Entanglements of Teachers, Artists, and Researchers in Pedagogical Environments: A New Materialist and Arts-Based Approach to an Educational Design Research Team

This study investigates the collaboration between two teachers, a dance teaching artist, and a researcher within an educational design research project, that integrated creative dance into fifth-graders’ reading and writing processes. To study this design team, we draw on the theoretical field of new materialism and the methodological field of arts-based research. Performing a diffractive analysis, we identify five entanglements in the design team and discuss how they affect the pedagogical realities and knowledge generation. Considerations on how to create a safe environment, relate to data equipment, build trust, and reserve enough time for lessons and design meetings can act as guidelines when collaborating in design teams. (Re)considering and (re)thinking who the team members are, how they work together, and why they enter a design research project can provide deeper understanding of and respect for the important what aspect in EDR—developing valuable knowledge for educational practices.