Changing Our Methods and Disrupting the Power Dynamics : National Tests in Third-Grade Classrooms

• This paper reports on a research project relating to the newly implemented mandatory Swedish national mathematics tests for third-grade students (aged nine and ten). The project’s main research concerns the students’ ideas about and reactions towards these tests and how the specific test situation affects their perception of their own mathematical proficiency. Drawing on theories which suggest that identities are more fluid than static, we want to understand how students with special needs are ‘created’. The specific aim of this paper is to discuss how our research methods have been refined during the various phases of data collection and the resulting implications. It discusses issues surrounding child research and how methods involving video recording and video stimulated recall dialogue (VSRD) can contribute to research on children’s experiences. Particular attention is given to methodological and ethical issues; how to disrupt power relations, for example. In this paper we argue that the context of the test situation not only impacted upon the students but also affected how we changed, developed and adapted our approaches as the project evolved.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Child research

classroom research

power relations

test situations

video recording

video stimulated recall dialogues

didactics of mathematics

matematikdidaktik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

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