Epistemic Practices in Collaborative Contexts: Examining how Middle School Students Participate during Small Group Engineering Design Activities
2023-05
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Epistemic Practices in Collaborative Contexts: Examining how Middle School Students Participate during Small Group Engineering Design Activities
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2023-05
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Small group engineering activities offer opportunities to examine collaborative interactions and discourse as students make sense of engineering problems and design solutions. This study examined epistemic practices in small group learning experiences focused on engineering design problems in a middle school science class. Student discourse was analyzed to identify epistemic practices used by students. Findings indicate that students engaged in sixteen epistemic practices of engineering (EPEs) largely independent of facilitation or scaffolding by their teacher. The progression of epistemic practices reflected how students were able to participate effectively in EPEs toward a design solution for a laser security system. Students first situated their problem in context followed by envisioning solutions. Subsequently, they worked together to develop a group design model, constructed a prototype, and iteratively tested and refined their design until the prototype was functional. Student innovation was observed both during the brainstorming of contextual factors and in the novel use of materials to complete the group design prototype. Students applied mathematics and science knowledge, utilizing the laws of light reflection, both in discourse and interactions during model design and prototype development.
Student collaborative participation and epistemic discourse contributed to design solutions. Students iteratively refined their prototype by working together to implement design changes that led to guiding the laser beam and positioning mirrors toward a target. Additional evidence of collaborative discourse included collective ownership through student revoicings and reification of each other’s ideas and suggestions. Collective ownership facilitated student collaboration and design decisions toward the setup of a functional group prototype.
The findings highlight implications related to the structure and design of small group collaborative K-12 engineering learning experiences. These implications include the need to further encourage and examine collaborative epistemic participation in small group learning. Implications also extend to curricular design of engineering activities that consider engagement in EPEs, including design innovations and application of mathematics and science knowledge, with a focus on student-centered pedagogy.
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University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2023. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instruction. Advisor: Gillian Roehrig. 1 computer file (PDF); viii, 104 pages.
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Sivaraj, Ramya. (2023). Epistemic Practices in Collaborative Contexts: Examining how Middle School Students Participate during Small Group Engineering Design Activities. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/257057.
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