Abstracts - Earli

A dynamic systems approach to teacher-pupil scaffolding processes during early mathematics in aspecial education settingHenderien Steenbeek, University of Groningen, NetherlandsPaul van Geert, University of Groningen, NetherlandsTraditionally, research about scaffolding focused on the side of the scaffolder. In current research,growing attention is paid to the mutual influence of both participants on the course of scaffoldingprocesses (Mascolo, 2005; Granott, 2005). In accordance with this viewpoint, we study real-timescaffolding processes by means of a microgenetic method, aimed at getting a grip on the coregulatedactions between teacher and individual pupils, and on how they determine the course ofthe real-time process. The overarching aim is to discover process characteristics of ‘normal’ andproblematic learning and scaffolding trajectories of individual pupils and their teachers. Weconduct an empirical study in a naturalistic (school) setting and we build a dynamic systems modelof scaffolding and learning processes (van Geert, 1994; Thelen & Smith, 1994). In the empiricalstudy, five pupils in a school for children with behavioral and clinical problems are videotapedwhile receiving individual instructions by the teacher during math lessons, with two-weeklyintervals over a period of two years. Transcripts of verbal actions are made, in which episodes andutterances are coded using a ‘developmental ruler’ (Fischer, 1980), which comprises the teacher’slevel of help content, and the pupil’s level of understanding. The dynamic model of scaffoldingconsists of three basic parameters: the pupil’s learning rate, the optimal scaffolding distance, andthe demand-adaptation rate. In this presentation, we will go into the first empirical results, andrelate these findings to the predictions of the dynamic system model. In addition, we will discussfuture extensions of the model, aimed at incorporating the socially situated dynamics of learningand teaching.I 1130 August 2007 14:30 - 16:30Room: 0.99SymposiumClosed to novel practices? Challenges of the uptake of innovations inschoolsChair: Annalisa Sannino, University of Salerno, ItalyChair: Honorine Nocon, University of Colorado and Health Sciences Center, USAOrganiser: Annalisa Sannino, University of Salerno, ItalyOrganiser: Honorine Nocon, University of Colorado and Health Sciences Center, USADiscussant: Anne Edwards, University of Oxford, United KingdomAims The symposium includes presentations of five cases studies of interventionist research aimedat changing schools. The cases come from Finland, Italy, Sweden, the United States, and Japan.The uptake of innovations is a complex, fragile and plastic process which is characterized bycontradictory engagement and disengagement on the part of the subjects involved. Thecontradictory nature of this process of innovation is displayed through material and discursiveactions. Drawing on cultural-historical activity theory, the papers discuss the kind of innovationwhich was implemented in the schools and what happened in each concrete case when theinnovative practices and the existing teaching traditions in the school came together through the– 499 –