One outcome of the Re-generating CHAT project is an online invited symposium that was held as part of European Association of Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) SIG conference on July 1-3, 2020, see https://earli.org/SIG10-21-25
The invited symposium is titled Learning from Learners: Power, Resistance and Learners’ Voices in an Era of Uncertainty. (Scheduled on July 2, at 5 pm Central European Summer Time)
Below is a recording of the session (the second presentation was removed due to data protection), as well as the abstracts of the presentations.
The symposium was originally accepted in the Cultural-historical SIG of AERA 2020 conference.
On behalf of the conference organizers,
Antti Rajala (Coordinator of EARLI SIG 25 on Educational Theory)
Learning from Learners: Power, Resistance and Learners’ Voices in an Era of Uncertainty
Organisers: Charles Underwood, University of California, Berkeley, United States; Mara Mahmood, University of California Berkeley, United States; Sophina ChoudryUniversity of Manchester, United Kingdom; Arturo Cortez, University of Colorado, Boulder, United States; Alfredo Jornet, University of Oslo, Department of Teacher Education and School Research, Spain; Antti Rajala, University of Helsinki, Finland; Michael Bakal, University of Berkeley, United States; M. Lisette Lopez, Univeristy of California, Berkeley, United States; Kalonji Nzinga, University of Colorado at Boulder, United States; José Ramón Lizárraga, University of Colorado, United States; Mike Cole, University of California, San Diego, United States
Chairs: Mara Mahmood, University of California Berkeley, United States; Charles Underwood, University of California, Berkeley, United States; Kalonji Nzinga, University of Colorado at Boulder, United States
Discussants: Angela Booker, University of California, San Diego, United States; Anna Stetsenko, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, United States
Abstract
This symposium engages panelists and participants in the exploration and re-conceptualization of “learners’ voices” from a cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) perspective that approaches education as a struggle to overcome dominant paradigms that thwart learners’ development and agency in the face of an uncertain future. As part of a larger effort to re-generate CHAT, this symposium will articulate and elaborate the concept of “learners’ voices” as a tool for guiding students, teachers, researchers, activists, and policy-makers in re-orienting pedagogy to cultivate their critical voices, empowering learners to become agentive sociopolitical actors in charge of their own futures-in-the-making. The concept of voice has been used in educational research, design and practice for calling out and naming the hidden power relations in systems of oppression and plays a role in learner-centered approaches (Corbett & Wilson, 1995) culturally-relevant pedagogies (Ladson-Billings 1994; Lee, 2006), hybrid language education (Gutiérrez, 1999), and critical race theories and pedagogies (Mensah, 2019).
Panelists reconceptualize voice as “learners’ voices” broadly to convey agentive engagement in meaning making in the face of unequal power relations. While the panelists work in different social contexts (see presentation abstracts) all employ the concept of “learners’ voices” and explore ways of encouraging multivoicedness, speaking truth to power, and recognizing learners’ voices as an educational necessity in an uncertain global context. The structure of the symposium encourages dialogue designed to promote the collective co-construction and development of the concept of “learners’ voices” as a critical tool for expanding our understanding of teaching and learning.
Papers
Participatory Design Research for Climate Resilience and Activism
Michael Bakal, University of Berkeley, United States
“Trump Would Just Get Sucked Into a Black Hole”: Youthful Digital Imaginings of New Futures
José Ramón Lizárraga, University of Colorado, United States; Arturo Cortez, University of Colorado, Boulder, United States
Contradictory Activities Leading to Differential Learning in a Heterogeneous Mathematics Classroom
Sophina Choudry, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
“It’s Rigged!”: The Disruption That Reverberates When Youth Vocalize That the System Is Fixed
M. Lisette Lopez, Univeristy of California, Berkeley, United States; Kalonji Nzinga, University of Colorado at Boulder, United States
Learners’ Voices and the Transformation of Schooling Towards a Sustainable Society
Alfredo Jornet, University of Oslo, Department of Teacher Education and School Research, Norway; Antti Rajala, University of Helsinki, Finland