Technology, Trust and Positioning Theory

This week Professor John Holman came to visit our school with some researchers working with the Gatsby Foundation. I was asked if he could come into my classroom to observe what the students were up to. At the time I was teaching some Year 7 students, we were exploring how to make observations in a series of practical lessons focussed on the 5 senses. In this lesson, the students were observing 3 chemical reactions.

When Professor Holman and his team came in, we were in the thick of it. Students were performing their reactions, filming and talking with excitement. At one point Hannah came up to me and said: 'Miss, look at this!' It was a slow motion video of her group performing the pop test for hydrogen. After reacting magnesium with acid, they collected the colourless gas in a test tube. A burning splint was placed in the test tube and... POP! An observation made with our ears. What was interesting about this video was that slow motion allowed us to see the hydrogen combusting. We saw the  length of the test tube ignite. This happens so fast that it can be missed when observing with our eyes.

As the lesson was coming to an end, the research team stayed to see how we'd conclude. After getting the class settled, I asked Hannah to hook up her phone to the projector - I've got all the connectors and any student with a device can display their work. We didn't watch the video with sound and when the hydrogen ignited there was a collective 'Wow!'

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to catch up with Hannah this week to ask if I could post her video. Below are some I've taken to help my classes unpack observations.

Later, the Science faculty was invited to talk with John Holman and his team. We spoke about the reasons teachers choose to do practical work and the subject turned to video. I love video in the classroom, but not video for the sake of it. At some point in my career I tried to order some chemicals to make nylon 66, I was asked if my class could just 'YouTube it' instead. In my opinion, video should never replace practical work or demonstrations teachers could do with students. Further, video can be a powerful tool to inspire curiosity.

For these reasons I allow my students to use their phones in class... The right to do this comes with an important duty: the videos and pictures must by shared to allow us greater focus on the science.

When the conversation turned to my use of Hannah's video, it didn't surprise me to hear that it was a risky pedagogical move. Considering the policies regarding mobile phone use some educational institutions implement, it seems that there exists a very real fear of how students use the powerful computers they carry with them.

This made me think about trust, rights and duties. Lately, I've been listening to some old BBC Reith Lectures: A Question of Trust by Onora O'Neill. Here's an interesting talk she gave not too long ago:

When I listen to O'Neill, I think about the level of trust that exists in my classroom. To establish trust the students and I have to display a level or trustworthiness; we are competent, reliable and honest. From the video above, being trustworthy means making your self vulnerable... taking a risk. So, yes, there were risks in my classroom. They were made by me pedagogically and by the students. 

Why is risk-taking important? Let's think about positioning theory (Harré & van Langenhove, 1999). The following is a very abridged explanation. In positioning theory, conversations consist of positions, speech-acts and story lines. Below is a modified version of the positioning theory triad:

Positions are adorned with distinct rights and duties, they arise from interactions and power imbalances connected to perceptions of agency, identity, values and beliefs. Positions are situation-specific and ephemeral; they may constrain, enable or be employed as coping mechanisms. The storyline reflects a person’s rights and duties but also individuals' interpretations of the rights and duties of others. Speech-acts or discursive practices mean what person says and does. Positions, story lines and speech-acts constitute the local moral order: the system of rights and duties within which private and public intentional acts are carried out (Harré & van Langenhove, 1999).

What does positioning theory have to do with this post? It's easy to socially position students based on what we as educators expect of them... I think about report card comments: 'Susan needs to work harder to meet the expectations of the course.' Whether Susan accepts or rejects this positioning depends on her interpretation of the social world around her. Does she understand this comment as calling on her own personal agency? Does she hear it from a storyline in which she is a victim? Susan might have an altogether different understanding about whether she needs or wants to meet the expectations of the course. 

In my classroom I actively work to position my students with the rights and duties associated with curious and responsible technology users and information communicators. I'm fortunate enough to have displayed a trustworthiness that allows me to do this in my school, but my students have also given evidence that they are responsible, competent and honest to be worthy of an extension of that trust. Together through our communication and actions we experience adventure story lines where there are twists, turns and surprises.  

What's more intriguing, I think, for both the student and the teacher is working to position students as cultural agents  (Redman & Rodrigues, 2008) which means possessing a self understanding of their capabilities and an agentive response to use those capabilities in some positive way: 'I'm allowed to explore with my phone and think I'll find something interesting to share with others.'

Can the risks in these lessons reveal enabling factors to shape the identity of self as a cultural agent? What has trust allowed you to find in your classroom? I'd love to hear your thoughts on these questions.

References

Harré, R., & van Langenhove, L. (Eds.). (1999). Positioning theory: moral contexts of intentional action. Malden, Mass: Blackwell.

Harré, R., & Moghaddam, F. M. (2003). The self and others: positioning individuals and groups in personal, political, and cultural contexts. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.

Redman, C., & Rodrigues, S. (2008). Researching the relationships in the Technologies of Self: Habitus and Capacities. Paper presented at the Australian Association of research in Education (AARE), Queensland Univeristy of Technology, Kelvin Grove Campus, Brisbane.

Example Videos 

In the video to the left, students were trying the answer the question: Are earthquakes predictable? You can also watch the video here. 

In the video below, I was exploring hydrophobic sand with the lab tech. You can watch the video here.