Open peer commentary on the article “An Analysis Procedure for the Micro-Phenomenological Interview” by Camila Valenzuela-Moguillansky & Alejandra Vásquez-Rosati. Abstract: I question the viability of a qualitative analysis method’s taking the form of a rigid step-by-step recipe. Instead, I argue for the identification of core aspects influencing the research results. Using two studies in which I participated, I aim to demonstrate the impact of the research horizon - i.e., the researchers’ expectations, assumptions as well as attitude towards the material.

Context: There are often children in schools who are at risk of failure because they have a view that their capacity to learn is fixed. Adults often reinforce this view. Children may be helped by providing counterexamples to show how failure can be overcome by persistence, trying different approaches, and by inviting them to reflect on ways to overcome their own challenges when learning new skills. Problem: Teachers’ implicit constructions of intelligence may interfere with their role helping children in school learn to approach problems with confidence. Our approach aims to change teachers’ and children’s constructions about learning with a view to helping children with their learning challenges in primary school. So, it is centrally about learning to learn. This study provides an opportunity to see whether it would be valuable to examine key ideas in growth mindset in a well-designed constructivist educational framework concerned with learning to learn. Method: The article is based on a qualitative analysis of one teacher’s views and of children’s interactions, using classroom video. The first author devised a set of lessons for a teacher to use in class around themes of learning to learn emotional aspects of learning. Use was made of positive models of individuals who overcome negative feelings and succeed. The children were videotaped in class and their interactions and conversations recorded. The aim was to describe the conceptual changes achieved by the teacher and the children around the concept of second-order learning or learning how to learn. Results: Children’s views of themselves as learners changed and so did the teacher’s views of learning and intelligence. As an approach to learning for children who are in danger of thinking of themselves as failures, the results are encouraging. Implications: The article is a demonstration of the possibility of changing teachers’ and children’s constructions of intelligence as fixed to a more positive flexible construction that children can learn to learn and overcome failure. Teachers working with children in difficulty will find the constructivist ideas about learning to learn helpful. Future research within a constructivist framework is needed to establish optimal timing for interventions of this type, to assess whether ability grouping may hinder the alteration of ideas about intelligence and to examine the durability of the changes in teachers and children. Constructivist content: Growth mindset is based on social learning theory, but implicitly it includes strong constructivist ideas. We consider our research to be similar to previous constructivist work on changing children’s representations and an example of Gregory Bateson’s concept of learning about learning.

Key words: Growth mindset, learning to learn, concepts of intelligence, children with learning difficulties.

A qualitative constructivist study was conducted to explore university teachers’ implicit theories of creativity. The aim of the study was to understand how university teachers (NL’46) define creativity and perceive its manifestations and development. University teachers’ conceptions of creativity were elicited using the Implicit Theories of Creativity Questionnaire (ITC-Q). The qualitative analysis resulted in five types of implicit theories of creativity and its development: individualistic theories, activity theories, result-oriented theories, relational theories, and growth theories. By including a new theoretical position, target group, and a methodological framework, the study broadened the dialogue about creativity and its development in higher education.

This paper describes a method for analyzing a corpus of descriptions collected through micro-phenomenological interviews. This analysis aims at identifying the structure of the singular experiences which have been described, and in particular their diachronic structure, while unfolding generic experiential structures through an iterative approach. After summarizing the principles of the micro-phenomenological interview, and then describing the process of preparation of the verbatim, the article presents on the one hand, the principles and conceptual devices of the analysis method and on the other hand several dimensions of the analysis process: the modes of structural unfolding of generic structures, the mutual guidance of the processes of structural and experiential unfolding, the tracking of analysis processes, and finally the assessment of analysis results.

Key words: entretien d’explicitation, micro-phenomenology, micro-phenomenological interview, micro-phenomenological analysis, qualitative analysis, diachronic structure, synchronic structure.

This paper introduces a new way of evaluating instructional strategies by using computers. Two basic theories, instructivism and constructivism, are discussed and critically evaluated in terms of their effectiveness in conceptual learning. Despite the current popularity of constructivism, the radical form of it is criticized in this paper. The advantages and limitations of these two approaches, especially the radical forms of constructivism, are outlined. After borrowing some ideas from other effective conceptual change models, an integrative model for conceptual learning (the Inventive Model) is introduced. Two versions of multimedia physics software are developed by the authors. The first version is based on the Inventive Model and the second version based on a radical constructivist model. The effectiveness of the Inventive Model was compared with the radical constructivist approach and conventional science instruction. Students’ log files were analyzed to investigate the nature and the processes of the conceptual change. A conceptual test and a knowledge test were used to compare the groups. The quantitative results showed the superiority of the Inventive Model over the other models in conceptual learning and the superiority of conventional instruction in learning the basic knowledge. The qualitative analysis showed that only the Inventive Model lead to coherent conceptual learning. It was concluded that the process of conceptual change is gradual and continuous. Analysis of students’ log files revealed no moments of dramatic change in students’ conceptions.

Key words: conceptual learning, conceptual change, computer assisted instruction, constructivism, inventive model.

This article reports on two types of resistance by preservice science teachers: resistance to ideological change and resistance to pedagogical change. The former has to do with the feelings of disbelief, defensiveness, guilt, and shame that Anglo-European preservice teachers experience when they are asked to confront racism and other oppressive social norms in class discussions. Resistance to pedagogical change has to do with the roles that preservice teachers feel they need to play to manage conflicting messages about what they are expected to do from their cooperating teachers (cover the curriculum and maintain class control) and from their university supervisors (implement student-centered, constructivist class activities), and about what they desire to do as emerging teachers. Although these two forms of resistance are closely linked, in the literature they are extensively reported separately. This study suggests a sociotransformative constructivist orientation as a vehicle to link multicultural education and social constructivist theoretical frameworks. By using this orientation, specific pedagogical strategies for counterresistance were found effective in helping preservice teachers learn to teach for diversity and understanding. These strategies for counterresistance were primarily drawn from the qualitative analysis of a yearlong project with secondary science preservice teachers.