This review presents theoretical underpinnings supporting microethnographic-discourse analytic (ME/DA) approaches to studying educational phenomena. The review is presented in two parts. Part 1 provides an analytic review of two seminal reviews of literature that frame theoretical and methodological developments of microethnography and functions language in classrooms with diverse learners. Part 2 presents two telling case studies that illustrate the logic-of-inquiry of (ME/DA) approaches. These telling case studies make transparent how theoretical considerations of cultural perspectives on education inform decisions regarding research methodology. Telling Case Study 1 makes transparent the logic-of-inquiry undertaken to illustrate how microanalyses of discourse and action among participants in a physics class provided an empirical grounding for identifying how different groups undertook a common task. This case study shows how ethnographically informed discourse analyses formed a foundation to theoretically identify social processes of knowledge construction. Telling Case Study 2 makes transparent multiple levels of analysis undertaken to examine ways that creative processes of interpretation of art were communicated and taken up in an art studio class across multiple cycles of activity. Taken together, these telling case studies provide evidence of how ME/DA provides a theoretically grounded logic-of-inquiry for investigating complex learning processes in different educational contexts.

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This study investigates an alternative to the commonly used concentration table method for describing chemical equilibria in General Chemistry. The concentration table method is arguably the single most difficult concept for students in this course. The difficulties arise from the number of simplifying assumptions that need to be made. Furthermore, once the problem has been simplified, a significant amount of time is often required for algebraic manipulations, which students in General Chemistry find difficult. As discussed in this paper, it is possible to deal with equilibrium in a more contemporary, holistic approach, where equilibrium expressions, charge, and mass balance equations are solved simultaneously. Such methods reduce the number of assumptions that need to be made to solve a given problem, and when solved using a symbolic computer algebra program, provide a reduction in the amount of work required to reach a numerical solution. Also, since multiple equilibrium reactions are no more difficult to solve than single reactions, students gain a more complete understanding of chemical equilibrium systems. In this study, we present preliminary results from a pilot study in which several different sections in our General Chemistry course are taught using the systematic method. Student understanding of key chemical concepts is monitored and compared to sections which are taught in the traditional manner. Student attitudes are also assessed in terms of perceived difficulties in learning the new method as well as student comfort with working with technology to solve problems. At present, we can state that no significant degradation in student scores is observed. Students in the test sections seem to be performing the same as or slightly above their peers in the standard sections.

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