Browsing by Subject "Inquiry"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Adventure, Inquiry, and Technology as Driving Forces in Sustainability Education
    (2016-06) Henrickson, Jeni
    Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has increasingly taken on importance around the world, in part due to the growing awareness of environmental concerns such as climate change, and in part due to a challenge set forth by the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. There is, as a result, a growing body of ESD literature (e.g., see Blum, Nazir, Breiting, Goh, & Pedretti, 2013; Chalkey, 2006; De Hann, Bormann, & Leicht, 2010; Eilam & Trop, 2011; Green & Somerville, 2014; Karatzoglou, 2013; Kemmis & Mutton, 2012; Reunamo & Pipere, 2011; Rieckmann, 2013; Walshe, 2008; Weaver, 2015), and many places in the developed world have begun to establish policies addressing ESD. Adventure has been incorporated into sustainability education in a variety of ways throughout history: through literature, outdoor and physical education, field-based exploration and research, and most recently, technology, which has, for example, allowed learners to journey virtually along with explorers and scientists on expeditions to the far-reaches of the world. Technology has also enhanced and expanded the types of adventures we can engage in today, such as through advances in equipment and tools that allow us to explore regions of the planet that were previously inaccessible, and to participate in events previously unimagined, via the personal computer, the Internet, and mobile devices. The three related studies that comprise this dissertation focus on the use of adventure learning as a driving force in inquiry-based sustainability education. These studies examine three different online adventure learning projects. Paper 1 shares research conducted on the role of adventure in the GoNorth! adventure learning series, and advances suggestions for how adventure might be employed in distance, online, and mobile learning in ways that promote experiential learning and sustainability education. Paper 2 examines to what extent an informal online learning environment such as WeExplore might provide a technology-fueled classroom tool for teachers that fosters inquiry and creativity while allowing learners to design authentic transdisciplinary experiences grounded in contemporary issues. Paper 3 shares data and narratives from six Earthducation field expeditions and examines how education might influence sustainability in differing contexts and geographical locations. Findings from the studies indicate adventure learning is a promising model that educators and designers can draw from in both formal and informal learning settings as a means to fuse inquiry, sustainability education, and technology in a pedagogically meaningful way that engages learners and teachers alike. The studies advance our understanding of how we might better design technology-enhanced learning environments that foster engagement and creativity while encouraging learner curiosity and wonder and cultivating inquiry and collaboration.
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    Inquiring into the Unknown: Reconstructing Classroom Contexts through Mediated Discourse Analysis
    (2018-07) Henning-Smith, Jeff
    Inquiry is often seen as a good thing, whose place in education both appears with increasing frequency and simultaneously seems elemental to learning (Anderson, 2002; Artigue & Blomhøj, 2013). The use of inquiry often involves, “thinking of a generalized image of inquiry...and assuming it will allow achieving multiple goals” (Abd-El-Khalick et al., 2004, p. , p. 415). According to Anderson (2002), “The research literature on inquiry, tends to lack precise definitions…[and]...inquiry teaching is defined differently by different researchers, or the researcher may choose to use a different term for an approach that others apparently would identify with the inquiry label” (p. 3). Overall, while research indicates a positive association between inquiry and learning, there is little clarity about how inquiry-based teaching and learning actually unfolds in the classroom. What happens to a concept like inquiry when it is taken up over and over again in school settings that are inherently full of contradictions between the theoretical and practical? This runs counter to what Dewey and Garrison have said about the role of inquiry in learning, where inquiry is seen as complicated, and involving, “feeling, reasoning, and environmental transaction[s] throughout the organic whole” (Garrison, 1997, p. , p. 99). There is a problem when schools see inquiry as a purely intellectual action, instead of seeing the benefits of creating a multi-dimensional approach to learning where “the child [is] not simply doing things, but getting also the idea of what he does; getting from the start some intellectual conception that enters into his practice and enriches it” (Dewey, 1900, p. , p. 76). The purpose of this study began with my desire to gain insight into the relational practices between teachers and students, around the concept of inquiry, through the use of Mediated Discourse Analysis (Scollon, 2001). It ended with an examination of the potential changes to classroom context as of a result of the intentional disorientation, examination, and utilization of informed instructional practices. I used Mediated Discourse Analysis, or MDA (Scollon 2001), in my attempts to highlight the connections between discourse and actions around the concept of inquiry. I located my observations specifically in moments of discursive interactions between teachers and students. According to Ron Scollon, understanding the role of context in the study of discourse is complicated, nuanced, and more about interpretation than “knowing.” Scollon and Scollon (2003) argue, “that there are multiple, partly overlapping, but nonetheless distinct discourses operating [interdiscursivity] within a semiotic aggregate [intersection of discourses and social actions]” for the purpose of making meaning (p. 185). Simply put, “all actions and all discourses are mediated” (Scollon, 2001, p.7). In this study I witnessed firsthand the relationship between how schools and individual experiences within schools affect educational processes, outcomes, and social change. It furthered my strong belief in the idea that schools are complex life forms, embedded with certain characteristics, stagnant and dynamic individuals and ideas, needs and desires, opportunities for growth, development, and, unfortunately, also places for hurt, alienation, and missed opportunities. Emerging from thus study was a robust and multi-faceted set of mediated actions around inquiry that demonstrated inquiry’s practical and potential effects on teachers’ instructional practices.
