#296: “That should make the student uncomfortable”: Affective Aspects of Disciplinary Expert Attention to Student Thinking

The Listening Project (TLP) offered professional development in attention to student thinking for university faculty. It was based on K-12 teacher education to support responsive teaching, but with two key differences: the participants in TLP worked in multi-disciplinary groups, and they all had significant expertise and identity in their respective fields. Here we examine affective dynamics in one session, which we chose for its challenging complexity, focused on a student’s quiz from a participant’s course in mathematical proof. We highlight evidence of affect as part of the mathematician’s expertise as well as in the collaborative interactions with two faculty from other disciplines. We present the case, and we discuss considerations for university-level PD in responsive teaching.