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A sociocultural reading of reform in science teaching
in a secondary biology class
Sylvie Barma
Received: 29 April 2010 / Accepted: 1 February 2011
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
Abstract Adopting activity theory as a theoretical and methodological framework, this
case study illustrates how a teaching and learning situation is planned and implemented
over a series of nine 75-min biology classes by a high school science teacher in the context
of pedagogical reform. The object of this study emerges within a favourable context of
science education curricular reform in Quebec, Canada. By examining the interaction
between the poles of an activity system sharing the same object, this case study illustrates
how one teacher’s teaching practice is redefined and how some aspects of her teaching
personality orient the ways in which she contextually mobilizes new tools and members of
her school community in order to implement an awareness campaign on the risks of
tanning salons.
Keywords Activity theory High school science teaching Teacher’s practice
Sociocultural perspectives Curricular reform
Dans cet article, nous pre
´sentons une e
´tude de cas qui s’est de
´roule
´e sur une pe
´riode
de quatre mois dans une classe de biologie du secondaire au Que
´bec, et ce, dans un
contexte de re
´forme des programmes d’e
´tudes en science et technologie. Ce cas de
´crit la
fac¸on dont une enseignante a cherche
´a
`modifier ses pratiques d’enseignement et a
`faire
autrement aupre
`s d’une centaine d’e
´le
`ves. Pre
´occupe
´e par le fait qu’un grand nombre de
ces e
´le
`ves fre
´quentaient les salons de bronzage, elle a de
´cide
´de mettre de co
ˆte
´sa plani-
fication habituelle et s’est engage
´e dans l’e
´laboration d’une se
´quence de neuf se
´ances
ancre
´e dans cette question. Le but de ces se
´ances a e
´te
´la mise en place d’une campagne de
sensibilisation a
`l’e
´cole. Pour ce faire, elle a remis en question plusieurs aspects de sa
formation universitaire ainsi que la fac¸on dont elle e
´tait intervenue aupre
`s de ses e
´le
`ves en
classe durant les cinq dernie
`res anne
´es. Suite a
`cette re
´flexion, et avec l’intention de
s’approprier les nouvelles directives ministe
´rielles (approche d’enseignement plus ouverte,
S. Barma (&)
Pavillon des sciences de l’e
´ducation, 2320 rue des Bibliothe
`ques,
Local 1134, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
e-mail: Sylvie.Barma@fse.ulaval.ca
123
Cult Stud of Sci Educ
DOI 10.1007/s11422-011-9315-9
responsabilisation des e
´le
`ves dans leur apprentissage), elle a choisi de s’e
´loigner d’un
mode d’enseignement magistral et d’une de
´marche dirige
´e en laboratoire. Elle a fait appel
a
`des spe
´cialistes du milieu me
´dical pour intervenir aupre
`s des jeunes a
`l’e
´cole et a
demande
´a
`plusieurs membres de sa communaute
´e
´ducative de l’appuyer dans ses de
´m-
arches. Nous avons e
´te
´en mesure de cerner plusieurs tensions qu’elle a identifie
´es et
re
´solues et qui lui ont permis de modifier, du moins pendant neuf se
´ances, certaines re
`gles
et la division du travail dans sa classe et dans son e
´cole. C’est en adoptant un cadre de
lecture socioculturel ancre
´dans la troisie
`me ge
´ne
´ration de la the
´orie de l’activite
´que nous
pre
´sentons au lecteur le re
´sultat de nos analyses. Nos donne
´es de recherche (verbatim
d’entretiens, analyse de documents et notes de recherche) ont e
´te
´analyse
´es a
`la lumie
`re de
l’activite
´de l’enseignante que nous avons conside
´re
´e comme oriente
´e vers un objet, celui
de la mise en place de la campagne de sensibilisation. Ainsi, l’activite
´exerce
´e par un
individu est e
´troitement relie
´ea
`un but conscient, une motivation lie
´e au contexte effectif
dans lequel l’activite
´a lieu. Dans la premie
`re phase d’analyse, il y a eu alternance entre
l’analyse et le terrain conforme
´ment aux principes de la the
´orisation ancre
´e et ceci a permis
de de
´crire l’e
´volution de la pratique de la participante a
`l’e
´tude. La seconde phase de
l’analyse nous a amene
´a
`pre
´senter des syste
`mes d’activite
´: caracte
´risation et mise en
relation des po
ˆles : sujet, objet, re
`gles, division du travail, membres de la communaute
´et
outils par lesquels l’activite
´ae
´te
´me
´diatise
´e. A
`la lumie
`re de nos analyses, nous concluons
que la transformation des pratiques d’enseignement dans un milieu scolaire est susceptible
de s’implanter a
`la fois au niveau individuel et a
`celui de membre d’une collectivite
´.
In the field of education, changes can occur in a variety of ways. There are curricular
reforms as well as initiatives of a more local nature, undertaken by teachers who are
motivated to personally engage in new ways of doing things in the classroom (Sannino and
Nocon 2008). Thus, some teachers initiate a new didactic practice in science classes in
response to the implementation of a school reform or because personal reasons prompt
them to throw into question their academic training or to increase their students’ moti-
vation (Barma 2008b). That being said, most would agree that it is difficult to bring about
change among school social practices for a variety of reasons, such as the preservation of a
school’s operating rules, pressure to comply with curriculum requirements, or competition
between schools (Edwards 2008). A number of recent studies have adopted activity theory
as their research design and have documented how schools’ efforts to bring about peda-
gogical or organizational innovation either managed to be translated into action or failed to
be implemented (Engestro
¨m2008). The findings from this research support one of the
principles of the 3rd generation of activity theory developed by Engestro
¨m(1999), namely
that the introduction of new practices is an outcome of the process of resolving the tensions
occurring among organizations (Murphy and Rodriguez-Manzanares 2008). Such tensions
may stem from the implementation of a new curriculum in the context of school reform
(Edwards). Against this backdrop, I focus particularly on the potential impacts that the
introduction of a new science and technology curriculum in Quebec may have on the
didactic practice of a high school biology teacher.
In the current science education context, overlapping concerns among European and
North American actors—the growing focus on developing competencies, implementation
of an interdisciplinary practice grounded in current problems having relevance for stu-
dents—point to a widely shared core of issues (European Commission 2006). In particular,
S. Barma
123
the curricula of several Western nations have made a priority of improving the contex-
tualization of science learnings through the study of problems having relevance to the lives
of students (and not just through the study of subject-specific problems).
In Quebec, this trend has led to a ministerial guideline respecting a new disciplinary
competency that draws on an interdisciplinary teaching/learning approach. Formulated in
terms of ‘‘making the most of [the students’] knowledge of science and technology,’’
(Government of Quebec 2006, p. 236), this competency is to be developed around prob-
lems grounded in ‘‘broad areas of learning’’ that deal with issues that are important to both
individuals, namely: health and well-being, career planning and entrepreneurship, envi-
ronmental awareness and consumer rights and responsibilities, media literacy, and citi-
zenship and community life. These new directions have led science teachers to renew their
classroom practices and have sparked my interest in describing the ways in which teachers
make the proposed changes and throw into question their classroom practices and how they
bring innovations into their classrooms. Likewise, such reflections have fuelled my interest
to investigate the way in which classroom practices were shaped by the goals pursued by
teachers. Furthermore, I developed an interest in how the members of an educational
community (or the teachers in particular) managed to work and facilitate renewed science
teaching practices in a school that subscribed to the principles underlying a reform of
science education curricula.
The results of a case study that I present in this paper fit with a general trend in research
relating to new practices in science education (Me
´heut 2006). Situated in a Quebec context
(Government of Quebec 2006), these findings illustrate how, over a 4-month period, a 9th
grade biology teacher re-examined her teaching practice and called on several members of
her educational community to plan and implement nine activities she considered to be
innovative into her science classes. The overarching theme of the nine activities involved
approximately 100 female students aged 14–15 years and focused on developing aware-
ness among these teenagers as to the risks of tanning salons on their health.
