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Verbal and social interaction patterns among elementary students during self-guided “I wonder projects”

Huziak, Tracy Lynn
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1058301820

Abstract Details

2003, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Educational Theory and Practice.
National standards for science teaching stress the use of inquiry teaching methods. One example of inquiry teaching is the I Wonder Project, which has been used in the Madison, WI Metropolitan School District for over ten years. The purpose of the I Wonder Project is to promote scientific discourse among elementary students through the publication of their research in a journal, similar in some ways to the scientific discourse within a community of scientists. This research study utilizes the I Wonder Project method to encourage student communication and self-guided project work. Approximately fifteen students ages 6-12 participated in a six-week self-guided inquiry project called I Wonder. Students worked as a cohort to learn science process skills and to build a scientific community. During this time, each student designed and carried out a self-guided inquiry project and wrote an article about their findings, which was presented on the last day of summer camp. A mixed method approach was used conduct this study. Participants were given a pretest and a posttest to determine the changes in scientific process skills as a result of participation in the project. The students were interviewed to determine their ideas about science and how those ideas changed over the time of participation in summer camp. Also the students were observed by the researchers, as well as audio- and video- taped to capture the verbal conversations and debates that take place as a result of discussion of ideas during the program. Students participated in this study as individuals and group members. Teacher and student interactions were noted to follow three main interaction styles: structured, guided and open-ended. These interactions work much like the inquiry levels described in the literature. Students also interacted with each other in three different ways: independently, dependently, and multifuncting. Some students wished to work alone, while others preferred others to contribute to their work as well. Finally, there were five main types of science talk described by this study based on Gees (1997) four types of science talk: design and debate, anomaly talk, everyday speculation talk, and explanation talk. What was also noted was an overwhelming amount of prior experience talk. Because students were given free choice in their topics of study, many chose to study topics that they had some interest or prior experience with. This led to a comparison of current findings to those they had already anticipated or expected. This study shows that self-guided inquiry projects require a range of interaction styles between students and also teachers. Many students need differing levels of support in order to be successful. In addition, it is important that students have an opportunity to select a topic of choice so that they have the opportunity to build on their scientific knowledge from their prior experiences.
Christopher Andersen (Advisor)
310 p.
Education, Sciences
science literacy; scientific discourse; elementary science methods; self-guided inquiry

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Huziak, T. L. (2003). Verbal and social interaction patterns among elementary students during self-guided “I wonder projects” [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1058301820

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Huziak, Tracy. Verbal and social interaction patterns among elementary students during self-guided “I wonder projects”. 2003. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1058301820.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Huziak, Tracy. "Verbal and social interaction patterns among elementary students during self-guided “I wonder projects”." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1058301820

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2003, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.