Exploring changes in children’s mathematical task and strategy conceptualisation using microgenetic research designs

Microgenetic research designs entail highly-concentrated observation of learners’ behaviour within specific domains, contexts and periods of time, aiming at capturing change in learning as it occurs. Microgenetic analyses enable researchers to scrutinise various forms of data and explore differences in the process of change within and across individual learners. In this paper, we present a brief overview of the method with reference to some of the most significant studies that have been conducted utilising microgenetic designs for examining children’s strategy change in mathematics. Subsequently, we focus on selected examples from two different qualitative microgenetic studies that aimed at tracing changes in young children’s behaviour when solving a specific additive numerical task and fraction word problems respectively. In seeking to capture changes in how children conceptualise a task and their strategies, our analysis moves beyond the exploration of changes in what children ‘do’ in problem solving. In particular, we extend to observations and exploration of changes that occur in what children ‘say’; that is, their verbalised reasoning and explanations, not only when patterns of strategy use develop but also when such patterns of use remain stable or regress. Implications for how change in learning can be captured and conceptualised are discussed