The Use of Epistemic Distancing to Create a Safe Space to Sensemake in Introductory Physics Tutorials

TL;DR

This paper examines how physics students and instructors use epistemic distancing strategies like hedging and joking to create a safe environment for collaborative sensemaking during tutorials.

Contribution

It identifies epistemic distancing as a key discursive resource that facilitates safe and effective sensemaking discussions in active engagement physics classrooms.

Findings

Students and instructors rely on epistemic distancing to manage social risks.

Epistemic distancing promotes open sharing of ideas despite potential disagreement.

Use of distancing moves influences the quality of sensemaking discussions.

Abstract

In active engagement physics classrooms, students get opportunities to make sense of physics together through discussion. They do not always take up these opportunities, in part because of the risk of sharing their ideas and having them rejected by their classmates or the instructors. In this case study, I analyze videotaped discourse of a tutorial group's early discussions to investigate how students manage these risks in creating a safe space to sensemake. I find that the students and instructors alike rely on a common discursive resource - epistemic distancing - to share their ideas while protecting themselves affectively if others disagree. Epistemic distancing includes hedging, joking, deferring, and other discourse moves used to soften one's stance in conversation. I use video analysis to illustrate the effects of these moves on tutorial groups' sensemaking discussions, and discuss implications for instructors wishing to encourage sensemaking discussions in their physics classrooms.