Secondary school students' responses to epistemic uncertainty during an ecological citizen science inquiry

Abstract

Uncertainty is endemic to scientific research practices; therefore, it is also an important element in learning about science. Studies have shown that experiences and management of uncertainty regarding the epistemic practices of science can support learning. Whereas the common strategies of supporting students in handling uncertainty rely on the teacher knowing the preferred outcomes and answers, few studies have explored settings in which no one can give the right answers to students. In this study, we explore how Finnish, suburban secondary school students (aged 13–14 years) respond to epistemic uncertainty during an ecological citizen science inquiry, in which the aim is to produce novel scientific knowledge. Drawing from qualitative interaction analysis of video and interview data, we articulate three responses to uncertainty that arise when students try to make optimal choices during the inquiry: they (a) envision alternative narrative scenarios and hypothesis; (b) accept and maintain it as part of their argumentation practices, and (c) flexibly reframe their research activities and goals. The findings indicate that the citizen science setting can allow students to reframe epistemic uncertainty in ways that are typical of scientific practices even without deliberate scaffolding by the teacher. We suggest that incorporating experiences of uncertainty that are shared by students and teachers in pedagogical design can support doing and learning science in different settings.

How Do Age and Attitudes Affect the Quality of Data Collected by Young Citizen Scientists in an Ecological Research Project?

“…The correlation raises the question whether the students perceive the goal of the study to be finding rats and then those students who are the most interested in the school subject are more inclined to try to fill this perceived expectation, that is, excel in the school subject. Then again, when lower secondary students were specifically asked whether they felt that the research had failed when they found no rat tracks, the students were able to differentiate between having a result of no rat tracks and not getting valid results at all (Kervinen and Aivelo 2023). Broadly, this result also suggests that enthusiasm in participants cannot be straight forwardly considered as a good issue in relation to the data quality.…”

“…Thus, data quality should not be the only consideration when thinking about usability of the data but also the already existing knowledge of the participants. In ecological citizen science, this relates self-evidently to the participants' local knowledge but it can also mean that participants' everyday experiences open new analytical potentials (Kervinen and Aivelo 2023). Indeed, any trade-offs within the project protocol (i.e., working in groups, collecting data within walking distance from school or during off-hours near students' own homes) need to be considered not only from data quantity or quality point of view.…”

How Do Age and Attitudes Affect the Quality of Data Collected by Young Citizen Scientists in an Ecological Research Project?

“…The correlation raises the question whether the students perceive the goal of the study to be finding rats and then those students who are the most interested in the school subject are more inclined to try to fill this perceived expectation, that is, excel in the school subject. Then again, when lower secondary students were specifically asked whether they felt that the research had failed when they found no rat tracks, the students were able to differentiate between having a result of no rat tracks and not getting valid results at all (Kervinen and Aivelo 2023). Broadly, this result also suggests that enthusiasm in participants cannot be straight forwardly considered as a good issue in relation to the data quality.…”

“…Thus, data quality should not be the only consideration when thinking about usability of the data but also the already existing knowledge of the participants. In ecological citizen science, this relates self-evidently to the participants' local knowledge but it can also mean that participants' everyday experiences open new analytical potentials (Kervinen and Aivelo 2023). Indeed, any trade-offs within the project protocol (i.e., working in groups, collecting data within walking distance from school or during off-hours near students' own homes) need to be considered not only from data quantity or quality point of view.…”

Science teachers' perceptions and practice of uncertainty in science learning: The changes experienced after engaging in a practice‐based professional development

“…While this first implementation of the SUPeR P‐BPD design evidenced success in supporting teachers' change in perception and practices, there is room for additional support through further PD. As a goal of science teaching should be to help students notice, acknowledge, and develop capacity to navigate their uncertainty when engaged in scientific practices (Kervinen & Aivelo, 2023; Kirch, 2012; Watkins et al, 2018), teachers should be supported in both understanding what that means for learners as well as understanding how to facilitate that practice as teachers (Manz & Suárez, 2018). Teachers, therefore, engaged in science lessons as learners, but then were given time to reflect on both their own uncertainties and uncertainties that may arise with their own students.…”

Teacher strategies to support student navigation of uncertainty: Considering the dynamic nature of scientific uncertainty throughout phases of sensemaking

“…This study examines how the science teacher can support students' navigation of dynamic and evolving scientific uncertainties that emerge and drive the four phases of sensemaking, thus building a prolonged trajectory of sensemaking. In the current study, we consider two types of scientific uncertainty that are navigated in sensemaking—conceptual uncertainty, the uncertainty in using existing conceptual understanding to respond to a certain problem (Chen & Qiao, 2020; Jordan & McDaniel, 2014), and epistemic uncertainty, the uncertainty in using epistemic understanding to explain a phenomenon (Beven, 2016; Kampourakis, 2018; Kervinen & Aivelo, 2023; Tiberghien et al, 2014). Based on the defined uncertainties and the framework (Table 1), we explored how the conceptual and epistemic uncertainties evolved and drove the four phases of sensemaking, and what strategies teachers used to support students' navigation of uncertainties to develop coherent understanding.…”

How Do Age and Attitudes Affect the Quality of Data Collected by Young Citizen Scientists in an Ecological Research Project?

