Modelling Undergraduate Research and Inquiry – Why Enculturation matters

Abstract

Within the last ten to fifteen years, models emerged for describing and developing undergraduate research and inquiry. This article discusses four examples of modelling didactical issues around undergraduate research and inquiry. The aim of the first part of this article is to scrutinize the epistemological and the didactical purpose of these models. As essential dimensions of undergraduate research and inquiry are neglected, two new models are developed. The first puts the coordination of theory and evidence in the centre and determines three different horizons of significance in the field of science. In relation to these horizons, the second model highlights the broader societal context of scientific practices. The role of research and science in society is recognized here on the one hand as an affirmative process of institutionalization of approved knowledge, and on the other, as practices of criticizing and breaking away from established forms of knowing, testing, evaluating, and approving. Concomitantly, the education (’Bildung’) of students through and within scientific practices of research and inquiry (’Bildung durch Wissenschaft’) is interpreted against the backdrop of two opposite trajectories influencing students’ ambitions to engage with problems of science. Didactics of higher education therefore need to distinguish between long-term and short-term goals. It is argued that the latter concretizes the former. This understanding of teaching is corroborated against the backdrop of the concept of learning as ‘enculturation’ in science. The argumentation refers back to insights by Lev S. Vygotsky, Ludwik Fleck and Michael Polanyi.

Supporting English Language Learners in High-Stakes Literacy Testing

“…This provides helpful cultural knowledge to ELLs, despite the students' varying backgrounds. Also, similar to the aforementioned principles, an encouraging environment benefits how students learn, especially remotely, as evidenced in the enculturation research cited in the introduction (Ferguson et al, 2016;Hung & Cheng, 2007;Langemeyer, 2019).…”

“…Part of addressing this gap in culturally relevant knowledge includes immersing learners in the specifics of the OSSLT environment. We draw on research in enculturation (Ferguson et al, 2016;Hung & Cheng, 2007;Langemeyer, 2019) that points to the importance of immersing learners in given cultures in order to facilitate how they adapt to a new environment. Hung and Cheng (2007) stress the importance that learners "acquire not only explicit knowledge, but also experience the implicit…aspect of becoming part of a community" (p. 159).…”

“…Remote enculturation is defined as "a more modern form of learning culture…via indirect [and/or] intermittent exposure" (Ferguson et al, 2016, p. 166) and builds learners' ideas of a culture's collective "beliefs and identity" (Hung & Cheng, 2007, p. 152). Remote enculturation has shown to be beneficial to students by providing learning environments that match the cultural standards in which learners will be evaluated (Ferguson et al, 2016;Hung & Cheng, 2007;Langemeyer, 2019). In this paper, we critically analyse the design and development of an OSSLT preparatory tool which deliberately simulates the evaluatory environment of the OSSLT, and aims to narrow the cultural divide between ELLs' learning experiences and the OSSLT's testing environment.…”