Abstract
In this chapter, I present a conceptual framework aimed at understanding how teachers’ intentions are shaped by the collectives in which they work. I first lay out a general external conception of intentions, relying principally on Baxandall’s work (1985, Patterns of intention: On the historical explanation of pictures. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press). Intentions are not first in the head of agents, but primarily in the milieu in which these agents live, in the social games they play. I then apply this general model to didactic intentions. I show how prior intentions must be concretized, within the joint didactic action, into local intentions in action. In this perspective, prior intentions may be seen as strategic rules that gain their actual meaning in effective concrete strategies. I present a case study of such a conceptualization of didactic intentions in primary mathematics education. I show how the shaping of intentions depends on the documentation work of the teachers, and how the meaning-making process involved in such work relies upon a specific thought style (Fleck, Genesis and development of a scientific fact. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1976). In effect, in this case study, a particular collective that brings together teachers and researchers elaborates upon a specific thought style grounded in the collaborative design of research devices.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In this respect, Pacherie’s recent work (2008) may be also of some help.
- 2.
I would like to thank Florence Ligozat for sharing this text with me.
- 3.
This part of the chapter has been written on the basis of data collected by two members of the collective, Dominique Forest and Anne Le Roux-Garrec. I would like to thank them. I am grateful to Dominique Forest for the fruitful discussions we had about the interpretation of these data.
- 4.
We argue that one can consider the educational process as the slow elaboration of a thought style (Sensevy et al., 2008).
- 5.
A Jourdain Effect occurs when the teacher pretends to acknowledge a specific piece of knowledge in an ordinary student’s behavior.
References
Amade-Escot, C., & Venturini, P. (2009). Analyse de situations didactiques: Perspectives comparatistes. Dossiers des Sciences de L’éducation. Numéro Spécial, 20.
Baxandall, M. (1985). Patterns of intention: On the historical explanation of pictures. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Blumer, H. (2004). George Herbert Mead and human conduct. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1992). Language and symbolic power. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Brousseau, G. (1997). The theory of didactic situations in mathematics. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.
Brousseau, G. (2004). Les représentations: étude en théorie des situations didactiques. Revue des sciences de l’éducation, 30(2), 241–277.
Clark, H. (1996). Using language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dewey, J. (1922). Human nature and conduct. New York: Modern Library.
Douglas, M. (1987). How institutions think. London: Routledge.
Duranti, A. (2006). The social ontology of intentions. Discourse Studies, 8(1), 31–40.
Eilan, N., Hoert, C., Mc Cormack, T., & Roessler, J. (2005). Joint attention: Communication and other minds: Issues in philosophy and psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fleck L. (1979). Genesis and development of a scientific fact. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Hintikka, J., & Sandu, G. (2006). What is logic? In D. M. Gabbay, P. Thagard, & J. Woods (Eds.), Handbook of the Philosophy of Science. Volume 5, 20: Philosophy of Logic. London: Elsevier.
Ligozat, F. (2008). Un point de vue de didactique comparée sur la classe de mathématiques. Etude de l’action conjointe du professeur et des élèves à propos de l’enseignement/apprentissage de la mesure des grandeurs dans des classes françaises et suisses romandes. Thèse de Sciences de l’Education, Université de Genève et Université d’Aix-Marseille.
Mead, H. G. (1934). Mind, self, and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Pacherie, E. (2008). The phenomenology of action: A conceptual framework. Cognition, 107, 179–217.
Pérès, J. (1984). Use of the theory of situations with a view to identify didactic phenomena during a period of school learning. PhD thesis, University of Bordeaux II.
Schubauer-Leoni, M.-L., Leutenegger, F., Ligozat, F., & Flückiger, A. (2007). Un modèle de l’action conjointe professeur-élèves: les phénomènes qu’il peut/doit traiter. In D. G. Sensevy & A. Mercier (Eds.), Agir Ensemble. L’action didactique conjointe du professeur et des élèves dans la classe (pp. 52–91). Rennes, France: PUR.
Schubauer-Leoni, M.-L., Leutenegger, F., Ligozat, F., Flückiger, A., & Thevenaz-Christens, Th. (2010). Producing lists of objects to be remembered and communicated. The « treasure game » with 4 and 5 year old children. Fapse Genève University, Translated from French by N. Letzelter & F. Ligozat
Searle, J. R. (1983). Intentionality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sebanz, N., Bekkering, H., & Knoblich, G. (2006). Joint action: Bodies and minds moving together. Trends in Cognitive Science, 10(2), 70–76.
Sensevy, G. (in press). Overcoming fragmentation: Towards a joint action theory in didactics. In B. Hudson & M. A. Meyer (Eds.), Beyond fragmentation: Didactics, learning, and teaching. Leverkusen, Germany: Barbara Budrich Publishers.
Sensevy, G., & Mercier, A. (2007). Agir ensemble. L’action didactique conjointe du professeur et des élèves. Rennes, France: PUR.
Sensevy, G., Mercier, A., Schubauer-Leoni, M.-L., Ligozat, F., & Perrot, G. (2005). An attempt to model the teacher’s action in mathematics. Educational Studies in mathematics, 59(1), 153–181.
Sensevy, G., Tiberghien, A., Santini, J., Laubé, S., & Griggs, P. (2008). Modelling, an epistemological approach: Cases studies and implications for science teaching. Science Education, 92, 424–446.
Suchman, L. A. (1987). Plans and situated actions: The problem of human-machine communication. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tomasello, M. (2008). Origins of human communication. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Wittgenstein, L. (1997). Philosophical investigations. Oxford: Blackwell.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sensevy, G. (2011). Patterns of Didactic Intentions, Thought Collective and Documentation Work. In: Gueudet, G., Pepin, B., Trouche, L. (eds) From Text to 'Lived' Resources. Mathematics Teacher Education, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1966-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1966-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-1965-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-1966-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)