Conceptual Change in Group Discussion: An Exploratory Study

In this contribution, we discuss conceptual change in mathematics, as it takes place during social interaction in group-work in the classroom. We rely on a socio-cultural perspective, according to which the learning of mathematics takes place in a social context (Radford, 2006, 2011). We argue that conceptual change, as part of mathematics learning, may be a social act deeply related to the subjectivities of students involved in group activity. Students’ interactions are analyzed by means of an integrated frame, encompassing the construct of subjectification (Radford, 2008), identity (Sfard & Prusak, 2005) and rational behavior (Boero & Morselli, 2009). The analysis shows that, during the group activity, there is a continuous interplay between social interaction and individual identity; each student, by means of his rationality, engages in the construction of coherent structures. Conversely, each individual contributes to the construction of group coherent structures. Thus, a sort of “group-coherence” turns out to be a necessity in the subjectification process. In both processes, (change at individual level and construction of a group coherence) communicative rationality plays a key role