Building a Community of Practice: Possible Articulations Between the School and Academia
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Abstract
Two issues were at the origin of this research: the training of teachers as researchers of their own practice, as a pathway for teacher professional development and for the critical review of habitual practices in science education; and the separation between academic knowledge and the knowledge used in the classroom.
We proposed to address both issues through a participatory research project that included university researchers and teachers from the provincial public education system. The challenge involved establishing points of articulation between two communities of practice (CoPs): that of academic research in Natural Sciences education and that of Natural Sciences teaching at school.
CoPs are groups that share an interest or a set of problems and deepen their knowledge and expertise through ongoing interaction. They combine three elements: joint enterprise, mutuality, and shared repertoire.
From this perspective, we analyzed the conditions and difficulties involved in the construction of this CoP, in which characteristics of both communities of belonging were articulated. This allowed us to reflect on the interactions between groups that are usually devoted to different practices; to visualize mechanisms, modes of participation, and products constructed as reifications of experience; to analyze the starting conditions proposed as mechanisms for the constitution, inclusion, and functioning of a CoP; and to identify the difficulties faced by teachers in these practices as part of the transformation of identities involved in belonging to a CoP.
The innovations proposed, implemented, and analyzed by the participants are achievements of this joint enterprise.
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The author/s grant exclusive license without temporary limit for the manuscript to be published in Cuadernos-FHyCS edited by Humanides the Faculty of Social Science, National University of Jujuy.
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