A Methodology for Documenting Collective Activity

Mathematics and science education has witnessed an increase in the number of design research studies in which researchers spend extended amounts of time in classrooms implementing and investigating interventions to support students’ conceptual growth (Kelly & Lesh, 2000; Suter & Frechtling, 2000). One issue of theoretical and pragmatic concern that has emerged from design research is documentation of the normative or collective ways of reasoning that develop as learners engage in mathematical or scientific activity. The purpose of this chapter is to explicate a methodology for documenting learners’ collective activity. Although methodologies for documenting the learning of individuals are well established in the mathematics and science education fields, methodologies for detailing the intellectual activities of classroom cultures are less so. Therefore, we maintain a focus in this chapter on a methodology for documenting collective activity, an important endeavor in its own right.