Adaptive teaching of covariational reasoning: Networking “the way of being” on two layers

Abstract

This paper addresses the empirical phenomenon of adaptive instruction by a lesson case on covariational reasoning. Two author groups have investigated this lesson from distinct perspectives, one by emphasizing sign use and the other by emphasizing collective argumentation. How their approaches mutually complement each other guides the research this paper is presenting. I conduct a networking of theories approach as it offers strategies to relate the two frameworks, their enacted analyses and their results. The aim is to capture a synthesis of the two analyses to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the complexity of adaptive teaching. The result is a two-layer-model that distinguishes “two ways of being” in the behaviour of the teacher, sequentially, fostering students’ conceptualizing of covariation while simultaneously, composing a structure of collective argumentation independent of the sequential order. Theoretically, this two-layer-model may promote new ways to network theories and practically, to guide teacher education.