Studying science and engineering learning in practice

A key goal of science and engineering education is to provide opportunities for people to access, interpret, and make use of science and engineering to address practical human needs. Most education research, however, focuses on how best to prepare students in schools to participate in forms of science and engineering practices that resemble those of disciplinary experts. In this paper, I argue that education research is needed that focuses on how people use science and engineering in social practices as part of collective efforts to transform cultural and economic production. Drawing on social practice theory, I argue that learning inheres in such activities, not only because people access and make use of science knowledge and develop repertoires for participating in science and engineering practices, but also because participation in such activities transforms the ways that people imagine themselves and expands their possibilities for action. Research can inform and support these efforts, both directly and indirectly, by giving an account of the conditions for science and engineering learning and by diagnosing inequities in access to science and engineering for addressing pressing human needs.     

Pedagogic practice in company learning: the relevance of discourse

In discussions of work-based learning in anglophone countries, a relatively new question concerns different learning opportunities for differentially positioned novices in the workplace. Basil Bernstein relates learners’ positioning with respect to knowledge and within a community of knowers to variations in a discourse underlying and regulating the transmission. This article describes modalities of pedagogic practice in companies that give rise to such specific positionings of learners and discusses their relationship to a pedagogic discourse for company learning. It does so using the case of German company vocational education in the ‘dual system’, where a distinct macro-social pedagogic discourse underlies and regulates the transmission in companies. The data are drawn from problem-centred interviews with dual system graduates and analysed from a social-realist stance in relation to Bernstein’s ‘framing’. Although for Bernstein, who draws predominantly on school-based research, the control over ‘framing’ is always with the transmitters, this article points to instances of acquirers taking control in the data and traces them to the particular pedagogic discourse underlying German vocational education. The article points to further research possibilities with the goal of reconstructing, in a rule-directed way, an implicit discourse underlying company learning that lacks explicit macro-social discursive regulations.     

From authoritative discourse to internally persuasive discourse: discursive evolution in teaching and learning the language of science

Learning science interpreted in existing theoretical frameworks often means that students are assimilated, accommodated or enculturated from the entity of the vernacular world to the entity of the scientific world. However, there are some unsolved questions as to how students can best learn purely a new language or new knowledge of science. The purpose of this study is to conduct microanalysis of moment-to-moment interactions in order to understand how science language is taught and learned in details. Informed by Bakhtin’s dialogism, the analysis indicates that learning science is a process of appropriating authoritative discourse into internally persuasive discourse. Based on our analysis and findings, we propose the framework of discursive evolution to describe the process of teaching and learning the language of science. Four different stages of discursive evolution are identified to demonstrate the discursive changes during the course of science teaching and learning discourse: (a) using deictic references to connect scientific terminologies, (b) understanding science terminologies through its derivatives, (c) communicating science practices conventionally through science terminologies, and (d) communicating science practices innovatively through mutated science terminologies. The findings suggest that science teaching and learning comprise a heterogeneous process which draws on both science and non-science language and is a constantly evolving process. Understanding teaching and learning as a heterogeneous and constantly evolving process allows us to reunite the roles of teachers and students as mutually responsible collaborators rather than science knowledge givers and consumers.     

Teachers’ discourse during cooperative learning and their perceptions of this pedagogical practice

This article describes the types of discourse seven high school teachers used during cooperative leaning. One classroom lesson where students worked in cooperating groups was audiotaped and fully transcribed for each teacher and a vignette of two of the teachers and one of the groups in his or her room are also provided. The data from the audiotapes showed that the teachers used a range of mediated-learning behaviours that included challenging students’ perspectives, asking cognitive and metacognitive questions, and scaffolding students’ learning. In turn, the students used many of the discourses they heard their teachers use in their interactions with each other. Follow-up interviews of teachers’ perceptions of cooperative learning as a pedagogical practice that had efficacy revealed that they believed it was important to structure the groups (i.e., tasks, composition), teach the appropriate social skills, and present tasks that encouraged students to think critically and reflectively about their learning.     

