Books by Timothy Koschmann
"Though there have been numerous calls for educational researchers to attend more closely to the ... more "Though there have been numerous calls for educational researchers to attend more closely to the details of how teaching is actually done, instructional practice remains an inadequately studied topic. 'Theories of Learning and Studies of Instructional Practice' seeks to remedy this by helping construct a foundation for a practice-based science of instruction. It focuses on the fundamental question, what roles should theories of learning play in the study of instructional practice?
In educational research, learning theories represent alternative conceptualizations of what we take learning to be. This volume examines three contemporary theories of learning with particular relevance to the study of practice, namely, situated learning, dialogic theory (or dialogism), and Deweyan transactionalism. Drawing upon a panel of internationally-prominent social scientists, psychologists, philosophers of education and teacher educators, the book critically evaluates the potential contributions of each of these three theories to a science of instructional practice. Rather than considering these matters in the abstract, chapter authors illustrate their positions by applying the different treatments of learning to selected samples of instructional practice. The data analyzed come from a particular fifth-grade classroom in which an innovative way of teaching math was being tested. Extensive transcripts, images and exhibits are provided, enabling the reader to follow and evaluate the analytic arguments being presented.
This collection, therefore, delivers precisely on the book's title—it provides both an articulation of current theories of learning and a series of carefully constructed studies of instructional practice, seeking to explore the relationship between the two. In so doing it offers no easy answers. The purpose of the book, rather, is to bring areas of controversy and confusion to the surface. For researchers and graduate students in the learning sciences, this provocative volume opens the door to the next crucial round of dialogue and debate."
Recent Papers by Timothy Koschmann
Human Studies, 2019
The notion of accountability was introduced by Harold Garfinkel in the opening pages of Studies i... more The notion of accountability was introduced by Harold Garfinkel in the opening pages of Studies in Ethnomethodology (1967) as part of his ‘central recommendation’ for sociological inquiry. Though the term itself first appears in the Studies, it will be argued that elements of the idea were already discernible in earlier writings. The current article traces the development of the notion from its early emergence in the proto-ethnomethodological period, through its elaboration in the Studies, and, finally, to its refinement in certain later works produced toward the end of the author's career. In so doing, it reveals the centrality of the notion to ethnomethodologically-informed study and shows its enduring contribution to social theory.
Teaching and Learning in Medicine
Phenomenon: In high-stakes evaluations of communicative competency, data gathering skills are co... more Phenomenon: In high-stakes evaluations of communicative competency, data gathering skills are commonly assessed through the use of standardized patient encounters. This paper seeks to document inquiry practices in two such encounters in a setting designed to emulate a consequential, clinical skills examination. Approach: Drawing on the methods and findings of Conversation Analysis, we examine selected fragments seeking to understand how, in the ways in which they are organized, they produce quite different outcomes. Findings: In the first encounter, the topic of the patient's history of depression arises naturally in the course of the interview. It happens to be a checklist item for the case and the examinee receives credit for having elicited it. In the second encounter, though the examinee was the more clinically-experienced, the topic does not come up and the examinee fails to receive credit. Insights: When we examine how the two inquiry sequences develop on a turn-by-turn basis it becomes clear that the differences between inquiry practices that carefully constrain patient responses and those that leave space for patient elaboration are subtle, but evident. Both types of practice, however, are presumably a part of competent clinical performance. We argue that looking carefully at how specific interactional practices operate within clinical interviews can enable us to become more articulate as to what might count as communicative competence in the clinic.
In this essay I examine the phenomenon of instructing as it appears in various reports prepared b... more In this essay I examine the phenomenon of instructing as it appears in various reports prepared by Charles Goodwin over the course of his extended career. Goodwin documents the practical organizations of instructing at worksites, on play grounds, and at the kitchen table. The phenomenon is an interactional rather than a pedagogical one. Participants employ local resources to provide for the intelligibility of their actions. Their instructing is accomplished sequentially through recognizable practices of enactment and correction. Through his writings, Goodwin has persuasively demonstrated instructing’s omnipresent nature. It is such an integral part of meaning construction that we might go so far as to say that instructing is meaning-making incarnate.
Éducation & Didactique, 2017
Commentary on Anthony Byrk's "Accelerating how we learn to improve" ( 2014 AERA Distinguished Lec... more Commentary on Anthony Byrk's "Accelerating how we learn to improve" ( 2014 AERA Distinguished Lecture, Educational Researcher, 44(9), 467‑477).
