Talking with your mouth full: the role of a mediating tool in shaping collective positioning

Research on classroom discourse has long underscored the integral role of social interaction in learning, yet designing for and supporting meaningful classroom interaction often remains a challenge. This paper examines the ways that elementary school students are positioned and position themselves during activities aimed at promoting reflexivity about small-group math discussions. We examine one student group’s participation in three such activities over eight months’ time and specifically highlight the role of a mediating tool that was designed to support participation-centered rather than ability-centered conceptions of learning. Our aim is to examine how one focal group’s math discussions were or were not shaped by the tool in ways that were consequential for productive collaborative engagement.