Assessment as learning: Enhancing discourse,understanding, and achievement in innovative science curricula

An assessment‐oriented design‐based research model was applied to existing inquiry‐oriented multimedia programs in astronomy, biology, and ecology. Building on emerging situative theories of assessment, the model extends prevailing views of formative assessment for learning by embedding “discursive” formative assessment more directly into the curriculum. Three twenty‐hour curricula were designed and aligned to content standards, and three levels of assessments were developed and used to assess and enhance learning for each curriculum. These assessments included three or four informal “activity‐oriented” quizzes and discursive formative feedback rubrics supporting collective discourse, a “curriculum‐oriented” examination of individual conceptual understanding, and a “standards‐oriented” test measuring aggregated achievement of targeted standards. After two design‐research cycles, worthwhile scientific argumentation and statistically significant gains were attained for two of the three packages on the exam and test. Achievement gains were comparable to or larger than those of students in comparison classrooms. Many existing innovations could be enhanced and evaluated in this fashion; designing these strategies directly into innovations could have an even greater impact on discourse, understanding, and achievement. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 1240–1270, 2012     

Vicarious learning from dialogue and discourse

This study examined learning in the domain of sentence parsing and syntax treediagram construction. The aim of the study was to assess whether subjects could learn vicariously from recordings of interactions between a previous student and a tutor.Four intervention conditions and a control condition were compared. Subjects in a dialogue group (DL) read printed tutorial notes and subsequently vicariously viewed dynamic (animated) recordings of tree diagrams being constructed by a previous student in the presence of a tutor.The discourse (DI) condition was similar except that subjects viewed recordings of tree diagrams being constructed by a tutor who concurrently verbalised instructional discourse.In a third condition (DO), subjects viewed tree-diagram construction animation clips which were not annotated with either dialogue or discourse. In a linear text (LT) condition, subjects were given only printed tutorial notes. A control (CO) condition involved pre and post testing without any intervention.Results indicated that the dialogue condition was as effective as the discourse condition. This provides support for contention that re-usable dialogue is a useful resource for the vicarious learner. Another finding was that un-annotated animated diagrams were surprisingly effective. Several reasons for their effectiveness are suggested from the literature on instructional animations.     

Effects of a classroom discourse intervention on teachers' practice and students' motivation to learn mathematics and science

Student interest and motivation in STEM subjects has dropped significantly throughout secondary education, for which teacher–student interactions are named as a central reason. This study investigated whether a video-based teacher professional development (TPD) intervention on productive classroom discourse improved students' learning motivation and interest development over the course of a school year. The teachers' intervention group (IG; n = 6) was compared with a control group (CG; n = 4) who participated in a traditional TPD programme on classroom discourse. The teachers showed a significant increase in constructive feedback and decrease in simple feedback as a function of the treatment. Pre- and post-tests revealed that students in the IG (n = 136) significantly increased their perceived autonomy, competence and intrinsic learning motivation as compared with those in the CG (n = 90). They also showed significantly greater interest changes in the subjects compared with their peers in the CG.     

Sociocognitive roles in science group discourse

The purpose of this study was to examine students' roles during a long-term collaborative task that required them to master complex sets of cognitive, regulatory and social skills needed for building knowledge largely from their own and their peers' ideas and observations. Samples of discourse were collected from 24 8th grade students in eight groups within four classrooms throughout a 12-week unit on constructing and testing mental models of the nature of matter. Eight prominent sociocognitive roles that served socio-emotional, conceptual and metacognitive functions are described. The roles are related to individual students' perspectives on learning, and to the levels of reasoning each group achieved. The results can be used to raise students' and teachers' awareness of the personal resources, interactive processes and norms that can support or derail knowledge construction in collaborative groups.     

