ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that children’s academic performance in school is closely related to their competence within the social organization of the classroom. It also argues that an important part of making sense of school is being able to use previous experiences and adapt them to the different ways of learning. The school was a modern semi open-plan building on a new estate built to cater for overspill from the inner area of a major metropolitan city. The influence of past experiences on present situations was apparent with other children also but not always to such positive effect. Classroom activity is by its very nature problematic; the teacher controls the activity in that she decides on the resources and the aims but the children bring to bear their own understandings on the learning process. Teacher and children bring different meanings to the situation.