Research problem
Aside from the existing North American and European political and ministerial con-
siderations on the matter, a number of propositions have been put forward by researchers
from the standpoint of renewing classroom teaching practices with approaches grounded
in citizenship-related educational goals (Barma 2007). In these approaches, the emphasis
is on developing interdisciplinary competencies and teaching practices that are grounded
in community problems (See Table 1). In order to foster citizenship skills among stu-
dents, these approaches must incorporate different points of view and different frame-
works. They thus combine the learning of scientific notions with the explication of
cultural, political, social and ethical considerations—all as part of documenting the
questions and issues laid before students by science teachers. Table 1illustrates the
propositions of these researchers as how teachers could better socioculturally anchor
their teaching practices.
It is worth scrutinizing the proposals of a number of other researchers. For Roth and
Calabrese Barton (2004) and Roth and De
´sautels (2002), empowered citizenship in the
community should be developed through science education. As with other fields of
knowledge, science and technology would benefit from becoming the objects of reflection
on the part of all citizens. Accordingly, science education should be oriented toward
developing citizens’ capacity to take social action.
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
A posture of this kind presupposes long-term participation and learning in relation to the
resolution of actually existing problems in a community. Roth and Lee (2004) argue that if
teachers enable students to participate in the life of their local community—beyond the
spatial and temporal setting of the classroom—students will develop awareness of the
importance of such participation. These two authors refer here to the development of
scientific and technological literacy in terms of a perpetual construction process.
1
They
also argue that teachers should avoid creating learning environments that funnel students
into performance-based tracks; they should instead not only offer students a broad variety
of situations conducive to participation but also emphasize a democratic approach enabling
students to make decisions in keeping with their own interests. ‘‘Rather than privileging
disciplinary science we ought to foster situations that allow the negotiation of different
forms of knowledge geared to particular (controversial) problems as these arise in the daily
life of a community’’ (p. 287). In such environments, students have the feeling that they are
involved in their learning process and are thus able to perceive the usefulness of what they
learn. Doing so, the traditional boundary between school and community becomes less
marked.
Table 1 Socioculturally anchored teaching practices
Beane (1997) Fourez et al. (2002) Lemke (2001) Roth and Lee (2004)
Problems and issues
organized around real-
life social and personal
concerns.
Construction of
knowledge in response
to a meaningful
problem.
Consideration of the
sociocultural dimension
of learning.
Curriculum is genuinely
experienced by
students.
Integration of relevant
knowledge within the
context of organizing
themes.
Knowledge is developed
and used to investigate
themes for study rather
than to cover the
contents of a particular
program.
Emphasis is on actual
activities and projects.
Participation of students
in the choice of themes
(and not the concepts)
to be studied.
Grounding of the
situation in the
experience, daily life,
cultural universe and
concerns of students for
whom the project is
intended.
Construction of a
representation of a
situation within the
framework of a project.
Construction of
‘‘rationality islands’’
(i.e., simple
interdisciplinary
models) around
tangible problems or
notions relating to daily
life.
Knowledge is mobilized
solely with a view to
immediate use.
Learning activity is
viewed from a
historical and evolving
perspective as
unfolding on several
scales (ranging from
the microsocial to the
broader, society-wide
context).
Importance of including
several dimensions in
teaching practice or in
research (social
interactions,
organizational aspect,
sociological aspect,
historical, biographical,
linguistic, semiotic,
cultural) as well as the
political, legal and
economic dimensions.
School is part of a wider
community: students
must be taken outside
of the framework of
school.
Problem situations
emerge from the daily
life of the community
of which students are a
part.
Integration of knowledge
into a situated,
distributed context.
Actualization of the
student’s process
through a real action in
the surrounding
community, thus
providing an
opportunity to negotiate
various types of
knowledge.
Students take part in
decision-making within
the community.
Participation of students
in the choice of
problems and
controversies to be
studied.
1
Scientific and technological literacy should be understood in terms of the definition provided by Fourez
(2002, p. 198), for whom it is a ‘‘person’s capacity, in a sociotechnical society, to build for him or herself a
field of autonomy, communication and negotiation with his or her environment.’’
S. Barma
123
In the section of the Quebec Education Program dedicated to the Science and Tech-
nology subject area emphasis is laid upon the development of what is qualified as a
democratic and humanistic perspective (Barma and Guilbert 2006). With respect to the
context surrounding the teaching of this subject area, the program document states, that
various cultural resources can also be exploited. ‘‘Museums, research centres, engineering
firms, medical facilities, local industries and businesses or any other organization in the
community can be mobilized to develop the students’ scientific and technological literacy’’
(Government of Quebec 2007, p. 2). Although it cannot be claimed that such intentions
laid down in the Quebec document are consistent with the researchers’ proposals that are
taking into account the sociocultural context in which students evolve, I see them as
constituting an invitation to teachers to ground their classroom interventions in the real
problems of the community and to encourage various actors of the school and out-of-
school community to take part in the curriculum-building process.
Thus, the research under study stems from a gap occurring between a number of more
traditional teaching practices and a renewal of practices of the kind that have been pro-
posed by Quebec government for science to be taught by centering on the solving of
complex problems (Government of Quebec 2006). It is from this perspective that I inquire
into the motivations of a grade 9 biology teacher who takes steps to renew her classroom
practice with a view to adhering to some of the new ministerial guidelines. Some of these
guidelines in particular recommend studying science as a means of analyzing the world
around students, thus allowing them to put scientific and technological achievements into
perspective and to appreciate the impact of such achievements on their health. For
example, focusing on the controversial issue of tanning salons permits that teacher to
examine more closely how a technological system (tanning booth) for the production and
introduction of ultraviolet radiation into a biological system (human skin) meets a specific
need and produces various effects. Such a focus permits a pragmatic and complex approach
to the study of a technological system.
The following research question is the focus of this study: In the context of the
implementation of a new Science and Technology curriculum, how does a science teacher
make an effort to change her practice as she plans and implements an awareness campaign
on the risks of tanning salons?
Theoretical framework
From previous research with seven high school science teachers in Quebec, I used the third
generation of activity theory (Engestro
¨m2001) as the theoretical framework to be used for
interpreting the renewal of classroom practices in science classes. This framework
emphasizes the contextual and systemic aspect of practices that are meant to be innovative.
So equipped, I was able to identify the concerns of teachers involved in planning Teaching
and Learning Situations (TLSs) in terms of the resources effectively available versus the
resources desired; the goals pursued by these teachers in a school context; and the con-
straints of the school community as experienced by these teachers when planning new
TLSs. My analyses showed that the resources mobilized or desired by these teachers are
context-specific, interrelated and dependent on the conditions (facilitating or non-facili-
tating) of the community in which the renewal of their teaching practice is located (Barma
2008b).
These initial findings have brought out the importance of the contextual dimension of
teachers’ TLS-building activity and accord with the spirit of research conducted by Brown
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
et al. (1989) and Wenger (2005) in which the activities undertaken by an individual are
closely related to a conscious objective or with motives specific to the context in which a
given activity unfolds. The individual is not studied per se, yet is studied in terms of
interaction with others. From this perspective, the unit of analysis consists in interaction. In
other words, the unit of observation is not the individual alone but instead the individual in
his or her context. According to Bracewell et al. (2007), theoretical frameworks anchored
in a sociocultural theory of learning can enrich how one considers a unit of analysis and
thus allows him to interpret data in a systemic and contextual way. When adopting these
premises, action and context in which the activity takes place are not considered separate
from one another (Brown et al. 1989). Therefore, the activities undertaken by an individual
are closely related to a conscious goal, a motivation linked to the actual context where the
activity is occurring.
Activity theory examines human activity in terms of being socially situated—for
example, in relation to the world of labour or the world of learning (Parks 2000). The
origins of this theory are to be found in the work of Vygotsky (1985), who considered the
development of human behaviour as being above all mediated by the creation and use of
cultural artifacts of a material or symbolic nature (e.g., instruments, signs, symbols).
According to Vygotsky, who developed the first generation of that theory, the human being
is defined with respect to his or her activity with objects (not solely material) and actors in
his/her environment.
Building on Vygotsky’s work, Leont’ev (1978) developed the second generation of this
theory. This author emphasized the distinction between individual|collective action, and
took into consideration the complex interactions occurring between an individual and his
or her community. In his view, labour is essentially cooperative. In human societies, the
meaning ascribed to a given activity is thus shared by a community of actors who pursue
the same goal. For this reason, mediation is characterized by the division of labour and the
rules that frame the interactions between individuals belonging to the same activity system
and pursuing the same object. For Leont’ev, it was essential to distinguish between the
concept of activity and that of the actions related to the carrying out of this activity.
