Co-designing around problems of practice in teacher professional learning

We investigate teacher professional learning in a co-design context, analyzing the problems of practice that arise as a teacher learns to facilitate dialogic class discussions. Employing case study methodology, we analyze how a teacher and researcher engaged in collective meaning-making in a co-design context. The nature of the teacher's problems of practice evolved from addressing student misconceptions to promoting student-to-student questioning to leveraging students as resources for each other. We conclude with a discussion of the evolution of the teacher's problems of practice, the changes in her instructional practice, and the features of the co-design context that supported teacher learning. • Teaching is a “problem-solving activity” wherein teachers' identify and manage problems of practice in ways that are grounded in evidence. • The problems of practice the teacher encountered evolved over time, contributing to shifts in her facilitation of class discussions. • The teacher's problems of practice evolved from addressing student misconceptions to promoting student-to-student questioning. • Class discussions shifted from few instances of students engaging with other's ideas to a sustained pattern of students asking questions.