The Probability Inquiry Environment: a collaborative, inquiry-based simulation environment

Abstract

Recent perspectives on learning encourage educators interested in technology based learning environments to reconsider their basic assumptions about teaching as "transmitting correct information." Instead we view the teaching and learning enterprise as helping students construct knowledge from domain relevant experiences. In this paper we report on the Probability Inquiry Environment (PIE), which facilitates the development of probabilistic reasoning by making available collaborative inquiry activities and student-controlled simulations. These activities guide middle school students toward a deeper understanding of probability, a domain that is becoming increasingly important in the K-12 mathematics curricula of the United States but which is notoriously difficult to learn. BackgroundTo help students construct knowledge in the domain of mathematics, we advocate student construction and appropriation of concepts by making available studentcontrolled interactive simulations, dynamicrepresentations, and contextualized learning activities. Our carefully crafted activities and student-controlled simulations are designed to focus students on particular intuitions, encourage them to articulate and refine these intuitions using the tools and practices of mathematics and probability, and guide them towards a normative conception of mathematics.In this paper we report on the Probability Inquiry Environment (PIE), which facilitates the development of probabilistic reasoning in middle school students. We first describe our theoretical underpinnings, and why we chose to use collaborative inquiry and simulations. We describe the specifics of PIE and the curriculum, and follow this with a description of a study in which PIE was implemented in two seventh grade classrooms. We then present detailed qualitative data from one pair of students as they investigate one of the computer activities, and show how the features of PIE contributed to student conversations and student understandings. We conclude with generalizations from our work, and recommendations for others creating collaborative environments for active knowledge construction.

Implementing Inquiry-Based Learning and Examining the Effects in Junior College Probability Lessons

“…Due to the limited amount of time spent, they may not be accustomed to this new learning experience and this maybe the reason that Year 12 students' inquiry skills were not as promising as those studies done internationally (Brune, 2010;Ismail, 2008). Similarly, Vahey et al (1999) also mentioned that not all inquiry-based activities are guaranteed to lead to productive learning in Probability and Statistics.…”

Influence of authority on convergence in collaborative learning

“…Too much conformity can lead to Groupthink, during which a group converges on a poor decision or solution (Janis, 1967). When Gifford and Enyedy studied how students used the Probability Inquiry Environment (PIE) (Vahey, Enyedy, & Gifford, 1999), they found when students tried to reach a consensus on probability questions, students chose similar poor solutions . The students, they say, often agreed on the first solution that they could agree on, rather than continue to consider and explore alternatives.…”

Hybrid Reality Games Reframed

“…Interactive computer simulations have often been used for curricula that require process active inquiry and modeling (Barab, Hay, Barnett, & Keating, 2000;Fretz, Wu, Zhang, Davis, & Krajcik, 2002;Reiser et al, 2001;Vahey, Enyedy, & Gifford, 2000;White & Fredericksen, 1998). Like HRGs, the learning activities of many of these simulations are experiential and situated, attempting to promote deeper understanding by giving students inquiry-based problem-solving tasks that are linked to realworld situations or phenomena.…”

“…Like HRGs, the learning activities of many of these simulations are experiential and situated, attempting to promote deeper understanding by giving students inquiry-based problem-solving tasks that are linked to realworld situations or phenomena. Moreover, simulations such as Probability Inquiry Environment (Vahey et al, 2000) and Knowledge Integration Enviornment (Linn, Bell, & His, 1998) take advantage of the social context of learning by forcing students to make their thinking visible to promote thoughtful evaluation and critique about argumentation and evidence. However, these simulations differ from HRGs in that the experience is still very much linked to the desktop computer.…”