and unstructured spaces (no-agenda meetings dedicated to discussing current problems of practice and grappling with complexity). Here, we focus on 20 hour-long meetings from December 2014 through January 2016.
Analysis and Findings
Analysis of meeting audio and field notes focused on the nature and frequency of ideas and questions emerging within unstructured conversations. Through our analysis, we noticed a shift both in the way Author 2 questioned his practice, and the way Author 1 acted as thought partner. Author 2’s ideas became more self-reflective and interrogative of his own assumptions and stances. Likewise, Author 1 became more aware of the value of acting as thought-partner who participated in grappling with questions and followed trains of thought, rather than as facilitator who guided questions towards research projects and pushed for solutions. Over time, as we became more grounded in these unstructured spaces, the exchanges reflected more problem-posing and idea generation in line with research on incubation periods.
Significance
Our ongoing work with unstructured spaces has presented significant opportunities as well as challenges. Justifying our resistance of dominant educational discourses that privilege measurable outcomes can be difficult, particularly in schools, where time and resources are limited and often spent in ways where productivity can be measured. However spending time in unstructured spaces has afforded a protection from the pressure to solve, and freedom from that pressure has resulted in deepening curiosity, increased risk-taking, and heightened inspiration both in Author 2’s work as a teacher, and Author 1’s work as a university researcher grappling with ways to support the development of inquiry stance. Rather than learning and doing teacher research through purely project-based methods, we have come to see the inherent value in the continuous process of learning to build an inquiry stance through unstructured thought-partner spaces that deepen the work of research.

Authors

• Nastasia Lawton-Sticklor, Clark University

• Scott Bodamer, Claremont Academy