Activities are themselves concretely realised in and through goal-directed actions.
Moreover, the relationship between actions and activities is a mutually constituting and
presupposing one: a series of actions realise an activity, but the activity gives rise to,
orients, legitimises and gives sense to the actions. ‘‘An activity is associated with a pur-
pose, an action with a goal, and an operation with the conditions necessary to its execu-
tion’’ (Class 2001, p. 2).
In the 1970s, a recontextualization of activity theory by researchers in the West was
observed. Thus, in line with the works of Latour (1993) and their human and non-human
actor network, the concept of activity networks was developed. Engestro
¨m(1999), who
developed the third generation, then proposed a systemic model based on the first two
generations of activity theory, integrating the socioinstitutional infrastructure of the
activity—that is, rules, the division of labour, and elements of the community. As pre-
sented in Fig. 1, ‘‘the uppermost subtriangle may be seen as the tip of the iceberg repre-
senting individual and group actions embedded in a collective activity system’’ (Engestro
¨m
2001, p. 134). For Engestro
¨m, it had become increasingly crucial to recognize that indi-
vidual’s interactions with the world were mediated by objects, methods, rules and values
and as well as all other aspects of human culture. Hence, the author positioned the indi-
vidual at the centre of an activity system consisting of six interrelated poles (subject, tools,
rules, division of labor, community, and object of study), with each different pole repre-
senting key nodes of that system (Fig. 1). Although these poles can presumably be
S. Barma
123
considered separately, they must be interpreted as interconnected. On a methodological
point of view, Engestro
¨m points out that his model offers a dynamic reading grid for the
analysis of the transformation of social practices. Thus, activity is a goal-oriented and tool-
mediated action; the activity pursued by the subject is analyzed in its dynamics, trans-
formations and in its evolution and historical change. Activity theory ‘‘regards innovation
as a process of shared construction of an object, a mobilization of essential and comple-
mentary cultural resources as well as a process of mutual learning’’ (Miettinen 2006,
p. 176).
Engestro
¨m(2001) has set out the characteristics of the third generation of activity
theory and framed the analytical and methodological approaches appropriate to research.
According to Engestro
¨m, any learning theory must answer at least four central questions:
1. Who are the subjects of learning? How are they defined and located?
2. Why do they learn? What makes them make the effort?
3. What do they learn? What are the contents and outcomes of learning?
4. How do they learn, what are the key actions or processes of learning?
He stresses that in order to understand human life and its development and thus make it
possible to bring about the conditions required to improve it, it is necessary to understand
that the interactions of human beings are mediated by objects, methods, rules, the division
of labour and the members of the community in which the activity of learning subjects
unfolds.
Furthermore, one of the particularities of Engestro
¨m’s research (2001) is to focus on the
transformation of a group rather than on that of an individual. In my findings, I will focus
on that aspect and explain how the participants (individual|collective) allow the biology
teacher to transform her practice as she plans and implements an awareness campaign.
Each stage in the development of a new activity by the teacher constitutes a resource for
the production of innovations in the activity system and of transformations in a particular
organizational context.
The third generation of activity theory can be summed up according to five principles:
1. The activity system constitutes the prime unit of analysis. Being artifact-mediated and
object-oriented, an activity system is enmeshed in network relations to at least one
other system. The goal of activity is constantly evolving and cannot be reduced to
short-term objectives. New representations must make sense for all.
tools
subject
rules community division of
labour
Object
production
distribution
exchange
consumption
outcome
Fig. 1 The poles of an activity
system triangle (Engestro
¨m
1999)
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
2. An activity system is ‘‘multi-voiced’’—that is, reflects a ‘‘community of multiple
points of view, traditions and interests,’’ (p. 136) which itself stems from the division
of labour in an activity whereby different positions are created for each system
participant. This multi-voicedness demands a considerable effort of translation and
negotiation on the part of all participants.
3. The historicity of activity systems is reflected in the way they take shape and are
transformed over long periods of time.
4. Contradictions, defined as the ‘‘historically accumulating structural tensions within
and between activity systems’’ (p. 137) (as opposed to mere problems or conflicts) play
a central role as sources of system change and development.
5. In an activity system, an innovation (or ‘‘expansive transformation’’) is accomplished
whenever ‘‘the object and motive of the activity are reconceptualized to embrace a
radically wider horizon of possibilities than in the previous mode of activity.’’ (p. 136)
The third generation of activity theory constitutes a fruitful approach for picturing
learning activity. Traditionally, theories of learning have centred on processes in which the
subject (as isolated individual) acquires stable and relatively well-defined knowledge and
skills. Likewise, it is assumed that:
There is a competent ‘teacher’ who knows what is to be learned. The problem is that
much of the most intriguing kinds of learning in work organizations violate this
presupposition. People and organizations are all the time learning something that is
not stable, not even defined or understood ahead of time. (p. 137)
The capacity of subjects to mobilize other actors of the system and bring them together
around the same object is a precondition of the generation of an innovation in an orga-
nization or local community. Miettinen (2006) stated that, ‘‘These [learning-centred]
relationships are not based on written contracts but rather on the norm of reciprocity, based
on the complementarity of the knowledge, resources and interests of the actors’’ (p. 176).
The range of points of view results primarily from the great variety of actors involved in
the educational community and to the division of labour characterizing it (Barma 2008a).
Through this division of labour, different roles are defined for each actor interested in
participating in the subject’s (i.e., teacher’s) activity. These actors may be situated at more
or less greater removed from the school itself—in this case, the biology teacher or the
students, who are situated at the classroom level. Other actors, such as parents or experts
are located outside of the school. Activity theory considers a subject not only as an
individual but also as a member of a wider community (Engestro
¨m1999).
As was mentioned above, the introduction of new tools—such as a curriculum—is
accompanied by calling into question the rules and the division of labour in schools
(Edwards 2008). Carrying forward with these reflections, Bracewell et al.(2007) brings out
how the capacity of teachers to mobilize other members of the educational community and
to rally them around the same goal (for example, planning and implementing new activities
in the classroom) is a precondition of the generation of innovation in the local environ-
ment. Innovation necessarily entails a shared mobilization of resources in the spirit of a
mutual learning process (individual|collective transformation).
In order to gauge the extent to which new practices generated in a school environment
can be qualified as innovative, it is important to recall the emphasis that Bracewell et al.
(2007) articulated on tensions within a given activity system. On an initial level, will the
resulting of new Teaching and Learning Situations (TLSs) be of interest to the other
teachers in the school? Do new ways of constructing TLSs interfere with other practices
S. Barma
123
that are grounded in the community? Will they have an impact on the rules of operation
and the division of labour? Do the motives underlying the production of TLSs conflict with
the school’s dominant culture in respect of science education teaching practices? Can
tensions be perceived between the cultural-historical dimension of participants and that of
their school? Finally, I raise the question of whether the production of innovations will
create tensions between the activity system and any neighbouring systems with which it
shares a common interest. For example, does a new way of constructing and implementing
TLSs in the science classroom interfere with practices grounded in a local environment,
any associated rules, and the division of labour within the school? Another level of tension
may also emerge whenever the motives underlying the production of the TLS comes into
conflict with the dominant culture of the activity—i.e., with this culture as it existed prior
to the introduction of an innovation. If, on the other hand, the motives of the participant
and that of her community are in accord, then it will be possible to present the conditions
that facilitate the grounding of an innovative classroom intervention in the context of
science education (Barma 2010). It is important to recall that tensions can emerge within
the subject (cultural-historical dimension) or at the level of the community’s culture.
Again, the question under investigation in this study is to discuss how one science teacher
changes her practice as she plans and implements an awareness campaign on the risks of
tanning salons in her biology classroom.