“…The correlation raises the question whether the students perceive the goal of the study to be finding rats and then those students who are the most interested in the school subject are more inclined to try to fill this perceived expectation, that is, excel in the school subject. Then again, when lower secondary students were specifically asked whether they felt that the research had failed when they found no rat tracks, the students were able to differentiate between having a result of no rat tracks and not getting valid results at all (Kervinen and Aivelo 2023). Broadly, this result also suggests that enthusiasm in participants cannot be straight forwardly considered as a good issue in relation to the data quality.…”

“…Thus, data quality should not be the only consideration when thinking about usability of the data but also the already existing knowledge of the participants. In ecological citizen science, this relates self-evidently to the participants' local knowledge but it can also mean that participants' everyday experiences open new analytical potentials (Kervinen and Aivelo 2023). Indeed, any trade-offs within the project protocol (i.e., working in groups, collecting data within walking distance from school or during off-hours near students' own homes) need to be considered not only from data quantity or quality point of view.…”

Science teachers' perceptions and practice of uncertainty in science learning: The changes experienced after engaging in a practice‐based professional development

“…While this first implementation of the SUPeR P‐BPD design evidenced success in supporting teachers' change in perception and practices, there is room for additional support through further PD. As a goal of science teaching should be to help students notice, acknowledge, and develop capacity to navigate their uncertainty when engaged in scientific practices (Kervinen & Aivelo, 2023; Kirch, 2012; Watkins et al, 2018), teachers should be supported in both understanding what that means for learners as well as understanding how to facilitate that practice as teachers (Manz & Suárez, 2018). Teachers, therefore, engaged in science lessons as learners, but then were given time to reflect on both their own uncertainties and uncertainties that may arise with their own students.…”

Teacher strategies to support student navigation of uncertainty: Considering the dynamic nature of scientific uncertainty throughout phases of sensemaking

“…This study examines how the science teacher can support students' navigation of dynamic and evolving scientific uncertainties that emerge and drive the four phases of sensemaking, thus building a prolonged trajectory of sensemaking. In the current study, we consider two types of scientific uncertainty that are navigated in sensemaking—conceptual uncertainty, the uncertainty in using existing conceptual understanding to respond to a certain problem (Chen & Qiao, 2020; Jordan & McDaniel, 2014), and epistemic uncertainty, the uncertainty in using epistemic understanding to explain a phenomenon (Beven, 2016; Kampourakis, 2018; Kervinen & Aivelo, 2023; Tiberghien et al, 2014). Based on the defined uncertainties and the framework (Table 1), we explored how the conceptual and epistemic uncertainties evolved and drove the four phases of sensemaking, and what strategies teachers used to support students' navigation of uncertainties to develop coherent understanding.…”

How Do Age and Attitudes Affect the Quality of Data Collected by Young Citizen Scientists in an Ecological Research Project?

“…The correlation raises the question whether the students perceive the goal of the study to be finding rats and then those students who are the most interested in the school subject are more inclined to try to fill this perceived expectation, that is, excel in the school subject. Then again, when lower secondary students were specifically asked whether they felt that the research had failed when they found no rat tracks, the students were able to differentiate between having a result of no rat tracks and not getting valid results at all (Kervinen and Aivelo 2023). Broadly, this result also suggests that enthusiasm in participants cannot be straight forwardly considered as a good issue in relation to the data quality.…”

“…Thus, data quality should not be the only consideration when thinking about usability of the data but also the already existing knowledge of the participants. In ecological citizen science, this relates self-evidently to the participants' local knowledge but it can also mean that participants' everyday experiences open new analytical potentials (Kervinen and Aivelo 2023). Indeed, any trade-offs within the project protocol (i.e., working in groups, collecting data within walking distance from school or during off-hours near students' own homes) need to be considered not only from data quantity or quality point of view.…”

Science teachers' perceptions and practice of uncertainty in science learning: The changes experienced after engaging in a practice‐based professional development

“…While this first implementation of the SUPeR P‐BPD design evidenced success in supporting teachers' change in perception and practices, there is room for additional support through further PD. As a goal of science teaching should be to help students notice, acknowledge, and develop capacity to navigate their uncertainty when engaged in scientific practices (Kervinen & Aivelo, 2023; Kirch, 2012; Watkins et al, 2018), teachers should be supported in both understanding what that means for learners as well as understanding how to facilitate that practice as teachers (Manz & Suárez, 2018). Teachers, therefore, engaged in science lessons as learners, but then were given time to reflect on both their own uncertainties and uncertainties that may arise with their own students.…”

Teacher strategies to support student navigation of uncertainty: Considering the dynamic nature of scientific uncertainty throughout phases of sensemaking

“…This study examines how the science teacher can support students' navigation of dynamic and evolving scientific uncertainties that emerge and drive the four phases of sensemaking, thus building a prolonged trajectory of sensemaking. In the current study, we consider two types of scientific uncertainty that are navigated in sensemaking—conceptual uncertainty, the uncertainty in using existing conceptual understanding to respond to a certain problem (Chen & Qiao, 2020; Jordan & McDaniel, 2014), and epistemic uncertainty, the uncertainty in using epistemic understanding to explain a phenomenon (Beven, 2016; Kampourakis, 2018; Kervinen & Aivelo, 2023; Tiberghien et al, 2014). Based on the defined uncertainties and the framework (Table 1), we explored how the conceptual and epistemic uncertainties evolved and drove the four phases of sensemaking, and what strategies teachers used to support students' navigation of uncertainties to develop coherent understanding.…”