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    The Knowledge Building Approach to Science Education: A Problem-Solving Perspective
    (2019-09) Groos, David
    Science education is reasonably constructed around a vision of authentic scientific practices. Yet, this vision of science is clearly a construct as seen when viewing its changes throughout the last 120 years, as well as viewing it through different theoretical perspectives. While there are diverse descriptions of science and its enactment, going back to Dewey and Peirce, the mission of science is commonly considered to be about the advancement of theory through inquiry where problems serve a central function. Beyond the challenge of constructing an understanding of scientific inquiry as theory development where the diversity in perspectives of scientists is seen as essential, there is the challenge of devising pedagogy and approaches that effectively promote this vision. There are a rich mix of approaches working at solving different parts of this complex problem. One such approach is called, "knowledge building" (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2006). This approach seeks to scaffold classroom communities such that they develop and grow into a complex community where progressive science-theory improvement emerges. It is considered that these sorts of communities where innovation is the norm have relevance beyond the fields of science and STEM: innovation and knowledge creation is becoming the essential practice of the knowledge age. The knowledge building approach is designed to support the growth of classroom communities that embody the essential nature of progressive scientific inquiry. To effectively support this kind of classroom community development, the unique assets and needs presented by the ever-increasing diversity of thinking and knowing that are emergents of the students' cultures, developmental levels, neurological diversities and iv networks of communities. Overall, this research sought to support and augment classrooms as they strive to grow into classroom communities of scientific inquiry. The research occurred in two stages. It first used philosophical methods to generate a simple, high-level model of problem-solving made possible by Popper's World-3 conception. This conception is a keystone in some epistemologies developed to support approaches aimed at helping students grow in knowledge-innovation practices. The visual problem-solving model that was developed seeks to provide students and teachers with a very simple yet flexible model allowing them to describe, analyze and reflect on the state of their community's knowledge improvement and through this understanding adaptively and effectively respond. The second stage of research utilized hybrid philosophical-empirical methods to develop a framework that describes science in terms of its mission to progressively improve theory through the iterative solving of and subsequent unfolding of new knowledge-problems. These research methods involved an iterative process where promising theories are tested on their ability to describe students' actual online knowledge-building discourse in a satisfying way. In this iterative process, empirical classroom data informed and yet also constrain the theory generation which was informed by diverse theoretical perspectives. These theoretical perspectives included for example, ideas of scientific practices, theories of design such as design thinking and understandings of classroom diversity as represented in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) which were intentionally founded upon theories of v culturally responsive pedagogy. The developed framework seeks to scaffold teachers as they design and enact lessons aimed at growing communities of diverse scientists. Taken together, the products of this research seek to provide conceptual structures to aid the students and teachers in classroom communities as they seek to grow into complex communities of scientists.
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    Reconstructing Student Conceptions of Climate Change; An Inquiry Approach
    (2015-08) McClelland, J
    Abstract No other environmental issue today has as much potential to alter life on Earth as does global climate change. Scientific evidence continues to grow; indicating that climate change is occurring now, and that change is a result of human activities (National Research Council [NRC], 2010). The need for climate literacy in society has become increasingly urgent. Unfortunately, understanding the concepts necessary for climate literacy remains a challenge for most individuals. A growing research base has identified a number of common misconceptions people have about climate literacy concepts (Leiserowitz, Smith, & Marlon 2011; Shepardson, Niyogi, Choi, & Charusombat, 2009). However, few have explored this understanding in high school students. This sequential mixed methods study explored the changing conceptions of global climate change in 90 sophomore biology students through the course of their participation in an eight-week inquiry-based global climate change unit. The study also explored changes in students' attitudes over the course of the study unit, contemplating possible relationships between students' conceptual understanding of and attitudes toward global climate change. Phase I of the mixed methods study included quantitative analysis of pre-post content knowledge and attitude assessment data. Content knowledge gains were statistically significant and over 25% of students in the study shifted from an expressed belief of denial or uncertainty about global warming to one of belief in it. Phase II used an inductive approach to explore student attitudes and conceptions. Conceptually, very few students grew to a scientifically accurate understanding of the greenhouse effect or the relationship between global warming and climate change. However, they generally made progress in their conceptual understanding by adding more specific detail to explain their understanding. Phase III employed a case study approach with eight purposefully selected student cases, identifying five common conceptual and five common attitudebased themes. Findings suggest similar misconceptions revealed in prior research also occurred in this study group. Some examples include; connecting global warming to the hole in the ozone layer, and falsely linking unrelated environmental issues like littering to climate change. Data about students' conceptual understanding of energy may also have implications for education research curriculum development. Similar to Driver & While no statistical relationship between students' attitudes about global climate change and overall conceptual understanding emerged, some data suggested that climate change skeptics may perceive the concept of evidence differently than non-skeptics. One-way ANOVA data comparing skeptics with other students on evidence-based assessment items was significant. This study offers insights to teachers of potential barriers students face when trying to conceptualize global climate change concepts. More importantly it reinforces the idea that students generally find value in learning about global climate change in the classroom.
