Progressive inquiry in a computer‐supported biology class

Abstract

The problem addressed in the study was whether 10-and 11-year-old children, collaborating within a computer-supported classroom, could engage in progressive inquiry that exhibits an essential principal feature of mature scientific inquiry: namely, engagement in increasingly deep levels of explanation. Technical infrastructure for the study was provided by the Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE). The study was carried out by qualitatively analyzing written notes logged by 28 Grade 5/6 students to CSILE's database. Results of the study indicated that with teacher guidance, students were able to produce meaningful intuitive explanations about biological phenomena, guide this process by pursuing their own research questions, and engage in constructive peer interaction that helped them go beyond their intuitive explanations and toward theoretical scientific explanations. Expert evaluations by three widely recognized philosophers of science confirmed the progressive nature of students' inquiry. ß

Designs for Collective Cognitive Responsibility in Knowledge-Building Communities

“…Epistemic complexity indicates students' efforts to produce not only descriptions of the material world but also theoretical explanations and articulation of hidden mechanisms central to the nature of science (Salmon, 1984). A 4-point scale (1 = unelaborated facts, 2 = elaborated facts, 3 = unelaborated explanations, and 4 = elaborated explanations) adapted from Hakkarainen's (2003) work was used to code each idea unit. Two raters independently coded 20% of the portfolio notes to assess interrater reliability, which was found to be 0.88 (Pearson correlation).…”

The Knowledge Creation Metaphor – An Emergent Epistemological Approach to Learning

“…Together with their colleagues, they have reported a large number of case studies and design experiments that indicate that very young students are able to assume challenging knowledge-building tasks and roles. Initially coming from the knowledge-building tradition, our own research group has developed a pedagogical ''progressive-inquiry'' model that guides teachers and students in a process of advancing and creating knowledge (See Hakkarainen & Sintonen 2002;Hakkarainen 2003bHakkarainen , 2004. Without going into detail, the progressive inquiry model is a variant of inquiry learning where explanationseeking processes, and collaborative and social aspects of learning are emphasized.…”

“…The second author of the present study has conducted a series of studies at the elementary level education so as to facilitate progressive inquiry and practices of knowledge creation (Hakkarainen & Sintonen 2002;Hakkarainen 2003bHakkarainen , 2004. Grade 5/6 students were working within a computer-supported classroom pursuing biological (Human Biology) and physical (Force, Electricity and Cosmology) study projects.…”

“…The students worked in small teams, each of which was responsible of pursuing a specific question as well as comment on the other study group's processes of inquiry. A qualitative analysis of the epistemology of the students' inquiry culture indicated that knowledge produced by the CSILE class in question was at a very high explanatory level in both biology and physics (Hakkarainen 2003b(Hakkarainen , 2004.…”

Model Based Inquiry in the High School Physics Classroom: An Exploratory Study of Implementation and Outcomes

“…While investigations into the effectiveness of inquiry as an instructional strategy have shown promise for increasing students' understanding of science (Chang and Mao 1999;Ertepinar and Geban 1996;Hakkarainen 2003), the nature of science (Schwartz et al 2004), and increasing students' interest and attitudes toward science (Cavallo and Laubach 2001;Chang and Mao 1999;Paris et al 1998), there remains debates, as well as problems of enactment. One example of the debates that can be found emerge as Settlage (2007) Johnston (2008) challenges these ideas in a response to Settlage (2007) as he argues that Settlage seemed to neglect that inquiry is not simply a teaching tool, but a teaching goal… It is a scientific endeavor in itself, allowing students to be themselves within a culture of scientific inquiry… The processes embraced by science that allow us to extract explanation from evidence are paramount to a citizen's understanding of science… Alas, in an era of highstakes testing in which much of science is stripped of its inquiry processes in favor of content factoids, it must be our obligation to make open inquiry a learning objective in our classrooms.…”