Presenting the context of my investigation
As pointed out previously, activity theory was selected for this study wherein context and
mediation had to be considered while the production of a new TLS anchored in the theme
Awareness of the Risks of Tanning Salons was examined. Hence, this allowed for the
investigation of a teacher’s practice through a systemic approach that takes into account the
role of tools in the mediation of the production of a new TLS along with the role of human
actors who share common goals within their educational community (Engestro
¨m2001). An
ethnomethodologically inspired approach (Denzin and Lincoln 2005) coherent with
activity theory was used in this research. Specifically, ‘‘Ethnomethodology is not a
research method, but rather an orientation that focuses on the ordinary actions of people as
they proceed though everyday life’’ and ‘‘it studies the methods of people use in various
contexts to get through the mundane activities in their given situations’’ (Kelly 2008,
p. 449). Accordingly, it also justifies the basis underlying the format of investigation
selected for this research—that is, the case study, which lends itself well to scrutinizing and
grasping objects of study (Stake 1995). According to Murphy and Rodriguez-Manzanares
(2008), case studies are usually chosen for studying activity systems.
Introducing Catherine and the study
The case described in this study refers to a high school biology teacher, Catherine (a
pseudonym). Catherine is young in age and in experience and responsible for four groups
of 9th graders and one group of 11th grade students, all girls. Having worked in the same
school for 5 years, she holds a bachelor of education, with a concentration in biology and
mathematics. When preparing her educational interventions, Catherine claimed spending
over 2 h per week on designing activities other than the ones suggested in school manuals.
Although she took many courses in pedagogy (renewal of pedagogical approaches, inte-
gration of Information and Communication Technologies in the classroom) at the
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
beginning of her career, she considered her level of expertise in the new curriculum to be
rather low. Catherine indicated willingness to participate in a research project, but also
revealed a high level of anxiety towards getting involved in the planning and implemen-
tation of novel teaching/learning activities. Furthermore, Catherine mentioned that she had
failed to grasp the principle guidelines behind the school reform in science and technology,
but had always taught one subject at a time (biology or mathematics) and was therefore
unaware of how they could be combined around a common theme or a problematic arising
from the students themselves. Additionally, although she questioned certain aspects of her
university training, she wondered how her lecture-based classroom style could be adapted
to comply with the new reform. The issue of evaluating concepts was also a concern to her
and made her question its feasibility in teaching. In laboratories, the experimental protocols
were always given to the students, thus leaving them with little flexibility in terms of
manipulation.
As a matter of fact, right from the beginning of our collaboration (January 2007),
Catherine was able to identify several causes of tension that should be dealt with would she
participate in the study: (1) insufficient training provided to teachers to allow them to
master the current reform; (2) time constraints; (3) not enough information given as to how
time spent on lecture-based courses can be reduced; (4) how to deal with colleagues who
feel either humiliated or unenthusiastic towards the reform; (5) the inflexibility of the
student’s weekly schedule. Despite these constraints, after realizing that many of her
students were proud of attending tanning salons on a regular basis, she developed the
ultimate goal of launching an awareness campaign, and decided to design what she
qualified as innovative course plans to redirect her teaching towards the theme of the risks
of tanning salons and the implementation of reform.
Data gathering: my ambitions versus some limitations
At first, six participants from four different high schools signed on to take part in my
research project. I met twice at their respective schools with five of them (Barma 2008a).
Of the six, only Catherine effectively planned and implemented nine biology classes that
she described as innovative. The other five teachers did not follow through on their initial
intent, owing to work overload, incomprehension respecting the new ministerial guide-
lines, a lack of support on the part of their administration, or a lack of flexibility in their
schedule in relation to evaluation (Barma 2008a). My observations are in accord with
findings by Nocon (2008), who inquired into the reasons why desired changes failed to take
place in a school, namely, pressure to conform to curriculum objectives, the inability of
teachers to personalize their didactic practice, an overload of tasks, etc.
Data were gathered in a girls-only Quebec high school over a 4-month period. While it
would have been useful to pursue interviews and visits at the school over a longer period,
the single semester study poses some limitations in data collection. For example, Cath-
erine’s semester schedule, coupled with pressures related to the summative evaluation,
meant that she wanted to limit our meetings to a single semester. While respecting
Catherine’s semester-long planning process, I did not investigate the impact that the new
TLS had on students’ appropriation of concepts although Catherine showed me the sum-
mary evaluation she gave her students and all the other documents she had prepared to
keep track of the students’ work. Over the 4 months, I regularly went to the school where a
new TLS was planned and implemented by Catherine. There I conducted both semi-
structured and informal interviews with the participant. Catherine had a hard time
scheduling meetings with me. Our meetings took place between January and May 2007. In
S. Barma
123
addition to assuming her teaching duties (9th and 11th grade biology classes), she became
involved in appropriating the principles of Quebec’s new science curriculum. Furthermore,
she was responsible for monitoring the academic progress of 30 students in all their school
subjects. Thus, I investigated the way Catherine planned and implemented her biology
courses with the aim of changing her teaching practice in the context of curricular reform
in Quebec. I learned how her thoughts and actions evolved over the 4 months as she
decided to launch the awareness campaign on the risks of tanning salons in her school with
the hope to have an impact on her students.
Catherine planned and reflected on a TLS in nine classes of 75 min each. I was
interested in observing and learning about the process she went through to renew her
practice in the context of curriculum reform teaching practice in that particular school. At
this point, I want to take the opportunity and the liberty to elaborate more on some
characteristics of that context in order to better understand the activity systems I will later
describe. This case study will have allowed me to better grasp some of Catherine’s
teaching personality, but at the same time, as I will specify later on, my interaction with
Catherine during the interviews and my informal visits to the school will have also been
oriented by my own trajectory and teaching experience. I actually taught high school
science for over 15 years before engaging in postgraduate studies. Over the years, I wit-
nessed a change in my own teaching practice and I became more and more interested in
teacher training. It led me to contribute to the writing of the new Quebec curriculum. So it
was with a triple posture that I engaged interviews with Catherine : as science teacher,
curriculum writer and researcher.
What led me to investigate Catherine’s school was that it was a school small enough to
permit student-staff contact on a personal scale. In 2008, the school had a teaching staff of
about 40 and roughly 650 girl pupils aged 12–17 years. I also knew that this school had a
long established tradition (150 years) of intellectual freedom and responsible education for
young girls. For example in 1925, this was the first school in Quebec to qualify young girls
for university entrance.
So, I conducted five semi-structured interviews in accordance with an approach centered
on the co-construction of meanings (Savoie-Zajc 2003). The interviews were recorded on
digital audio tape. Savoie-Zajc proposes to ‘‘view an interview as a verbal interaction
between individuals who voluntarily engage in such an action with the goal of sharing
knowledge and expertise, and together, create a new understanding of a shared interest’’
(p. 295 free translation). My personal experience when I am conducting an interview is
that the interaction taking place is situational and contextual: therefore, always singular
and not reproductible.
As I wished to respect her work pace, Catherine notified me by phone or email to
discuss the various phases of the process in which she had become involved. All the
interviews recorded in digital audio took place at her high school. Catherine came to each
of our meetings with all her planning documents or the documents she had planned to hand
out to her students. No recording was made of a first, informal meeting that nevertheless
provided material for my research notes. The exact time of interviews was determined by
her, who preferred to meet often in order to recount the phases of planning and imple-
menting the TLS developed over the 4-month period. Verbatim transcripts constitute the
primary research data and have been supplemented by my research notes and the docu-
ments gathered by the participant during work planning TLSs.
An interview framework was developed as a means of laying the groundwork for the
meetings. Some of the questions that oriented two of the five interviews are mentioned in
the Appendix. The first formal semi-structured interview was focused primarily on some
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
aspects of Catherine’s teaching personality, her understanding of various components of
the Science and Technology program (e.g., competencies, the context surrounding the
reform being implemented, etc.) as well as her conception of pedagogical innovation—
prior to starting in on constructing a TLS in relation to the second subject-specific com-
petency. The second, third and fourth interviews were dedicated to describing the planning
and/or implementation of her teaching/learning situation. For these interviews, I did not
really have any pre-established framework but I did have a supply of questions for clar-
ification purposes whenever the need might arise. An interval of 9 and 13 days separated
these interviews, respectively. The second interview took place 6 weeks after the first. The
fifth or final interview took place 3 weeks later. It is important to note that in the interim,
Catherine had the time to launch the awareness campaign that she had planned within the
framework of her pedagogical interventions. For the final interview, Catherine told me
about how the activities had gone and reflected on her process. I took advantage of this
opportunity to ask her to what extent she felt that planning this campaign was different
from what she was accustomed to doing and what conditions had facilitated or impeded her
efforts. In addition, I opened the discussion to talk of her conception of innovation and
whether she felt that a new way of doing things in the classroom could at some point
become grounded in her teaching environment.
