Case 1:

‘Students' agency in an out-of-classroom setting: Acting accountably in a gardening project’. An article by Marjaana Kangas, Olli Vesterinen, Lasse Lipponen, Kaisa Kopisto, Laura Salo, Leena Krokfors. The article reports on the manifestation of students' agency in an elementary school project where students took part in gardening as a component of their curriculum-based learning. On the above-mentioned grounds, we began our empirical research with a general question in mind: In what ways does the agency emerge and what kinds of accountability arise in activities related to the gardening project.

Learning Task 1: Read the information contained in the article by Kangas et.al., then answer the questions that follow.

1.1 What is the most significant message for you in this article? Provide two reasons for your response.

1.2 Has this article changed your thinking about agency and the gardening project? If so, what change would you make and why?

1.3 Explain the basic concept of agency according to the authors and link it to your understanding of this concept.

1.4 According to the authors “out-of-classroom settings, such as gardening, can provide opportunities for various kinds of work that enhances agency and that would not necessarily be possible in more conventional classroom activities”. Analyse and explain two of these opportunities or benefits as cited in the excerpt