1. Roger Firth GTE Conference Manchester 2016
Toward an inferential approach to teaching and learning in geography: developing a research project
Roger Firth
GTE Conference
Manchester 2016

2. Inferentialism
Derry (2013) argues that it is also a framework for opening up what has been given insufficient attention in terms of the quality of teaching and learning – namely, the inferential structure and form of knowledge domains themselves (and thus content knowledge)
As Derry argues, the focus of attention has generally been on pedagogy or on knowledge but not on their integral relation. Brandom’s work offers a way out of this opposition

3. Brandom’s ideas
Brandom argues that knowing for a human being consists not merely in expressing a response, but in being aware of what follows from it, what Brandom calls the ‘giving and asking of reasons’
This is a matter of acting and communicating inferentially
This is to reverse the conventional representationalist paradigm that has reigned supreme since the time of Descartes (since the 17th century)
Which has strongly influenced how we think about teaching and learning

4. The implications of Brandom’s work for teaching and learning
The common conception of coming to know evident in the practice of teaching, is founded on a mistaken prioritisation of representation over inference
That is, on the assumption that coming to know takes the form of a representation - and that only once this is grasped can inferences be made

5. The implications of Brandom’s work for teaching and learning
When an inferentialist approach to knowledge and learning is adopted, students’ primary focus involves the inferential connections that constitute concepts
(ie concepts are already connected through reasons, to other aspects of the knowledge domain in which they belong)
Hence, it is a main feature of this inferentialist perspective that students do not consider concepts in an isolated manner, but as commitments in conceptual webs

6. The implications of Brandom’s work for teaching and learning
Grasping a concept involves mastering the proprieties of the inferential moves that connect it to many other concepts
A teacher will therefore, necessarily, emphasise the inferential relations between the concepts

7. Potential significance of inferentialism
Can help to avoid the problems of:
inert knowledge - knowledge students have ‘acquired’ and learned to reproduce but cannot use effectively
atomistic approaches found in many textbooks, SoW, task design etc that convey fragments of meaning but do not foster coherence from a student perspective
inappropriate sequencing of topics which do not recognise the inferential structure and form of the knowledge domain of geography

8. Applied to the research project
Brandom’s work expresses inferential relations in terms of ‘commitments and entitlements’, ‘preservations’ and ‘incompatibilities’
These can be used as analytical units to investigate the interplay of the social and individual dimension that underlie students’ conceptual development through discursive processes
They can also be used as an analytical framework to help teachers to understand the importance of inferential relations and to develop their pedagogical practice

9. The research project:
Toward an inferential approach to teaching and learning in geography: an investigation

10. Research: overview and process
Over a 6-8 week period, a group of 6 trainee teachers from 3 universities, their mentors and university tutor will work together to develop pedagogical strategies (tasks and teaching strategies) to support the development of inferential thinking in geography classrooms
Process
A day workshop for all participants: consider teachers’ implicit and explicit goals of teaching geography; build on experiences of using argumentation in the classroom where possible; use of theoretical ideas and practical resources to identify and develop some of the pedagogical strategies (learning tasks and teaching strategies) necessary to promote inferential thinking in geography lessons; introduce the analytical tool to support the development of pedagogical strategies and the evaluation process

11. Process
Further development work in school, supported by university tutor as necessary
Data will be collected by video-recording lessons where the trainee teachers attempt to implement the pedagogical strategies
Transcripts will be produced of the lessons (produced by a research assistant from Oxford – funding applied for)
The videos and transcripts will be used in a 3-way conversation to establish the extent to which the pedagogical strategies helped to develop trainee teachers’ pedagogic practice with inferentialism and led to a better understanding of its potential - in terms of the development of students’ geographical thinking

12. Summary
Collaborative research with teachers: descriptive and explanatory, research combined with professional development
Participants
2x3 trainee teachers
their mentors and university tutor from the PGCE courses of University of Oxford, UCL Institute of Education, University of Nottingham, [other?]
Setting
school-based, whole class and small group settings; spoken and written work, year 8 class and scheme of work

13. Constraints/opportunities
The existing school curriculum: finding opportunities to include alternative pedagogical strategies that allow inferential thinking to take place
Willingness of teachers and trainee teachers to take part, and their time and commitment
Limitations to the amount of in-school support and coaching that the university tutor could provide

14. References
Schacht, F. & Hußmann (2015)  Between the Social and the Individual: Reconfiguring a Familiar Relation, Philosophy of Mathematics Education Journal No. 29, July
Derry, J. (2013) Vygotsky: Philosophy and Education,Oxford: Wiley/Blackwell