Finally, I discussed the implementation of the TLS with the school principal on two
occasions and with the laboratory technician on three. For the purpose of assessing the
impact of the implementation of this practice on the other teachers, on four occasions I
went to the teachers’ classrooms and had discussions with the Catherine’s teaching col-
leagues in the Science, French and Technology departments. Triangulation was performed
in relation to the observations noted down during the meetings with the principal, the
technician and the teaching colleagues.
Data analysis
During the data-gathering period, analysis of data alternated with field work in accordance
with the principles of socioconstructivist grounded theory (Charmaz 2005). For example,
the observations and informal conversations figured in my research notes and provided me
with insights when interpreting her comments and interview data. Assessing both the
tensions identified by Catherine and the ways she had managed to resolve some of them
was one way to describe the way she evolved over the 4-month period. Specifically, I used
an inductive thematic analysis (Paille
´and Mucchielli 2003) to code every interview and to
link and group the emergent codes into larger categories: Catherine’s academic education;
her evolving practice; goals and motivations; and her concept of innovation. Analyzing
these aspects allowed me to better describe the cultural-historical aspects of the corre-
sponding effects of the way Catherine transformed her practice and made herself unique
but also a part of her school community (individual|community). Throughout this phase,
refinements made to my comprehension of Catherine’s evolving practice were validated by
means of an ongoing comparison of the observations and the emerging analysis.
Next, after getting a better understanding of Catherine’s teaching personality, my
analysis was performed in compliance with the poles of the triangle of activity theory
(Sawchuk et al. 2006). For example, I emphasize Catherine (the pole subject) and discuss
how she evolved during the 4-month period as she questioned her training, her practice and
then decided to engage in planning her biology classes differently. I used an open-ended
(L’E
´cuyer 1990) content analysis to characterize each pole; these poles being respectively:
subject (Catherine), object (the awareness campaign), tools (artifacts that mediate the
S. Barma
123
activity of producing the campaign), community (actors sharing the activity of producing
the awareness campain), division of labour between the different community actors
involved in the planning of the nine classes, rules (implicit and explicit rules set within the
school community) (Engestro
¨m2001).
Below is the adaptation of the activity triangle poles in relation to the object of study—
namely, a science teacher’s production and implementation of a TLS concerning awareness
about the risks of tanning salons for human health. This adaptation continued forward with
prior research that investigated the importance of the accessibility of information and
material resources for constructing new teaching/learning situations (Barma 2008b).
Subject (agent): a teacher or any other member of his/her educational community
involved in producing TLSs; in this case, Catherine.
Object: transformation of the environment targeted by the activity: an innovative TLS
according to Catherine; the planning and launching of the awareness campaign on the risks
of tanning salons.
Tools: material or symbolic tools (artifacts) that mediate the activity; information
resources: information resources: magazines, newspapers, media, Internet, textbooks,
Ministry programs, TLS models, new teaching practices (problem-based learning, con-
troversy, etc.), software, training sessions offered in the sector; material resources: labo-
ratory equipment, layout of classrooms, computers.
Community: all of the subjects (or sub-groups) who are focused on producing TLSs and
who thus stand out from other communities; human and institutional resources; possible
human and institutional resources related to Catherine’s school community: human
resources: individuals, colleagues, laboratory technicians, experts, training staff, principals,
parents, and students; community of individuals, such as members of the science depart-
ment, association of teachers from various schools, parents association; and institutional
resources: communities of communities, and collectivities, such as public or private
schools, school boards, Quebec Federation of Private Schools, Quebec Ministry of Edu-
cation, Sports and Recreation, museums, and industries.
Division of labour: horizontal redistribution of actions among the school community
members and, simultaneously, the vertical hierarchy of power and status. This pole refers
to the organization or set-up within the school: department policy, teachers’ task
description, possible support of an educational adviser, sharing of skills between teachers,
laboratory technician’s task description, possible support of an educational adviser, sharing
of skills between teachers, laboratory technician’s task description, dynamics in the
classroom between the teacher and the students, collaboration between teacher/students/
experts (curricular or extra-curricular).
Rules: Standards, conventions, implicit and explicit habitual ways of maintaining and
regulating actions and interactions within the school; explicit ways: establishing schedules,
use of school space and time; and implicit ways: experimental methods in the lab, teaching
practices, subject-specific teaching framework, emphasis on the acquisition of concepts,
importance of exams, performance of the school at national level.
As was mentioned above, the poles of an activity system represent key nodes that at an
initial level of analysis require some characterization. But though they may be analyzed in
isolation from one another, they must also be placed in relation to one another in order to
facilitate a systemic interpretation of the teacher’s activity.
Once the poles were characterized, I engaged in a systemic interpretation through an
analysis of sub-triangles (three poles at once) (Class 2001). Each pole making it possible
to highlight the interrelations between three poles of an emerging activity system as
the planning of the awareness campaign went on. In the context of this contribution, the
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
sub-triangle I chose to describe shows how the new TLS was consumed by some members
of the school community (Fig. 2).
As my data contributed to enrich each pole, I performed a more exhaustive description
of the interrelations between the entire set of poles. This enabled me to identify activity
systems illustrating the unfolding of the awareness campaign, the tools that mediated the
activity, and the way division of labour and rules were negotiated amongst different
members of Catherine’s school community to make it happen (Bracewell et al. 2007). The
identification of activity systems came into sharper focus through the characterization and
correlation of the six poles (subject, object, rules, division of labour, community, tools), the
charting of how they meshed with one another, and the modelling of the tension-resolution
process.
Discussion of findings in relation to activity theory
Experiential trajectory of Catherine’s practice through some of her autobiographical
narratives
Catherine chose the theme of the risks of tanning salons for students’ health because she
had noticed for some time that several of her students frequently used these salons: ‘‘We
often heard about this problem in the school, and all of us teachers began to become
seriously concerned!’’ This situation was a source of serious concern to her. She was
unsure of how to go about addressing it in her classes or how to engage in dialogue on this
subject with her students. She wanted them to construct an informed opinion about the
dangers of tanning salons for themselves. This theme did not figure in the curriculum, but
she saw in it an opportunity to engage into a new approach to course-planning and thus,
momentarily, depart from the prescribed curriculum. The goal of this TLS, which she
would plan on her own without following a teaching guide, was to organize an awareness
campaign concerning the risks of tanning salons for the entire school community. She had
the full support of the principal of the school.
Over the 4 month period, the planning and implementation of Catherine’s nine classes
involved members of her school community and entailed not only the renegotiation of some
rules division of labou
r
object
(awareness campain)
tools
subject
communit
y
consumption
Fig. 2 The sub-triangle ‘‘consumption’’
S. Barma
123
operating rules in the classroom but also a temporary redistribution of the division of labour
within the classroom and between her and some of her colleagues at school who had to
accept a change in their teaching schedule in order to allow Class 1 (the conference) to take
place. For eight of the nine classes, she chose to depart from the textbooks that she habitually
used, and accepted the insecurity associated with her option. She gave more space and power
to her students as they had to seek information by themselves, and also relate to an expert in
the field of skin care. She also chose to seek out resources in places where she did not usually
go to find them—namely, outside the school (a dermatologist and a pharmacist). In Table 2,I
summarize how Catherine planned and implemented (produced|reproduced) in nine classes
the goal of launching an awareness campaign in the school.
In the following sections, I focus on Catherine’s evolving thoughts and reflections on
her actions as she started collaborating with me. The following themes represent a chro-
nology of Catherine’s thinking and reflecting over the 4 month period of planning and
implementing the awareness campaign through the lens of activity theory.
Catherine’s academic education
Catherine started her education at the university in 1997 opting then for an undergraduate
degree in Physical Education that she completed. While at the university, she taught figure
skating classes for 5 years and really enjoyed it. After graduating and not really knowing
Table 2 TLS on awareness of
the risks of tanning salons: nine,
75-min classes
Class Description of activity
Class 1 Lunch-time talk for all grade 9 students by a
dermatologist concerning the risks of UV exposure for
human health. Three out of four 9th grade classes
attended the conference. Some of Catherine’s
colleagues attended the presentation too and showed
great interest.