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    Using the Practices of Science in Elementary Schoolyard Inquiry Investigations
    (2019-08) Hedenstrom, Mary Norell
    The goal of this study was to explore how elementary students engage with and make sense of the practices of science when involved in authentic scientific investigations guided by student-generated questions. Since communication and collaborative work are inherent in the practice of science, the study used students’ in and out-of-class interactions and discourses to understand more about how elementary students engaged in the practices of science (PoS). Whole-class discussion, small-group discussion, and written artifacts were analyzed using qualitative methods to discover the types of discussions students engaged in, the levels of the rigor of the discussions, and the purposes of the different contexts for the enactment of the practices (Kelly, 2014). In order to answer the research questions related to elementary students’ ways of participating in various practices of science (PoS) such as observation, experimentation, argumentation, and collaboration, the researcher used qualitative case study methods. These methods included in-and-out-of-call observations, student artifacts, audio recordings of students’ conversations and discourses during peer-to-peer, whole class, and student-teacher interactions, and informal conversations with students and the teacher. The data were analyzed using constant comparative methods whereby generating themes that captured broad as well as specific nature of ways in which students and teacher interacted with PoS. The analysis of the data showed that peer-to-peer discussion was central to inquiry pedagogy and learning and practicing the PoS for understanding science. The students benefitted from models of PoS to both get familiarized with the PoS and later replicate those in their learning. Similarly, small group interactions seemed to provide more opportunities for students to speak and use the language of science in a non-threatening environment. This environment allowed for students to share their ideas more openly and frequently. This research would contribute in the areas of student engagement in science practices, teacher’s role in promoting PoS in science teaching and learning, curriculum development with a focus on PoS, and linking citizen science with PoS to improve everyday understandings of science. Additionally, this study could add to the understanding of the importance of local problems as authentic local contexts to learn about PoS including the skills of design solutions. The broader impact of this study may be in student involvement in citizen science projects, local environmental justice projects, and school community projects.
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    Within-case and cross-case analyses of questions posed by fifth-grade students working in small groups to investigate pendulum motion
    (2015-02) Tisel, James Michael
    The focus of this basic qualitative research is student questions in an unstructured inquiry setting. Case and cross-case analyses were conducted (Miles and Huberman, 1984) of the questions posed by fifth grade students working in laboratory groups of size three to five students as they investigated pendulum motion. To establish the conceptual framework for the study, literature was reviewed in the areas of cognitive theory (constructivism, conceptual change, and other theories), approaches to science, and the importance of student questions in the learning process. A review of group work, related studies of student questions and activities and relevant methods of qualitative research was also undertaken. The current study occupies the relatively unique position of being about the questions students posed to each other (not the teacher) at the outset of and throughout an unstructured inquiry activity with a minimum of teacher initiation or intervention. The focus is on finding out what questions students ask, when they ask them, what categories the questions fall into in relation to possible models of the scientific method, student motivation, and what role the questions play as the students take part in an inquiry activity. Students were video and/or audio-recorded as they did the investigation. They wrote down their questions during one-minute pauses that occurred at roughly eight-minute intervals. The groups were interviewed the next day about their experience. The recordings, question sheets, and interview accounts and recordings were analyzed by the researcher. Accounts of the experience of each group were prepared, and reiterated attempts were made to classify the questions as the main themes and categories emerged. It was found that students posed their key research question (most typically related to pendulum damping effects) midway through the first half of their activity, after having first met some competence and other needs in relation to measurement procedures and basic information. The main research question typically emerged gradually in an implicitly shared form. It was found that Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory (2000) with the core needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness, served as a useful tool for categorizing and understanding the role of the questions. Basic questions about procedures in relation to gaining competence with measurement were considered by the researcher to be most prevalent. When compared to, for instance, Lawson's hypothetico-predictive model of doing science (2003a) it was noted that puzzling observations were not necessarily made at the outset, and key questions took place much later in the investigative process than what typical scientific models might suggest.Further, more focused research in the areas of self-determination theory in relation to student questions as they engage in inquiry could be of benefit in determining the motivations behind student questions. Educational programs that have, as their goal, authentic student inquiry should take into account that student research questions evolve over time as they meet various needs in the process of initiating their investigations.