We take intersubjectivity to be the degree to which interlocutors are able to understand, in cong... more We take intersubjectivity to be the degree to which interlocutors are able to understand, in congruent ways, the matters about which they are interacting. Ethnomethodology is a program of study developed by the American sociologist, Harold Garfinkel, that focuses on the methods participants employ in accomplishing this. Though it supplies a theoretical foundation upon which an empirical program could be built, it is not, as the name might suggest, a research methodology per se. To study how intersubjectivity is accomplished in practical settings, we turn to analytic traditions such as Conversation Analysis (CA), multimodal CA, Context Analysis, and Interaction Analysis to produce descriptive accounts. The chapter surveys lines of inquiry and important contributions made within each of these traditions.
In the current chapter we seek to document how differences in practice across different occasions... more In the current chapter we seek to document how differences in practice across different occasions can in some cases evidence change in the underlying ‘machinery’ of sense-production and, in this way, demonstrate a change in member competence. We track two students, Dana and Stephanie, as they work through a mathematical story problem, first in the 2nd grade and then again in the third. We argue that changes over time to the ‘machinery’ of sense-production constitute changes in what counts as competence and studying such changes represents a valid approach to producing a ‘developmental sociology.’ And, in this way, we seek to show how change across time can be studied in an ethnomethodologically-informed fashion.
This paper examines how time is made explicitly relevant in the way the attending surgeon monitor... more This paper examines how time is made explicitly relevant in the way the attending surgeon monitors and corrects the performance of a resident during a kidney transplant surgery. In so doing, we observe how the attending constitutes time as a significant and constituent feature of the surgical actions performed by the resident. In order to instruct temporal competence in the performance of surgical procedures, the attending surgeon identifies and makes instructably observable the temporally significant features of the surgical work just as that work is performed, (a) by producing countdowns, pace prompts, and temporal accounts when and as avoidable errors occur, and (b) by planning and coordinating current and upcoming actions in relation to other actions. Instructing a trainee in the temporal features of his/her performance occurs when the attending (a) coordinates the production of specific verbal tokens, remarks and accounts with specific actions performed by the resident as the resident performs them, or (b) anticipates the performance of subsequent actions in relation to current surgical actions underway. This case demonstrates how temporality becomes an observably instructable matter in interaction.
The current paper examines two examples of other-correction produced by students during the cours... more The current paper examines two examples of other-correction produced by students during the course of a classroom exercise. One of these efforts culminates in replacement, the other fails. The two efforts are examined in the light of the existing literature focusing on conversational repair in the classroom. The data comes from a corpus of materials collected in a 5th grade math and science class. We will examine how each corrective effort was organized in order to better understand their different outcomes. It is argued that the kinds of trouble evidenced here may not be uncommon in 'conversations with the not-yet-competent'. In studying these matters, the paper seeks to illuminate some of the lived work of the classroom, both the lived work of being a teacher and that of being a student.
Tenenberg, Roth and Socha (forthcoming) documents interaction within a paired programming session... more Tenenberg, Roth and Socha (forthcoming) documents interaction within a paired programming session. The analysis rests on a conceptualization the authors term “We-awareness.” Their conceptualization builds on Tomasello's notion of “shared intentionality” and through it, upon Clark's formulation of Common Ground (CG). In this commentary I review the features of CG. I attempt to show that neither Tomasello's (2014) ‘shared intentionality’ nor Clark's (1996) CG-shared develop an adequate treatment of the sequential emergence of subjective meaning. This is a critical problem for CG and other conceptualizations that build upon it. It calls into question the possibility of any such treatment serving as an adequate foundation for building an appropriate analytic framework for studying mutual understanding at the worksite. I propose that Schütz's (1953) model of motive coordination might serve as a better starting place.
Mismatch occurs when there is a discrepancy between produced gestures and co-occurring speech. I ... more Mismatch occurs when there is a discrepancy between produced gestures and co-occurring speech. I explore in this commentary why research on mismatch could be called into question by changing views of what constitutes a gesture. I argue that the experimental procedure for producing mismatch, through its coding methods, is blind to the tight temporal coordination of gesture and affiliated talk.
Recent Talks by Timothy Koschmann
Over the years, we and Doug Macbeth have been engaged in a rich, scholarly
discussion about how o... more Over the years, we and Doug Macbeth have been engaged in a rich, scholarly
discussion about how one might go about the business of studying instructional
interactions. The latest installment in that conversation is a commentary by Macbeth (2014) in a 2014 special issue of Discourse Studies. In it, he raised multiple concerns
with respect to a paper of ours included in that same issue (Zemel & Koschmann, 2014).