Class 2 Discovery activity on skin functions. Inductive
approach in laboratory setting. The protocol was not
given to students. Students brought material from
home.
Class 3 In order to identify what was worth studying in the
context of the study of the danger of tanning salons by
the students themselves: information search by
students and team development of a network of
concepts.
Class 4 Lecture-based course on the electromagnetic spectrum.
At this point, Catherine felt she had to go back to a
more ‘‘formal’’ science class setting to integrate the
elements identified in the first three classes.
Class 5 Back to the lab. Inventory of the list of ingredients of
sunscreens provided to Catherine by a colleague who
also worked in a pharmacy.
Class 6 Forming of teams and launch of work to develop the
awareness campaign for the entire school community.
Class 7 Continuation of teamwork.
Class 8 Presentation of posters in a public space of school.
Class 9 Production of a moisturizing cream in laboratory by the
students. Technological design of a product.
Reinvestment of Class 5.
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
what she would do with her degree, she decided to go back to school to become a high
school biology and mathematics teacher.
After completing this second undergraduate degree, the direction taken by her career
path could be glimpsed in relation to two main factors: an interest in the practical aspect of
her university training and education as well as the considerable importance she accorded
to being with young people: ‘‘For sure, being in close contact with young people—that was
a major factor that influenced my choice. Being with young people.’’ When I asked her to
reflect on how much she had enjoyed her studies and how this had oriented her at the
beginning of her career, she pointed out to me:
The theoretical courses I received at the university, I can’t say they played a decisive
role in my teaching personality. It was more the student teaching sessions [practi-
cums] that helped me find out what kind of teacher or what my personality, as a
teacher really was. It was really directly in the field [that this discovery took place].
(Interview 1)
Still, reflecting on the university classes in the lab, and referring to her academic
training Catherine replied,
Like, actually, there weren’t a lot of discoveries; we didn’t discover much at all.
They’d say: here’s the theory—what it is—and we’re going to put it into practice and
you’re going to verify whether it works or not. (Interview 1)
Catherine’s evolving practice
When I asked Catherine to describe and assess how her practice had evolved in the last
5 years, she immediately confirmed that her teaching approach had undergone a major shift
in the time since she started into her career. This shift concerned the way she personally
viewed herself in the classroom with her students, the teaching approaches she now
favoured (like open inquiry in the lab, concept mapping, team work), her increased con-
fidence in respect to the subject matter she taught, and the role she assumed in her dealings
with her students. She commented, ‘‘I’d say there was a 180shift. I don’t see myself at all
the way I saw myself as a teacher 5 years ago …because [now] I’m more at ease in front of
classes of students.’’
Again, in hindsight, Catherine took a critical view of what she qualified as her uni-
versity education’s traditional approach to laboratory work. On the one hand she strongly
emphasized the need of refusing to fall into a routine and, on the other hand of throwing
into question one’s teaching practices.
I’m also more at ease with the content and, at the beginning I was insecure and had a
tendency to stick closely to the teaching system I had experienced as a student,
meaning in math and science. There’d be a little bit of theory [followed by] exer-
cises. Same thing during the following class—[it was] the same routine in every
class…. At the beginning of the current [school] year, I was OK with doing things
that way, but then later I found myself to be really dull to be continually teaching that
way. I said to myself, ‘There’s no way my career is going to be like that! I’m gonna
have to be motivated and change my teaching strategies.’ It was at that point that I
expanded my horizons and realized that there was a load of resources around me, but
[at the same time] there was more than just my textbook and my exercise booklet.
(Interview 2)
S. Barma
123
So Catherine chose to distance herself from lecture-based teaching approaches which
she saw as being boring and unstimulating for her students. Since the new Science and
Technology Program had been implemented 2 years before, she threw into question the
relationship to authority that she had been maintaining with her students and now saw
herself more in the role of a guide coaching them along in their learning process: ‘‘I’m
there just to guide students, provide information at the right time, so as to enable them to
gradually move ahead in their project.’’
Catherine’s innovation in teaching science
In my opinion, Catherine was a dynamic, motivated teacher. She also had a desire to grow
as a teacher. She stated, ‘‘But speaking for myself, even from 1 year to the next, I rarely
could do the same projects. Since, I figure after 10 years, you can’t keep doing the same
projects. That’s just unthinkable!’’ She accepted the insecurity associated with renewing
her practice, and while planning the awareness campaign, she chose to be confident about
the unforeseen events that were likely to crop up, but was still not sure how to plan and
what to do regarding the new curriculum.
All the same, I feel far from all that [the curriculum]; I need a better vision of my
situation before I take that step [getting involved in a form of activity planning that is
designed to be innovative]. …Honestly, [about] this activity [the new TLS], I don’t
know how I’m going to present it. (Interview 2)
Her motivation for teaching was quite high and she demonstrated a positive attitude not
only in respect of teaching but also in relation to the context of the reform being imple-
mented in her school. Despite the fact she did not at first understand all the underlying
principles, she gained confidence and focus in teaching the lessons.
Yes, I knew I would do it, but I wasn’t able to be specific. But during the entire
process of preparing the situation, it came into focus. (Interview 5)
Whereas now, there are so many ways to establish a link with everyday life. That is
what I really like! This way, the theoretical notions are made tangible. It’s more
meaningful for students, under this approach, [under] the reform. (Interview 4)
The predominant concern that Catherine had was to ‘‘develop students’ autonomy and
get them to discover concepts on their own, and also establish links between these various
concepts.’’ To develop each student’s autonomy was linked to the way she redefined her
role as teacher—i.e., in terms of being a guide. Accordingly, she made a point of fostering
both the resourcefulness and the reflexivity of her students. Her lab technician was fully
supporting her and the rules in the lab changed. Protocols were not given to the students.
This changed the division of labour in the lab: the technician would not display the
material needed, he would wait for the students to ask him. The teams would not neces-
sarily do the same thing at the same time since each of them decided independently how to
investigate a problem such as analyzing a sample of sunscreen or producing a skin
moisturizing cream.
She was particularly mindful of the girls’ personal development. Likewise, she laid
stress on developing her students’ capacity for critical thinking, but always in relation to
their daily lives. This concern did not extend far beyond the framework of students’
personal lives (particularly the aspect relating to their physical health) to empower them
with better citizenship. For example, during Classes 2 and 3, problem-solving was her
preferred approach for advancing her classroom goals.
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
I seek to develop resourcefulness, avoid giving students information right away but
instead [try to] guide them, aid them to reflect so that they finally manage to discover
certain notions or establish parallels between certain concepts. I have to admit [that
this way of teaching is] demanding. …I’m going to give them just enough infor-
mation so that, eventually, a light bulb goes on in their head and they are able to
establish a relationship between the concepts. (Interview 3)
I was able to witness how she had the students achieve that goal: she showed me the
concept maps they produced after seeking information by themselves.
This may develop your brainpower or your capacity for resourcefulness and logical
thinking, as well as a critical attitude toward the information you receive, and not
take this information for absolute truth. Try to understand why it’s that way, justify
your choices. (Interview 3)
As I was collaborating with and witnessing Catherine’ actions, putting these teaching
methods into practice was, in her opinion associated with the introduction of new ideas and
new ways of teaching. This could in turn improve how a TLS was experienced in the
classroom or in the school right now. She mentioned the importance of trying out new
things. In her view, it was also important for an innovation to have a positive impact on
other teachers who would subsequently rally as a group to this cause. She compared what
she was doing now with what she had been doing in the classroom the previous year. She
was also of the view that innovative practices had begun to become grounded in her school,
and innovation should have ‘‘an impact on other teachers’’ and that ‘‘everyone is coming
on board.’’ She felt that the new ways of teaching were ‘‘going to remain in science.’’ The
teachers in her science department appeared to have an influence or spillover effect on her.
She noted that one of her colleagues would be retiring the following year and that her
science department would be receiving an infusion of new blood; at the same time,
however, she pointed out that the departing teacher was someone who was open to change.
Still, Catherine was optimistic that the innovations would become a common practice in
her school.