Toward pervasive knowledge building discourse: analyzing online and offline discourses of primary science learning in Singapore

This research examined discourses in classroom and online learning environments where the Knowledge Building Community model was enacted to foster deep understanding in science learning in Singapore primary classes. This study posited that discourse is a fundamental form of learning that reveals how knowledge building is enacted and embodied by a community of learners. Discourses in classroom lessons and online postings were analyzed from both quantitative and qualitative views. Overall, the discourse analysis of the verbal activities in classroom lessons showed clear signs of IRE (Initiation–Response–Evaluation) patterns of discourse, while more diversity of ideas and questions were found in Knowledge Forum postings. However, online discourse showed some instances of incorrect group thinking and fear of appearing ignorant. In conclusion, we discuss implications of findings and future research directions for creating pervasive knowledge building discourse.     

Classroom discourse: teaching,learning, and learning disabilities

This study examined teacher–student discourse from a sociocultural perspective in order to ascertain the nature of effective instruction for school-age students with learning disabilities. This discussion examines one teacher's resource room instruction that was part of a larger study of teacher–student discourse. The results suggested two considerations: (1) the importance of teacher self-reflection and the implications for effective teaching and learning, and (2) differential discourse patterns across academic domains. Wood's notion of contingent teaching (1991) provided a guideline for coding teacher–student discourse. The results suggest that feedback combined with cognitive structuring contribute to effective teaching and learning.     

The interaction of learning environments and student discourse about knowing,learning, and the nature of science: Two longitudinal case studies

This is one of a series of studies conducted by a high school physics teacher, who used constructivist referents to plan and enact the curriculum, and to understand and improve the learning environment in his physics classes. Data were collected in the course of a two-year physics course including (a) repeated administrations of a classroom learning environment survey, (b) written essays on the topics of knowing, learning, and classroom learning environment, and (c) interviews. While there was a general trend for students to adopt more constructivist views of knowing and learning, there was also a small number who resisted to adapt to the constructivist learning environment in their physics course. Two case studies of individual students are used to illustrate the interactions of the learning environment, student understanding of scientific knowledge, and the nature of science, and students' views of their own learning.     

Empowering discourse: discourse analysis as method and practice in the sociology classroom

Collaborative learning and critical pedagogy are widely recognized as ‘empowering’ pedagogies for higher education. Yet, the practical implementation of both has a mixed record. The question, then, is: How could collaborative and critical pedagogies be empowered themselves? This paper makes a primarily theoretical case for discourse analysis (DA) as a form of classroom practice that provides a structured framework for collaborative and critical pedagogies in higher education, with a special reference to sociology classroom practice. I develop a tripartite scheme for building a framework for sociological imagination that is, first, sensitive to the discursive aspects of social reality (learning about DA). Second, I illustrate the use of DA as pedagogical tool and classroom practice (learning with DA). Third, I discuss how discourse analytical ideas can be used in evaluating classroom interaction and how these reflexive insights can be used to enhance student empowerment (learning through DA).     

A disciplinary discourse perspective on university science learning: Achieving fluency in a critical constellation of modes

In this theoretical article we use an interpretative study with physics undergraduates to exemplify a proposed characterization of student learning in university science in terms of fluency in disciplinary discourse. Drawing on ideas from a number of different sources in the literature, we characterize what we call “disciplinary discourse” as the complex of representations, tools and activities of a discipline, describing how it can be seen as being made up of various “modes”. For university science, examples of these modes are: spoken and written language, mathematics, gesture, images (including pictures, graphs and diagrams), tools (such as experimental apparatus and measurement equipment), and activities (such as ways of working—both practice and praxis, analytical routines, actions, etc.). Using physics as an illustrative example, we discuss the relationship between the ways of knowing that constitute a discipline and the modes of disciplinary discourse used to represent this knowing. The data comes from stimulated recall interviews where physics undergraduates discuss their learning experiences during lectures. These interviews are used to anecdotally illustrate our proposed characterization of learning and its associated theoretical constructs. Students describe a repetitive practice aspect to their learning, which we suggest is necessary for achieving fluency in the various modes of disciplinary discourse. Here we found instances of discourse imitation, where students are seemingly fluent in one or more modes of disciplinary discourse without having related this to a teacher‐intended disciplinary way of knowing. The examples lead to the suggestion that fluency in a critical constellation of modes of disciplinary discourse may be a necessary (though not always sufficient) condition for gaining meaningful holistic access to disciplinary ways of knowing. One implication is that in order to be effective, science teachers need to know which modes are critical for an understanding of the material they wish to teach. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 27–49, 2009     

