ERIC Number: ED656618
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 223
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 979-8-3831-1252-6
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Uncovering Student Negotiations in a Secondary Science Classroom: A Structure-Agency Perspective
Danielle Jo Malone
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Washington State University
This research seeks to understand how secondary science students make space for themselves in the classroom. Specifically, this study examines the interplay between classroom structures and students' agentic negotiations while identifying the relationship between students' enacted agency and their authored science identities by drawing from a sociological framework, structure-agency. An embedded case study was constructed from interviews, observations, and documents collected in a twelve-week Earth Science classroom. The collaborators involved in this study consisted of one monolingual science teacher and six linguistically diverse students. The findings reveal that students expressed agency in the classroom by challenging conventional pedagogical practices through direct negotiations with the teacher. This study highlights moments of student agency where they advocated for themselves and their peers to reshape classroom instructional and curricular structures for more active learning experiences. Structural constraints that shape the classroom space, influence teacher decision-making, and limit students' agency are exposed through data analysis. Science educators can reconsider their approach to instruction to cultivate inclusive learning spaces that value students' unique abilities and experiences by recognizing the nuanced reasoning for expressions of student agency. This study contributes to the evolution of science education by promoting strategies that prioritize student agency as a catalyst for meaningful instruction. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Secondary School Students, Science Instruction, Decision Making, Teaching Methods, Personal Autonomy, Persuasive Discourse, Advocacy, Educational Change, Active Learning, Classroom Communication, Language Variation, Language Usage, Teacher Student Relationship, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Student Characteristics, Inclusion
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A