An integrated approach to implementing collaborative inquiry in the classroom

Abstract

Abstract. To be successful, CSCL technology must be adopted by teachers and incorporated into the activities of the classroom. This paper describes a comprehensive approach to supporting teachers learning to implement computer-supported collaborative inquiry in their classrooms. The approach comprises (1) a networked software system, "Belvedere," that provides students with shared workspaces for coordinating and recording their collaboration in scientific inquiry; (2) activity plans worked out collaboratively with teachers; (3) "challenge problems" and Web-based materials designed to match and enrich the curriculum, and (4) selfand peer-assessment instruments given to students to guide the process of scientific inquiry. A fundamental aim of this work is to restructure the classroom and shift the initiative for learning activity to the students.

Empirical Studies of the Value of Conceptually Explicit Notations in Collaborative Learning

“…The rubrics guide peer review, and help the teacher assess learning objectives pertaining to inquiry in science. For further information on this integrated approach to classroom implementation, see (Suthers et al, 1997;Toth et al, 2002).…”

“…Eva Toth, Arlene Weiner and the author developed a comprehensive method for implementing Belvedere-supported collaborative inquiry in the classroom (Suthers, Toth, & Weiner, 1997;Toth et al, 2002). Students work in teams to investigate "science challenge problems" that present a phenomenon to be explained (e.g., the Cretaceous mass extinctions; the cause of a disease on the island of Guam), along with indices to relevant resources.…”

How Tough should it be? Simplifying the Development of Argumentation Systems Using a Configurable Platform

“…These scenarios could be specified by means of scripts (Suthers, Toth and Weiner, 1997;Kobbe et al, 2007); written for instance in IMS-LD 1 ( Req. 9) as done for instance in CoFFEE (Belgiorno, De Chiara, Manno and Scarano, 2008).…”

Coaching Within a Domain Independent Inquiry Environment

“…Other researchers have developed inquiry software that presents cases and simulationbased learning environments, along with tools for gathering, organizing, visualizing, and analyzing information during inquiry [6,7,8,9,10]. Some systems support authentic inquiry and knowledge sharing, and several track and analyze student data selections, providing students with space to explore subject matter from microeconomics [16] to medical diagnosis [14].…”