Dialogical Perspectives on Narratives in Collaborative Mathematics Problem - Solving Johann SARMIENTO

Our approach to the study of learning of mathematical problem-solving extends the notion of narrative learning environments to include the dynamics of collaborative dialogs and related emergent narratives. This perspective favours the conception of the dialogical aspects of interaction as shared achievements of coparticipants and as central meaning-making procedures, based on our qualitative analysis of transcripts from online collaborative math problem-solving interactions. From these observations we attempt to establish a link between narrative learning environments and dialogical perspectives and explore relevant implications for the design of the Virtual Math Teams collaborative learning environment Truth is not to be found inside the head of an individual person, it is born between people collectively searching for truth, in the process of their dialogic interaction. (Bakhtin, [1], p.110) Introduction Research in the field of Narrative Learning Environments (NLEs) is concerned with questions such as how to characterize the contribution of narratives and narration to learning, and how to use knowledge of narratives to design learning environments. As part of the Virtual Math Teams (VMT, see http://mathforum.org/wiki/VMT) research project, we have investigated talk-in interaction within the context of collaborative mathematical problem-solving online and have found similarities and differences between the narrative approach and a dialogical perspective on sensemaking and interaction. Therefore, we propose to extend the concept of NLEs to encompass collaborative learning environments for mathematics which, in addition to using narrative structures, offer also the possibility of joint participation and interaction with a diverse set of linguistic and extra-linguistic objects (e.g. mathematical objects and their derivative properties).