Abstract

As a new researcher in mathematics education, I am seeking to work through the ontological and epistemological challenges associated with setting aside the modes of observing that I have assumed, consciously or otherwise, and develop seeing in other ways. In this account of a workshop, I will discuss the presentation of different accounts of the same classroom episode constructed with different protocols and reflect on the mediating effect of the protocol and observer. Comparison with the experience of a direct viewing of the same episode provides a context for discussion of what has and has not been seen and what might be distilled as of wider interest, following Jaworski’s guidelines for use of video excerpts – giving an ‘account of’ before ‘accounting for’. I present some thoughts about the implications for possible frameworks in which to observe elements of ‘mastery’ in secondary-school classrooms.