Becoming Bermuda grass: mapping and tracing rhizomes to practice reflexivity

Abstract

This narrative project used rhizomatic analysis and reflexivity to describe a layered process of responding to a student’s identity of non-participation within an undergraduate science classroom. Mapping rhizomes represents an ongoing and experimental process in consciousness. Rhizomatic mapping in educational studies is too often left out of the products of academic pursuits. In this paper, we try to capture this process, and let the process capture us. This manuscript starts with a focus on just one student, but maps our reflexive terrain that helped us think in new ways about persistent problems in science learning. As we decided how to address this student’s identity of non-participation, we learned about the intertwined stories of the researchers and the researched and the challenges of designing inclusive learning environments.