Multiple Documentational Genesis and Praxeologies: A Networked Approach to Investigate Mathematics Teachers’ Documentation Work

This paper investigates the unexpected phenomenon that we call multiple documentational genesis, which occurred during a professional development program for in-service mathematics teachers, guided by researchers in mathematics education. It involves the proliferation of uncoordinated teaching materials created by teachers for their students based on the same initial input provided by researchers. To make sense of this phenomenon, we rely on a theoretical model combining the Documentational Approach to Didactics and the Meta-Didactical Transposition frameworks. We find that the logos component of the meta-didactical praxeology shared among the teachers participating in the program guided their documentation work in a way unforeseen by the researchers. Indeed, the teacher’s decision to distance themselves from the researchers’ initial input, perceived as non-coherent with their shared logos, led to a disruption in the co-learning partnership that had consistently characterised the program in prior years. This affected not only the sense of community among researchers and teachers but also the collaborative work among teachers themselves. The experimental findings informed new theoretical perspectives in the form of an adjustment of the theoretical model adopted for data analysis to the specific case of teachers participating in a professional development program.