In his response, he argued the study of learning is fraught with conceptual confusions and
suggested that Garfinkel’s notion of instructed action would offer greater analytical
insight into instructional interaction. In our earlier paper we sought to document
‘learning’s work’ as it is accomplished by instructees during teaching surgeries. We
adopted the term ‘learnables’ for those matters negotiated by the participants and made
instructably visible in interaction. In this presentation we explore how these matters are
related to instructed action.
The concept of accountability is of central importance to Ethnomethdology, as the program was con... more The concept of accountability is of central importance to Ethnomethdology, as the program was conceived by its founder, Harold Garfinkel. The thesis to be developed here is that aspects of the notion of accountability were already being worked out in Garfinkel's writing well before he introduced the term in the Studies (1967). In particular, I will argue that aspects of what he would later term 'accountability' can be found in two of his well-known early papers: his 'trust' paper (1963) and the 'documentary method' paper (1962). What I will do in this talk, therefore, is explore how the concept emerged in his early writing, the purposes it was designed to serve, and the contribution it has made to contemporary social theory.
Uploads
Books by Timothy Koschmann
In educational research, learning theories represent alternative conceptualizations of what we take learning to be. This volume examines three contemporary theories of learning with particular relevance to the study of practice, namely, situated learning, dialogic theory (or dialogism), and Deweyan transactionalism. Drawing upon a panel of internationally-prominent social scientists, psychologists, philosophers of education and teacher educators, the book critically evaluates the potential contributions of each of these three theories to a science of instructional practice. Rather than considering these matters in the abstract, chapter authors illustrate their positions by applying the different treatments of learning to selected samples of instructional practice. The data analyzed come from a particular fifth-grade classroom in which an innovative way of teaching math was being tested. Extensive transcripts, images and exhibits are provided, enabling the reader to follow and evaluate the analytic arguments being presented.
This collection, therefore, delivers precisely on the book's title—it provides both an articulation of current theories of learning and a series of carefully constructed studies of instructional practice, seeking to explore the relationship between the two. In so doing it offers no easy answers. The purpose of the book, rather, is to bring areas of controversy and confusion to the surface. For researchers and graduate students in the learning sciences, this provocative volume opens the door to the next crucial round of dialogue and debate."
Recent Papers by Timothy Koschmann
Recent Talks by Timothy Koschmann
discussion about how one might go about the business of studying instructional
interactions. The latest installment in that conversation is a commentary by Macbeth (2014) in a 2014 special issue of Discourse Studies. In it, he raised multiple concerns
with respect to a paper of ours included in that same issue (Zemel & Koschmann, 2014).
In his response, he argued the study of learning is fraught with conceptual confusions and
suggested that Garfinkel’s notion of instructed action would offer greater analytical
insight into instructional interaction. In our earlier paper we sought to document
‘learning’s work’ as it is accomplished by instructees during teaching surgeries. We
adopted the term ‘learnables’ for those matters negotiated by the participants and made
instructably visible in interaction. In this presentation we explore how these matters are
related to instructed action.
In educational research, learning theories represent alternative conceptualizations of what we take learning to be. This volume examines three contemporary theories of learning with particular relevance to the study of practice, namely, situated learning, dialogic theory (or dialogism), and Deweyan transactionalism. Drawing upon a panel of internationally-prominent social scientists, psychologists, philosophers of education and teacher educators, the book critically evaluates the potential contributions of each of these three theories to a science of instructional practice. Rather than considering these matters in the abstract, chapter authors illustrate their positions by applying the different treatments of learning to selected samples of instructional practice. The data analyzed come from a particular fifth-grade classroom in which an innovative way of teaching math was being tested. Extensive transcripts, images and exhibits are provided, enabling the reader to follow and evaluate the analytic arguments being presented.
This collection, therefore, delivers precisely on the book's title—it provides both an articulation of current theories of learning and a series of carefully constructed studies of instructional practice, seeking to explore the relationship between the two. In so doing it offers no easy answers. The purpose of the book, rather, is to bring areas of controversy and confusion to the surface. For researchers and graduate students in the learning sciences, this provocative volume opens the door to the next crucial round of dialogue and debate."
discussion about how one might go about the business of studying instructional
interactions. The latest installment in that conversation is a commentary by Macbeth (2014) in a 2014 special issue of Discourse Studies. In it, he raised multiple concerns
with respect to a paper of ours included in that same issue (Zemel & Koschmann, 2014).
In his response, he argued the study of learning is fraught with conceptual confusions and
suggested that Garfinkel’s notion of instructed action would offer greater analytical
insight into instructional interaction. In our earlier paper we sought to document
‘learning’s work’ as it is accomplished by instructees during teaching surgeries. We
adopted the term ‘learnables’ for those matters negotiated by the participants and made
instructably visible in interaction. In this presentation we explore how these matters are
related to instructed action.