Memorisation methods in science education: tactics to improve the teaching and learning practice

How can science teachers support students in developing an appropriate declarative knowledge base for solving problems? This article focuses on the question whether the development of students’ memory of scientific propositions is better served by writing propositions down on paper or by making drawings of propositions either by silent or muttering rehearsal. By means of a memorisation experiment with eighth- and ninth-grade students, we answer this question. In this experiment, students received instruction to memorise nine science propositions and to reproduce them afterwards. To support memorisation students were randomly assigned either to a group that received instruction to write each proposition on paper or to a group that received instruction to make a drawing about the content of the proposition. In addition, half of the students in both groups received instruction to mutter and the other half of them received instruction to write or draw in silence. The main conclusion from the experiment is that after four weeks students who had made a drawing remembered significantly more propositions than those who had memorised the propositions by writing them down. Our research further revealed that it did not matter whether students muttered or memorised silently.     

Evaluating learning technology content with discourse analysis

The researcher combined qualitative media analysis with tools for discourse analysis to review Blackboard Collaborate?, a tool often used in online education. Technology design references Discourses which dictate how and why these tools should be used. The analysis showed Collaborate? uses sign systems and knowledge, along with politics, to reinforce a traditional educational Discourse. Educators should be aware of embedded Discourses to effectively incorporate technology into their practice, and designers should consider such Discourses during development. This paper describes discourse analysis as one approach to evaluating technology with regards to affordances for, and constraints to, teaching and learning.     

Describing students of the African Diaspora: Understanding micro and meso level science learning as gateways to standards based discourse

In much of the educational literature, researchers make little distinction between African-American students and students of the African Diaspora who immigrated to the United States. Failing to describe these salient student differences serves to perpetuate an inaccurate view of African-American school life. In today’s large cities, students of the African Diaspora are frequently learning science in settings that are devoid of the resources and tools to fully support their success. While much of the scholarship unites these disparate groups, this article details the distinctive learning culture created when students from several groups of the African Diaspora learn biology together in a Brooklyn Suspension Center. Specifically this work explains how one student, Gabriel, functions in a biology class. A self-described black-Panamanian, Gabriel had tacitly resigned to not learning science, which then, in effect, precluded him from any further associated courses of study in science, and may have excluded him from the possibility of a science related career. This ethnography follows Gabriel’s science learning as he engaged in cogenerative dialogue with teachers to create aligned learning and teaching practices. During the 5 months of this research, Gabriel drew upon his unique lifeworld and the depth of his hybridized cultural identity to produce limited, but nonetheless important demonstrations of science. Coexistent with his involvement in cogenerative dialogue, Gabriel helped to construct many classroom practices that supported a dynamic learning environment which produced small yet concrete examples of standards based biology. This study supports further investigation by the science education community to consider ways that students’ lifeworld experiences can serve to structure and transform the urban science classroom.

Science learning in the context of discourse

The original article by Kamberelis and Wehunt (2012) discusses an interesting and important research subject in science education as it focus on classroom interactions and the characteristics of the discourse production of interlocutors. The authors start from the premise that discourse heterogeneity is constitutive of social activities, which is supported by others like Mikhail Bakhtin (Speech genres and other late essays. University of Texas Press, Austin, 1981) and Erving Goffman (Frame analysis: an essay on the organization of experience. Harper and Row, London, 1974). They also present the definitions of three key elements that organize hybrid discourse: (a) lamination of multiple cultural frames, (b) shifting relations between people and their discourse, and (c) shifting power relations between people. Finally, the authors analyze how these three elements organize students’ science discourse in the classroom and how it contributes to the creation of a micro-community of practice capable of helping the emergence of a disciplinary knowledge that is legitimized by and strengthens the identity of the group. In the present commentary, I discuss how Michael Foucault’s (1970) concept of discursive procedure may help us to analyze the (often neglected) teacher’s role in the development of hybrid discourse practices.