The Interrogative Model of Inquiry and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

The purpose of the study was to examine how the Interrogative Modelof Inquiry (I-Model), developed by Jaakko Hintikka and Matti Sintonenfor the purposes of epistemology and philosophy of science, could be applied to analyze elementary schoolstudents' process of inquiry in computer-supported learning. We review the basic assumptions of I-Model,report results of empirical investigation of the model in the context of computer-supportedcollaborative learning, and discuss pedagogical implications of the model. The results of the studyfurnished evidence that elementary school students were able to transform initially vagueexplanation-seeking question to a series of more specific subordinate questions while pursuing theirknowledge-seeking inquiry. The evidence presented indicates that, in an appropriate environment, it is entirelypossible for young students, with computer-supportfor collaborative learning, to engage in sophisticatedknowledge seeking analogous to scientific inquiry. We argue that the interrogative approach to inquiry canproductively be applied for conceptualizing inquiry in the context of computer-supported learning.

[1]  P. Kitcher.  The Child as Parent of The Scientist , 1988 .

[2]  N. Enzer,et al.  Psychogenesis and the History of Science , 1990 .

[3]  M. Chi.  Quantifying Qualitative Analyses of Verbal Data: A Practical Guide , 1997 .

[4]  D. Norman,et al.  To Ask a Question, One Must Know Enough to Know What Is Not Known. Report No. 7802. , 1978 .

[5]  Marlene Scardamalia,et al.  An Attainable Version of High Literacy: Approaches to Teaching Higher-Order Skills in Reading and Writing , 1987 .

[6]  H. Feigl,et al.  Minnesota studies in the philosophy of science , 1956 .

[7]  E. Caldin,et al.  The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory , 1955 .

[8]  P. Hewson,et al.  Accommodation of a scientific conception: Toward a theory of conceptual change , 1982 .

[9]  Jaakko Hintikka.  What is the logic of experimental inquiry? , 2004, Synthese.

[10]  Nuel D. Belnap,et al.  The logic of questions and answers , 1976 .

[11]  Andrzej Wiśniewski,et al.  The posing of questions : logical foundations of erotetic inferences , 1995 .

[12]  Dudley Shapere,et al.  Scientific Theories and Their Domains , 1984 .

[13]  M. Sintonen.  In Search of Explanations: from Why-questions to Shakespearean Questions , 1993, Philosophica.

[14]  Ann L. Brown,et al.  Guided discovery in a community of learners. , 1994 .

[15]  J. Moravcsik,et al.  Aristotle on adequate explanations , 1974, Synthese.

[16]  T. Kuhn,et al.  The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , 1963 .

[17]  Abbie Brown,et al.  Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in c , 1992 .

[18]  E. Zemach.  Human understanding , 1992, Synthese.

[19]  J. Hintikka.  A dialogical model of teaching , 1982, Synthese.

[20]  Jean Piaget,et al.  Psychogenesis and the History of Science , 1988 .

[21]  Matti Sintonen.  Chapter 4: Structuralism and the Interrogative Model of Inquiry , 1996 .

[22]  Matti Sintonen,et al.  How to Put Questions to Nature , 1990, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement.

[23]  M. Sintonen.  How evolutionary theory faces the reality , 1991, Synthese.

[24]  A. Flew,et al.  Patterns of Discovery. , 1961 .

[25]  John B. Kidd,et al.  Models of Discovery , 1978 .

[26]  Marlene Scardamalia,et al.  Computer Support for Knowledge-Building Communities , 1994 .

[27]  Carl Bereiter,et al.  Referent-centred and problem-centred knowledge: Elements of an educational epistemology , 1992 .

[28]  M. Scardamalia,et al.  Text-Based and Knowledge Based Questioning by Children , 1992 .

[29]  C. Bereiter,et al.  Epistemology of scientific inquiry and computer-supported collaborative learning , 1998 .

[30]  Richard E. Grandy,et al.  Psychology and epistemology: match or mismatch when applied to science education? , 1990 .

[31]  Ashwin Ram,et al.  A Theory of Questions and Question Asking , 1991 .

[32]  Matti Sintonen.  The pragmatics of scientific explanation , 1984 .

[33]  Marlene Scardamalia,et al.  Technologies for knowledge-building discourse , 1993, CACM.