Abstract
This chapter describes an emergent practice of using the digital application WhatsApp to transcend the temporal and physical space of an urban science classroom forming a CrossActionSpace. The group communication application afforded the extension of a teacher’s vision of mutual trust and collective success into a sociomaterial space of communication and collaboration. I introduce the notion of critical agentic bricoleur to describe how the teacher used this existing digital resource in new ways and resonant with his teaching identity. I analyzed the discourse generated in WhatsApp to make sense of the unfolding social practices of science learning. I discuss how the agency developed in this CrossActionSpace is transcendant and creates the conditions for all participants to develop identities that are resonant with imaginations and realizations of academic advancement.
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Notes
- 1.
In the USA, different states have different policies regarding standardized exams and secondary school graduation requirements. In the state where this study took place, secondary school students are required to take and pass subject-area state exams, including Earth science, in order to receive a high school diploma.
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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1254075.
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Adams, J.D. (2019). WhatsApp with Science? Emergent CrossActionSpaces for Communication and Collaboration Practices in an Urban Science Classroom. In: Cerratto Pargman, T., Jahnke, I. (eds) Emergent Practices and Material Conditions in Learning and Teaching with Technologies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10764-2_7
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