Authentic School Science: Knowing and Learning in Open-Inquiry Science Laboratories

312 Pages·1995·5.869 MB·English

by  Wolff-Michael Roth (auth.)

AUTHENTICSCHOOLscmNCE
Science & Technology Education Library
VOLUME 1
SERIES EDITOR
Ken Tobin, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
EDITORIAL BOARD
Beverly Bell, University ofWaikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Reinders Duit, University of Kiel, Germany
Kathlene Fisher, San Diego State University, California, USA
Barry Fraser, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia
Chao-Ti Hsiung, National Taipei Teachers College, Taipei, Taiwan
Doris Jorde, University of Oslo, Norway
Michael Khan, Centre for Education Policy Development, Braamfontein, South
Africa
Vince Lunetta, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
Pinchas Tamir, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
SCOPE
The book series Science & Technology Education Library provides a publication
forum for scholarship in science education. It aims to publish innovative books
which are at the forefront of the field. Monographs as well as collections of papers
will be published.
Authentic School Science
Knowing and Learning in Open-Inquiry Science Laboratories
by
WOLFF-MICHAEL ROTH
Research Methods and Science Education, Faculty of Education,
Simon Fraser University, Bumaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Roth, Wolff-Mlchael, 1953-
Authentlc school sclence : knowlng and learnlng In open-lnqulry
sclence laborator les / by Wolff-Mlchael Roth.
p. cm. -- (Sclence & technology educat Ion 11brary ; v. 1)
Includes Index.
1. SClence--Study and teachlng. 2. Open plan schools.
3. Learnlng, Psychology of. 4. Inqulry (Theory of knowledge)
I. Tltle. II. Serles.
C181.R842 1995
507' . 1--dc20
ISBN 978-0-7923-3307-4 ISBN 978-94-011-0495-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-0495-1
Printed on acid-free paper
AII Rights Reserved
© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1995
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 1995
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form Of by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
To Sylvie and Margot
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface Xlll
Acknowledgements xix
I. Background 1
1.1. Introduction 1
A Personal Context 1
A Framework for Research in Schools 4
A Theory of Cognitive Interests 5
Technical Interests 5
Practical Interests 6
Emancipatory Interests 7
Reflective Practice 8
The Reflective Practitioner in Context 10
1.2. General Theoretical Grounding 11
Radical Constructivism 12
Social Constructivism 15
Ethnomethodology 20
Indexicality 22
Reflexivity 23
Documentary Method of Interpretation 25
Open-Ended Character of Rules 25
Everyday and Scientific Thinking 26
Situated Cognition 28
Communities of Practice 29
Scientists at Work 30
1.3. Setting 32
Broad Context 32
Administrative Support 33
Students 33
Teachers 34
Relationship to the Administration 35
Technical Facilities 35
Nature of the Teaching Method 37
Structure of the Physics Course 37
vii
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Typical Physics Experiment 39
Structure of the Grade 8 Biology Unit 41
A Typical Day in the Grade 8 Class 42
Data Sources 43
ll. Individual and Collaborative Construction of Knowledge 46
11.1. Individual Construction of Knowledge 47
Introduction 47
Background of the Study 48
The Context of Learning 49
11.2. Individual Constructions 53
Integration of Multiple Mathematical Representations 59
11.3. Learning as Situated Activity 63
Mental Models 65
Michael's Conceptual* Environments 66
Inner Speech 68
11.4. Collaborative Constructions 71
Past Theory and Research 71
Instructional Context 71
11.5. Studies on Collaborative Concept Mapping 73
Constructing Compton Effect 73
Inventing New Ways of Talking 81
Appropriating Group Achievements 87
11.6. Tools for Social Thinking 90
Inscriptions 92
Conscription Devices 94
Boundary Objects 94
Reflexivity of Talk and Concept Map 96
ill. Framing and Solving Problems 100
III.1. Overview of Problem-Solving Research 100
Problem-Solving Indoors 101
Problem-Solving in Garbage Cans 104
Problem-Solving Outdoors 105
Reasoning in Everyday Contexts 106
Scientific Reasoners 107
III.2. Problem-Setting 109
Focus Questions 109
New Research Problems 115
Research Programs 117
Emergence of New Problems 119
Diffusion of Problems 122
Blind Alleys 124
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
111.3. Teacher Effects in Problem Setting 126
Teacher Support 127
Teacher-Framed Problems 131
Recontextualizing Word Problems 134
Ontology, Ownership, and Context 136
I1I.4. Finding Solutions 140
Situationally Emergent Problems 140
Entailment of Solution 141
A Problem for the Solution 144
Learning through Problem-Solving 145
Cycles of Error Detection 148
Laboratory Reports 151
Written PlanslProcedures 151
Revisionism 154
Students and Scientists 155
I1I.5. Concrete Modes of Thinking 156
Introduction 156
Narratives and Concrete Modeling 160
Concrete Mediators 166
A Revaluation of the Concrete 167
IV. Interactions 173
IV.1. Characteristics of Student-Student Interactions 173
Introduction 173
Symmetric Interaction 177
Asymmetric Interactions 178
Shifting Asymmetric Interaction 179
Parallel Occasional Interaction 181
No Participation 182
IV.2. Interactional Processes 182
Intersubjectivity 182
Semiotic Mediation 186
Verbal Mediation 187
Mediation by Means of Diagrams and Concrete Objects 188
Non-Verbal Mediation 192
Mediational Resources 192
Teacher as Resource 193
Textbook as Resource 193
Student Knowledge as Resource 193
Observational Evidence as Resource 194
Goal-Process Dimensions of Classroom Interactions 195
Collaborative Goals-Collaborative Exchanges 196
Collaborative Goals-Adversarial Exchanges 203
x TABLE OF CONTENTS
Adversarial Goals-Collaborative Exchanges 205
Adversarial Goals-Adversarial Exchanges 206
Emergence 207
IV.3. Structure of Interactions 210
Establishing Group Organization 212
Establishing Turns 213
Finishing, Losing and Interrupting Turns 215
Renegotiating Turns 216
Who Is Doing What 217
Sustaining the Discourse 219
Conversational Repair 219
Topical Cohesion 222
Common Ground 224
Revisiting Conscription Devices 225
Constraints 226
IV.4. Communities of Knowledge 226
Scientific Communities 226
Actor Network Theory 227
Knowledge Diffusion 228
Two Science Classrooms 229
Anatomy of a Successful Invention 230
Anatomy of a Failed Invention 231
Rationalizing the Invention 232
Center and Periphery 233
Classroom Strategies 234
IV.5. A Framework for Teacher-Student Interactions 235
Apprenticeship 237
Practicum 239
From Traditional to Cognitive Apprenticeship 241
Modeling, Scaffolding and Fading 242
Coaching 243
Reflection and Exploration 243
IY.6. Aprrenticeship in Science Classrooms 244
Teacher as Coach-Facilitator-Guide 247
Just-In-Time and Need-To-Know 248
Teacher-Student Collaborative Constructions 249
IV.7. Microanalyses of Cognitive Apprenticeship 251
Aspects of Apprenticeship in Teacher-Student Interactions 252
Modeling 256
Management of Teacher-Student Discourse 258
Conclusion 265
Review of the Findings 265
TABLE OF CONTENTS xi
Rethinking Learning Environments 270
Epilogue 274
Credo 274
Changing Practice 276
Bibliography 281
Index 293