Children's conversations and learning science and technology

Cosgrove, Mark; Schaverien, Lynette

doi:10.1080/0950069960180109

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…He argued that teachers undermine their own objectives in terms of student learning by emphasizing ''correctness'' of student responses vis-à-vis the intended body of knowledge. Cosgrove and Schaverien (1996) examined student conversations as they engaged with learning about electrical concepts in a technology-rich environment. The authors developed four categories to characterize student discourse.…”

Section: Student Discourse In the Context Of Learning With Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Student discourse captured during group interactions was analyzed using a typology comprising four categories, which was derived from Cosgrove and Schaverien (1996). These were: (1) ''Housekeeping talk'': Procedural conversations about how to carry an activity or what to do in order to construct an artifact.…”

Section: Phase Iii: Impact Of Technology On the Enactment Of Inquirymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of technology on the enactment of “inquiry” in a technology enthusiast's sixth grade science classroom

Waight

Abd‐El‐Khalick

2006

J Res Sci Teach

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This study investigated the impact of the use of computer technology on the enactment of ''inquiry'' in a sixth grade science classroom. Participants were 42 students (38% female) enrolled in two sections of the classroom and taught by a technology-enthusiast instructor. Data were collected over the course of 4 months during which several ''inquiry'' activities were completed, some of which were supported with the use of technology. Non-participant observation, classroom videotaping, and semistructured and critical-incident interviews were used to collect data. The results indicated that the technology in use worked to restrict rather than promote ''inquiry'' in the participant classroom. In the presence of computers, group activities became more structured with a focus on sharing tasks and accounting for individual responsibility, and less time was dedicated to group discourse with a marked decrease in critical, meaning-making discourse. The views and beliefs of teachers and students in relation to their specific contexts moderate the potential of technology in supporting inquiry teaching and learning and should be factored both in teacher training and attempts to integrate technology in science teaching. ß 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 2007 Current reform efforts in science education envision science teaching that is inquiry-based and collaborative, and targets the development of student conceptual understandings, inquiry abilities and skills, and scientific habits of mind (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 1990[AAAS], , 1993 National Research Council [NRC], 1996). Such a vision entails pedagogical and instructional approaches that are different from the traditional approaches that typify science teaching in the larger majority of K-12 classrooms. Instead, reform documents argue for providing students with opportunities to engage in authentic inquiry (National Research Council, 1996), which ''refers to the research that scientists actually carry out'' (Chinn & Malhotra, 2002, p. 177). ''When engaging in inquiry, students describe objects and events, ask questions, construct explanations, test those explanations. . ., and communicate their ideas,'' and throughout the process ''they identify their assumptions, use critical and logical thinking, and consider alternative explanations'' (National Research Council, 1996, p. 2). Inquiry provides an ideal context for helping students to achieve the desired scientific understandings, attitudes, abilities, and ways of thinking deemed essential for functioning and decision-making in an increasingly scientific-laden world (National Research Council, 1996). Edelson (1998), for instance, argued that science educators cannot expect students to achieve the aforementioned instructional outcomes if they continue to engage students in learning environments that are dissociated and qualitatively different from those within which scientists learn and function.The notion of replicating ''authentic scientific practice'' w...

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Section: Student Discourse In the Context Of Learning With Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phase Iii: Impact Of Technology On the Enactment Of Inquirymentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of technology on the enactment of “inquiry” in a technology enthusiast's sixth grade science classroom

Waight

Abd‐El‐Khalick

2006

J Res Sci Teach

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“…• Much data gathering took the form of everyday conversations, and as such, obeyed the principles of such conversations, principles that were fundamental to the con-versational research methodology developed by Cosgrove and Schaverien (1996). There, participants (researchers included) are bound to follow the etiquette of everyday conversations, avoiding asking deliberate questions.…”

Section: The Investigation: Research Design Methodology and Reportingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is mounting anecdotal evidence that children are forming ideas about technological phenomena early in their lives, from Papert's (1980) report of his own very early fascination with gears, to widely reported accounts of children's facility with technological devices (Papert, 1993;Resnick, 1998;Wilkinson & Petrich, 1998). As well, research evidence is accumulating that, given opportunities to pursue technological interests at school, children reveal ingenious insights (see, e.g., Cosgrove, Osborne, & Carr, 1985;Cosgrove & Schaverien, 1996;Harel, 1991;Papert, 1996;Resnick, Martin, Sargent, & Silverman, 1996;Resnick, Ocko, & Papert, 1988). For this reason, Rushkoff (1996) argues young children are "advance scouts" (p. 280) in a climate of rapid technological development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Families' engagement with young children's science and technology learning at home

Hall

Schaverien

2001

Science Education

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There is accumulating evidence of the worth of involving families in young children's learning in informal contexts. By exploring families' engagement with their children's science and technology learning at home over a 6-month period, the present investigation sought to illuminate both the nature and the educational significance of what families do. Initially, in order to seed scientific and technological inquiry in homes, kindergarten and year-one children investigated flashlights with family members at school. Each day, equipment was available to take home. Using established anthropological methods, one of the researchers investigated children's further inquiries beyond the classroom in diverse ways; for example, by visiting homes and conversing via telephone and facsimile. The findings showed that families engaged with children's inquiries at home in many ways-by providing resources, conversing, and investigating collaboratively with children. Moreover, when families pursued inquiries together and when children conducted their own sustained intellectual searches, children's ideas deepened. Such evidence of the educational significance of what families do suggests that early science and technology education might be made more effective if it were aligned with the ways people learn together outside formal institutions. ᭧ 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 85:454-481, 2001.

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“…If, as Koster (1999, p. 292) suggests, science centers are to serve as places for "airing of society's most vexing issues related to science and technology," then occasions to "air" visitor voices need to be provided in public spaces. Resolution of science and social issues requires opportunities for dialogue and debate (Cosgrove & Schaverien, 1996;Wellington & Osborne, 2001). The need to converse, listen, and communicate has informed the direction of the Mine Games exhibit, particularly the Hot Seat experience.…”

Section: When You Go To the Other Places Around The Science Center Ymentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on learning through research on critical issues-based science center exhibitions

Pedretti

2004

Sci. Ed.

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ABSTRACT:Recently, science centers have created issues-based exhibitions as a way of communicating socioscientific subject matter to the public. Research in the last decade has investigated how critical issues-based installations promote more robust views of science, while creating effective learning environments for teaching and learning about science. The focus of this paper is to explore research conducted over a 10-year period that informs our understanding of the nature of learning through these experiences. Two specific exhibitions-Mine Games and A Question of Truth-provide the context for discussing this research. Findings suggest that critical issues-based installations challenge visitors in different ways-intellectually and emotionally. They provide experiences beyond usual phenomenon-based exhibitions and carry the potential to enhance learning by personalizing subject matter, evoking emotion, stimulating dialogue and debate, and promoting reflexivity. Critical issues-based exhibitions serve as excellent environments in which to explore the nature of learning in these nonschool settings.C

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Children's conversations and learning science and technology

Cited by 15 publications

References 4 publications

The impact of technology on the enactment of “inquiry” in a technology enthusiast's sixth grade science classroom

The impact of technology on the enactment of “inquiry” in a technology enthusiast's sixth grade science classroom

Families' engagement with young children's science and technology learning at home

Perspectives on learning through research on critical issues-based science center exhibitions

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