Yes, I am convinced of it. [The innovation] is already well implemented in grades 7
and 8; the [Grade 7 science teachers] have an influence on me, are a great source of
motivation for me. Now, for sure, in grade 10, there’s somebody coming up for
retirement this year. It’s true this person was well informed; I’m sure she would have
come on board, no problem. And the person replacing her is, I’d say, rather young,
since the older teachers, well, it’s not that they’re less motivated by it…All in all,
this person [the hiree] has been involved in the new curriculum movement for some
years now, so I’m sure it’s going to go forward (Interview 5)
During the second interview, her interest in the theme of awareness about tanning salons
came into greater focus, and she mentioned the possibility of implementing a campaign
throughout the school. She informed me that by taking action she had begun to appropriate
the spirit of the new program. At the end of the 4-month period and once the campaign was
over, Catherine pointed out that she had the full support of her principal for her project.
The goals Catherine developed for the awareness campaign were coherent with the edu-
cational project of her school, and this was something that satisfied her principal.
The overarching educational project of the high school is to develop students’
capacity for critical thinking and their autonomy, to enable them to make sound
S. Barma
123
choices; that’s the kind of education we’re going to do with this presentation. Fol-
lowing that, students will be better equipped to make a decision about going to the
tanning salons. (Interview 5)
While I am mindful of the limitations of investigating Catherine’s teaching, I take away
that she indeed possessed a strong motivation to teach, a passion for her profession, a
concern for pushing back her limits, and a positive attitude toward the education reform
being implemented in her school. The reform created some anxiety with teachers the
2 years before it was adopted. But the reform was enough motivation for Catherine to
launch into a new way of doing things in her biology class.
Emerging activity systems
In the following section, which is presented in a slightly different format, I will continue to
present the findings of the study and offer a discussion in conjunction with activity theory.
This will allow me to make more explicit connections to the changes in practice that
Catherine had undergone, inasmuch as when discussing how the poles of an activity system
are interrelated, I am also discussing activity theory as a means of interpreting the findings.
The subject and the development of the activity
On the basis of the characterization of the pole ‘‘subject’’, it is possible to make out a few
aspects of the evolution of her practice in the science classroom. I had met with Catherine
in the context of the implementation of the new curriculum 2 years before we started our
collaboration and she had expressed great anxiety about it. Actually during this time, I was
still involved with the Ministry of Education of Quebec and was giving talks about the new
science and technology program. But she decided to collaborate with me 3 years later. I
wanted to better understand how Catherine approached the changes in her practice without
my direct guidance. She met with me so that I could learn about the awareness campaign
she chose to do with her class.
Over the 4-month period, my data show that her relationship to the way information
circulated in the classroom was undergoing change. This is a tension I identified and that
she resolved—going from a more transmissive teaching approach to a more interactive
classroom dynamic. With a new program that focused on development of competencies
(less on content), she saw an opportunity to change in her biology class. As I pointed out
previously, she started viewing students as important actors in the science laboratory.
Some rules and division of labour between the students themselves and Catherine then
changed. Catherine was doing the best she could to avoid a transmissive mode of teaching.
She asked several members of her school, i.e., colleagues, principal, lab technician, TIC
technician and the students, to share the tasks to be performed within the framework of the
nine classes that she had planned for the awareness campaign. Over that period, she also
contacted an expert from outside the school and invited him to address her students. By
inviting a dermatologist to school, Catherine delegated power in the class by allowing an
outsider to come in and teach her students: this is an example of how rules and division of
labour changed. Catherine got the idea of inviting a dermatologist to meet with her students
after consulting with one for her own skin care. The visit to her doctor happened between
our first informal interview and the first recorded one. I recall her being very happy about it
and it gave her a first boost to start something different with her classes.
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
Also, the invitation to invite a pharmacist came when she was in another teacher’s room
talking to her colleagues about her project and a newly hired teacher told her she had a
background in pharmacy and was actually working part time in a pharmacy to make a bit
more money. Her colleague approached her boss, described to him Catherine’s project, and
he then offered to lend sunscreen lotions to Catherine’s students. As part of the awareness
campaign, students listed the ingredients so that they would better understand the role each
ingredient played in skin protection.
Catherine made many modifications and adjustments to her teaching practice. In the
process of making change, she encountered several tensions in how to change from old to
new ways of teaching. Over the 4 month period, Catherine became aware of the dialectic
relationship of producing|reproducing. She really tried hard to overcome the habit she had
of engaging in a lecture based class. For example, she resolved some of the tensions she
faced in order to make a change in her practice during the nine lessons by not only
changing her practices but allowing students to make adjustments also (Table 3), and these
changes are also indicated through an activity theory lens (Fig. 3). Although Table 3
presents the tensions identified and resolved separately, these two plans are interdependent:
they mutually constitute and presuppose each other.
Concerning Catherine’s general planning process, all the class and out of class actions
relating to the Teaching and Learning Situation were aimed at building awareness among
the girls about the impacts on skin from exposure to UV rays in tanning salons, primarily
through an awareness campaign conducted in the school. Her goals found support among
the teaching and student activity units for the awareness campaign. The underlying
intentions were shared among the community, and collaboration with peers and students
began to take shape. Both the teaching and student activity units gave the green light for
organizing the exhibition. The information circulated and was shared throughout the
school, including teacher’s room, among the members of the student activity unit or among
students. For the final project or culminating activity of the nine classes, there was a
showing of student posters. The activity triangle relating to the production and displaying
of the awareness campaign posters at L’Atrium and elsewhere in the school which took
place after class 8. ‘‘L’Atrium’’ is a public place where students spend time in between
classes, in the morning, at noon-time and after school. It is located between the student
lockers in an area through which all school staff members may pass several times a day.
Catherine’s capacity to engage in critical learning and reflecting on her practice and her
willingness to work through her limits were indicative of her change in practices. Her
motivations in relation to the implementation of an awareness campaign for the entire
Table 3 Tensions identified and resolved: subject-division of labour-object
Tensions identified Tensions resolved
Siloing of information Circulation of information among members of school
community
Passive student who follows a
laboratory protocol provided by
teacher
Modification of the role played by student in lab:
protocol developed by active students (classes 2,5, 9)
Teacher is transmitter of knowledge Teacher guides students in their learning process (all
classes except 4)
Specific tasks assigned to members
of the school community
Tasks shared with a view to rearranging students’
schedules and arranging for the use of public space
(classes 1 and 8)
S. Barma
123
school was closely linked to science and how science is applied in daily life. Putting the
posters about tanning salons on display was a project dear to her. It was important to
present the results of students’ work outside of the classroom setting so as to enable several
members of the school community to view them and reflect on them.
The posters developed by students constituted an example of a power shift in terms of
in-class relationships. For example, students enjoyed a greater degree of freedom than within
the framework of a lecture-style class. Each team designed a poster to build awareness among
members of the school community about the effects of tanning salons on human health.
Information resources played a major role. The ensuing poster exhibition drew on most of the
information resources that had served to mediate the activity during all the classes occurring
prior to this event—e.g., Websites, magazine articles, course notes, the remarks of the der-
matologist who came and met the students one Friday afternoon, the mapping of concept
networks constructed by the students themselves. Several material tools also proved essential
and had to be made available—including poster board, drawing materials, PowerPoint pro-
jectors and screen, etc.—for easy dissemination of the information generated by the students.
In little under 3 months from the start of my collaboration with Catherine and the
Awareness Campaign on the Risks of Tanning Salons production, all the activities had been
implemented. The various components of this activity system shared the same object—that
is, a transformation of the learning environment in a context of a curricular reform that was
used to cause awareness of students about a problem specific to their school community.
The sub-triangle: consumption: new forms of participation
Now, to continue a discussion of change in practice in relation to activity theory, I break
down the activity system just presented and look at one of the sub-triangles for discussion.
Division of labour
Collaboration between
teacher/students/dermatologist/
pharmacist (curricular or extra-
curricular)
Sharing of information.
Decision-making by students
Tools
Websites, magazine articles,
course notes provided by the
conference, info seeking, concept
mapping, lab material, sunscreen.
Subject: Catherine
Concern for pushing past
personal limits.
Feeling of competency in
relation to the Quebec
Education Program increased.
Appropriation of the meaning
of the program’s
competencies.
Will to empower students
with better critical thinking.
Rules
Implicit habitual ways of
doing things: change in
style of teaching science,
focus on competencies not
content.
Explicit habitual ways of
doing things: openness to
making changes, different
use of school space and
time.
Community
Groups of students, teacher,
Principal, dermatologist,
pharmacist, colleagues,
technicians.
