For the past six years, I have led a partnership between a teacher education college and a school serving at-risk youth where student-teachers are trained. The current participatory action research focused on examining the pupils' expressions of negativism - a source of tension for teachers of at-risk adolescents – as well as on teacher responsiveness to negativism (Reed, 2017).

Grounding the study in Vygotskian theory (Vygotsky, 1987, p. 127), I adopted the perspective that the negativism of at-risk youth could be a sign of a gateway to learning and development. Instead of referring to it as hostile, anxious, isolating, and disruptive behavior and generally pessimistic outlook, it could be understood as a way of distinguishing their particular identities and finding their own kind of agency. In this theoretical perspective, responsiveness to negativism relates to the ability of teachers to appropriately recognize, understand, and address the needs of these pupils by fostering a supportive learning environment tailored to their unique needs. This presentation will describe and analyze three consecutive sessions that took place during my year-long action research study, in which student-teachers, cooperating teachers, and pupils were invited to engage with the phenomenon of negativism and recognize its positive developmental prospects. Through collaborative, participatory inquiry, I sought to unlock the transformative potential of negativism and promote developmental learning progress.

As an action researcher, I elicited and documented a “double stimulation” intervention. The construct of the double stimulation with the pedagogical goal of enhancing 1) Understanding the connection between negativism and responsiveness; 2) Presenting the concept of “porcupine children” as a psychological tool serving as the first stimulus for all research participants; 3) Inviting the pupils to participate in these sessions. Analysis revealed that the pupils responded by interpreting the metaphoric concept of porcupine children by providing examples of negativism from their lives. It became evident that these pupils identified with it and could link it to their expressions of negativity; 4) Additionally, teachers joined in, filling the neutral stimulus (“porcupine children”) with meaning, transforming it into a new mediating sign, Over the course of the discourse, behaviors characterizing negativism among pupils were located and explicated alongside a spectrum of effective responses by educators to learners at risk, according to the perceptions of student-teachers and the cooperating teachers.  5) I expanded my understanding of the relevance of responsiveness in teacher education. The pupils voiced the need for firm relational boundaries alongside empathic acceptance. In voicing lived experiences, the study facilitated the student-teachers and the teachers' listening and understanding. Bridging multiple voices alleviated tensions, promoting the internalization of context-sensitive practice. Ultimately, it spotlighted the zone of proximal development within this activity system as a collective meaning-making forwarded enhanced conception and application towards impactful and meaningful education.

In my study, the concept of responsiveness was based on data depicting the point of view of the pupils and student-teachers through an exchange maintaining horizontal relationships. Additionally, this study provided a glimpse into the practical meaning of responding to negativism, breaking it down into implementable components, which can be identified, described, comprehended, dialogued about, conceptualized, expanded, and adopted in a practical fashion.

Normally, teacher responses have a broad range. The span of responses can vary between violent and containing empowering, empathic, and encouraging reactions, and student-teachers and teachers need an in-depth examination of this range (Edwards, 2010). In this study, it seemed that the participating pupils seek certain responses within a specific spectrum – that, on the one hand, maintains clear boundaries and, on the other, accepts them as they are. 

This qualitative, collaborative, and participatory action research integrates recurring cycles of action and reflection, theory and practice, to solve authentic problems and promote personal growth (Zellermayer, 2016). Participatory action research is a type of community-based research where researchers collaborate directly with community members or groups to understand and solve a practical issue they are facing. It engages those who are impacted by an issue to participate in the research process rather than just serving as passive subjects of study. In this study, the community participants included 8 student teachers and their 8 cooperating teachers, as well as 8 high-school pupils who contributed their insights and local knowledge while I, the researcher, provided technical expertise. The decisions were made jointly. The research goal was both to create new knowledge and drive change. Participatory research ethics mandated participant collaboration in determining goals, validating findings, and voicing perspectives. Data collection aligned with qualitative methods, including (1) documentation of partnership school meetings; (2) reflective-dialogue journals by student-teachers and myself; and (3) my researcher's reflective journal portfolio on conceptualizing issues and identifying critical events and opportunities detected through the action research gatherings. The double stimulus intervention was conducted in accordance with participatory action research, and my presentation will describe it as part of the action research methodology. Data analysis followed a thematic approach, with strict adherence to ethical regulations.

Through scaffolded questioning and introduction of the theoretical concept of "porcupine children," the action research succeeded in promoting an expanded understanding and transformative agency in both student-teachers and cooperating teachers and maybe even in the pupils. By eliciting the pupils’ interpretations and examples of negativism from their own lives, the neutral stimulus of porcupine was imbued with personal meaning. This enabled the student-teachers to shape responsive pedagogical actions tailored to their pupils' needs. The double stimulation intervention revealed its potential to bridge the tension between adolescents' negativism and teachers' responsiveness. When thoughtfully implemented, such tension can provide a gateway to the learning and development of vulnerable youth and their educators. Moreover, the present study underscores the importance of facilitating dialogic interaction between student-teachers, cooperating teachers, and pupils in order to cultivate mutual understanding of their respective needs. Such interaction can also help bridge tensions, contradictions, and gaps in both conceptualization and practical processes. Through thoughtful dialogue, participants can collaboratively strive for higher levels of thinking, enhanced comprehension, and the development of partnership in the educational process.

Edwards, A. (2010). Being an expert professional practitioner: The relational turn in expertise (Vol. 3). Springer science & business media.‏ Engeström, Y., Nuttall, J., & Hopwood, N. (2022). Transformative agency by double stimulation: Advances in theory and methodology. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 30(1), 1-7.‏ Reed, M. (2017). Understanding and responding to negativism in schooling: the potential of the ‘double move’. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 12, 63-77.‏ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2016.10.001 Vygotsky, L. S. (1997). Self-controL. The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky: The history of the development of higher mental functions, Vol. 4, pp. 207–219. New York: Plenum. Zellermayer, M., & Tabak, E. (2006). Knowledge construction in a teachers' community of enquiry: a possible road map. Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 12(1), 33-49.‏