Dispositions, disciplines, and marble runs: a case study of resourcefulness

Abstract

In this paper, three researchers and two teachers have zoomed in on three 'mid-level' episodes of learning in a childcare centre and analyzed them using two lenses: a dispositional lens and a disciplinary (science) practices lens. We wonder how these two perspectives could be combined, in order to provide a coherent and illuminating analysis of the learning and to have something to say about the transactional and progressive processes towards 'being a competent learner' and 'being a scientist' that might be at work here. We have found the notion of 'resourcefulness' to be a useful boundary object; it works differently in the different lenses, but has core features in common. We look back across three documented learning episodes and teacher reflections from an early childhood centre, and consider ways in which 'resourcefulness' can provide a boundary-crossing concept that has value for discussions about learning across educational sectors.