Examining children’s agency within participatory structures in primary science investigations

This research examines the use of participatory structures with children in a fourth grade classroom
as they engage in an inquiry-based science unit. The dialectical relationship between
structure and agency is central to exploring these children's investigation, as children engaged
in an investigation designed partly by themselves, in collaboration with their teachers and each
other. We consider to what extent participatory structures mediated children's agency in science
investigations. Using a combination of ethnographic and design experiment methods,
we zoom in on a case study of one child and his collaborative activities with peers, to contextualize
the process and underscore the claim that participatory structures created spaces for
children to take agency in different ways. Specifically we demonstrate how open-ended structures
and participatory curricular design mediated his agentic participation and also transformed
the structures of the class, as teachers and students were positioned in new ways.