Enactivism as a Theory and Methodology for Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Learning as Teachers and Researchers
Keywords:
mathematics teacher education research, enactivism, reciprocal narrative interviewing, structural coupling, observer dependenceAbstract
This article proposes a methodology for becoming mathematics teacher educators (MTEs), in addressing the question, “How is enactivist learning done?" This methodology draws on enactivism, tying together methodological and theorising work done 25 years apart by two of the authors. The methodology has five dimensions—Using dissonance; Staying with the detail; Finding conviction; Making it real; Going meta—and operates as a methodology for MTE teaching, learning and researching. We offer three illustrations of these methodological dimensions, showing how they cross the three aspects of MTE practice. Towards the end of the article, we share the outcomes of a four-way discussion, using narrative interviewing protocols, consistent with the methodology dimensions. We exemplify how new awarenesses linked to action, enactivist learning, arise for one member of the group when being interviewed by the others. We show how the methodological dimensions are relevant to levels of MTE teaching, MTE learning, and MTE researching practice.
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