Object
Production and
exhibition of posters at
L’Atrium (public
space) and elsewhere in
the school.
exchange
production
distribution
Consum..
Fig. 3 Awareness campaign through the lens of activity theory
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
I chose the triangle consumption because it illustrates the way information and collabo-
ration flowed throughout the school as the campaign was being put together and it also
shows the way some members of the school community contributed to its success. As I
mentioned previously, according to Engestro
¨m(2001), the goal of activity (the production
and implementation of the new TLS, in our case here) is constantly evolving and cannot be
reduced to short-term objectives. New representations must make sense for all. The fol-
lowing illustrates how different members of her school community made it possible for her
to innovate in her practice. It is important to note here that Catherine (individual) and the
community are dialectically constituted by the activity through shared goals and motives.
This explains why the awareness campaign was a success in the end.
The sub-triangle (consumption) (Fig. 4) relates to an interpretation of how the object of
study (the transformation of the environment targeted by the actions related to the new
TLS) was accepted in the school community. In this connection, I have selected one
component of the community that was particularly conducive to the implementation of the
TLS in the activity system thus described—namely, the ‘‘dynamism’’ of the science
department and the collaboration occurring between the teachers and the laboratory
technician.
The analyses bring out Catherine’s strong desire to vary her teaching approaches when
implementing various actions as part of carrying out the awareness campaign in her school.
I previously described certain aspects of her personality coupled with the importance she
attached to empowering the girls to make better choices in relation to their health. Cath-
erine understood the school’s overarching educational project. She suggested that one of
the aspects of the high school’s overarching educational project was to develop students’
Community
Institutional resources: science department, overarching educational
project of the school.
Human resources: science department colleagues, lab technician,
students, principal, dermatologist, pharmacist.
Object
Awareness campain on the
Risks of Tanning Salons.
The range of activities
planned and implemented
within the framework of
what the teacher qualifies
as a new way of
implementing TLS for
her.
Tools
Subject
Concern for pushing
past personal limits
Value of developing
students’ autonomy and
critical thinking
Changes in her teaching
practice
Critical stock-taking of
her practice
Rules Division of labour
consumption
Fig. 4 Consumption (subject-community-object)
S. Barma
123
capacity for critical thinking and their autonomy, and to enable them to make sound
choices in their lives. She also added that the Teaching and Learning Situation that she was
seeking to develop fit with the thrust of her school’s educational project. The science
department appeared to espouse the same vision, with collaboration between its members
often coming in for mention by the teacher. Thus, she implemented these school goals into
her teaching and changes in practices, and in particular through the awareness campaign.
Even though she was the only 9th grade biology teacher, she talked about those col-
leagues of hers who had already begun implementing new practices, such as having a more
inductive approach in the lab, inviting experts into the school, developing interdisciplinary
actions and exchanges with her colleagues who were teaching other subjects, etc.), and
frequently shared views and experiences with them. In her opinion, the arrival of young
teachers in her department augured a time of renewal. Even when noting a colleague’s
imminent retirement, she also pointed out that the teacher in question was someone who
was open to the introduction of the reform and who welcomed dynamism in the depart-
ment. She emphasized the collaboration of the laboratory technician, which facilitated the
implementation of her lab activities. She mentioned that to a very great extent, she shared
experiences and views with the other people in the science department. Whenever she
attended training sessions, Catherine commented that she was keen to share her new
information with the other people in the department.
Thus, this sub-triangle (among several others I was able to identify) shows that the
efforts dedicated to renewing this teacher’s practices were well accepted in her commu-
nity—whether in terms of her department, whose members demonstrate an attitude of
collaboration, or in terms of a fit with her school’s overarching educational project, which
was aimed at developing students’ autonomy and capacity for critical reflection. Cather-
ine’s evolving thoughts and actions over the 4-month period, and her concern to pushing
past personal limits, to not practice lecture-based teaching, and to change her self-per-
ception and teaching style are in accordance an open attitude to accept reform and to make
it happen. The overall effect was to allow the Awareness Campaign on the Risks of
Tanning Salons to be implemented in a spirit of collaboration between her and her school
community.
At this point of my discussion, I want to take the liberty to say that even if I could have
considered the changes happening in Catherine’s school community (new roles, collabo-
ration, co-construction of meanings) as the object of the activity, in the context of this
contribution I have chosen to remain focused on the unfolding of the campaign itself. From
another angle, the community could become a tool that would mediate the activity.
Learning as an individual and a collectivity in and through participation
In the context of a science curriculum reform, Catherine modified her classroom practice
over a 4-month period. With the goal of having her students make the most of their
knowledge of science and technology, she grounded an awareness campaign in one of the
broad areas of learning of the Quebec Education Program that deals with issues that are
important to students—Health and Well-Being. In the process, she framed her interven-
tions in relation to a problem situation that genuinely figured in the experience of the 9th
grade girls—namely, the use of tanning salons. She thus enlisted the assistance of experts
and other teachers in order to build awareness among her students as to the risks associated
with these salons. She threw into question the way she had been trained at the university.
If we get back to the concept of activity itself and recall that activity is a goal-oriented
and tool-mediated action, the activity pursued by the subject is analyzed in its dynamics,
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
transformations and in its evolution and historical change. By using activity theory, I have
presented a chronology of how the pole ‘‘subject’’ has evolved over a short period of time
(4 months) and how she engaged in a project she thought was innovative for her. Listening
to Catherine and talking to some of her colleagues, the principal, and lab technician, I see
that shared construction of meanings did indeed take place and that a common goal was
shared in that girls’ school. Hence, anchoring a TLS in the theme Awareness of the Risks of
Tanning Salons made it possible for her to make an effort to change her pedagogical
approach so as to allow the girls to adopt an alternative investigation process in the lab
(open inquiry), consulting an expert outside the school (the dermatologist) and by seeking
relevant information related to the risks of tanning salons. Many members of the school
community who participated in the development of the campaign saw some of their roles
and routines change during the activity. These findings are consistent with the way
transformations take place within evolving activity systems. It also illustrates the impor-
tance of individual|collective relationships.
Will Catherine continue to try and take a different approach to her teaching practice?
Further investigation will be required in order to know one way or the other. In my view,
this practitioner at least has the merit of momentarily taking an interest in throwing her
customary planning process open to question and in grounding her practice in a contro-
versial issue that was taking place in the school, and was able to do so as she also
implemented new reform and changes in her teaching practice. It would also be worthwhile
investigating whether such a practice did or did not have an impact on the girls by
prompting them to exercise caution when considering visiting a tanning salon. Here are
some questions that would be worth exploring.
Acknowledgments This research was made possible thanks to the following grants: Fondation de
l’Universite
´Laval and Fonds que
´be
´cois de la recherche pour la socie
´te
´et la culture.
Appendix
First interview
•What university training and education did you receive?
•Do you think your university education has had a major impact on the way you teach?
If so, why? If not, why not?
•What kind of student do you want to educate when you prepare your courses in the
context of high school science teaching?
•What is your first impression of the Science and Technology Quebec Program?
•In a few sentences, how do you define yourself as a high school science teacher?
•What led you to become the teacher you are now?
•What motivates you to persevere in this profession?
•Comparing what you were as a teacher at the beginning of your career and what you
have become today, how would you describe the main changes?
Fourth interview
•Do you consider the TLS that you produced to be innovative? If so, to what extent is it
innovative? If not, why is this so?
•In your opinion, what are the required conditions for pedagogical innovation in a
context of science education?
S. Barma
123
•In your opinion, what could your school do to support your efforts to develop TLSs that
are designed to be innovative?
•Could you identify sources of tension that would place a damper on your desire to
renew your pedagogical practices or that had the potential to generate constructive
changes in your teaching environment?
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Author Biography
Sylvie Barma is a professor of Science Education at the Faculty of Education at Laval University. After
teaching high school science for 20 years and contributing to the development of the new Quebec Science
and Technology curriculum, she recently obtained a Ph.D. in Science Education. Using the third generation
of Activity theory as a theoretical and methodological framework, her work focuses on science teacher’s
efforts to modify their practice when tools like a new curriculum are introduced in education. Her research
takes into account the role of tools, community, rules, division of labour and cultural-historic dimension of
different actors in a school community.
A sociocultural reading of reform
123
