Exploring Relationships Between Students’ Individual Ways of Reasoning and Normative Ways of Reasoning

Abstract

Through the lens of the emergent perspective (Cobb & Yackel, 1996), this study examined the nature and extent of variation in individuals’ ways of reasoning from ways of reasoning that were accepted by a classroom community. This was done by interviewing seven undergraduate students after they had participated in classroom discussions. In contrast to other studies that have examined this relationship, the individuals’ ways of reasoning were qualitatively different from the accepted ways of reasoning. This suggests that even if students actively participate in classroom discourse where students’ ideas are considered, debated, and refined, they may not meet the major conceptual goals of the unit. As such, I argue that the relationship between the nature of social interactions students participate in and their subsequent reasoning needs further study, if educators are going to successfully support student learning.