How technology resources can be used to represent personal inquiry and support students' understanding of it across contexts

The Personal Inquiry project is an investigation into the role that technologies can play in enabling effective inquiry. Whilst it is generally agreed that inquiry based learning has potential for student learning, especially in science, three main challenges remain. The first is to provide effective support for inquiry learning, for both students and teachers; the second is to be able to support inquiry learning across a range of contexts including formal settings such as classrooms and informal settings such as the home and the final challenge is to support inquiries that engage the students.This paper addresses how inquiry based activities for students and the teacher orchestration of such activities across time and contexts can be supported by technology, using scripting. Personalisation of the inquiries in terms of relevance and providing students with choice about the inquiries they carry out is an important part of the project’s objective to engage students. A framework for the inquiry learning process is presented and how this framework has influenced the design of the software nQuire is illustrated. Examples are drawn from trials with the software in several different settings with children working on science and geography investigations.

[1]  Gillian H. Roehrig,et al.  Constraints experienced by beginning secondary science teachers in implementing scientific inquiry lessons , 2004 .

[2]  Ton de Jong,et al.  Co-Lab: research and development of an online learning environment for collaborative scientific discovery learning , 2005, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[3]  P. Klein,et al.  Using Inquiry to Enhance the Learning and Appreciation of Geography. , 1995 .

[4]  Heinz Mandl,et al.  Scripting Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning , 2007 .

[5]  James D. Slotta,et al.  Internal and external collaboration scripts in web-based science learning at schools , 2005, CSCL.

[6]  Patrick Jermann,et al.  Designing Integrative Scripts , 2007 .

[7]  Ronald D. Anderson.  Reforming Science Teaching: What Research Says About Inquiry , 2002 .

[8]  C. Chinn,et al.  Epistemologically Authentic Inquiry in Schools: A Theoretical Framework for Evaluating Inquiry Tasks , 2002 .

[9]  Ton de Jong,et al.  Technological Advances in Inquiry Learning , 2006 .

[10]  Päivi Häkkinen,et al.  Educational Perspectives on Scripting CSCL , 2007 .

[11]  Pierre Dillenbourg,et al.  Flexibility in macro CSCL scripts , 2007 .

[12]  Marcia C. Linn,et al.  Technology and science education: Starting points, research programs, and trends , 2003 .

[13]  Robert H. Mayer,et al.  Inquiry into Place as an Introduction to World Geography—Starting with Ourselves , 1995 .

[14]  Barbara Y. White,et al.  Student goal orientation in learning inquiry skills with modifiable software advisors , 1999 .

[15]  J. Bruner.  The act of discovery. , 1961 .

[16]  Richard E. Clark,et al.  Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching , 2006 .

[17]  Russell G. Congalton,et al.  Tools for Successful Student–Teacher–Scientist Partnerships , 2002 .

[18]  Rosemary Luckin,et al.  “Making it real”: exploring the potential of augmented reality for teaching primary school science , 2006, Virtual Reality.

[19]  J. Frederiksen,et al.  Inquiry, Modeling, and Metacognition: Making Science Accessible to All Students , 1998 .

[20]  Douglas B. Clark,et al.  WISE design for knowledge integration , 2003 .

[21]  Roy D. Pea,et al.  Addressing the Challenges of Inquiry-Based Learning Through Technology and Curriculum Design , 1999 .

[22]  Mark Gaved,et al.  Activity Guide : An Approach to Scripting Inquiry Learning , 2009 .

[23]  Leopold E. Klopfer,et al.  The role of inquiry in science education: Analysis and recommendations , 1981 .

[24]  William A. Sandoval,et al.  The Quality of Students' Use of Evidence in Written Scientific Explanations , 2005 .

[25]  Mike Sharples,et al.  Maintaining Continuity of Inquiry Learning Experiences across Contexts: Teacher's Management Strategies and the Role of Technology , 2010, EC-TEL.

[26]  Erin Marie Furtak,et al.  The problem with answers: An exploration of guided scientific inquiry teaching , 2006 .

[27]  Lynn A. Bryan,et al.  Technology-Enhanced Inquiry Tools in Science Education: An Emerging Pedagogical Framework for Classroom Practice. , 2007 .

[28]  Mike Sharples,et al.  Creating Personal Meaning through Technology-Supported Science Inquiry Learning across Formal and Informal Settings , 2012 .

[29]  Alla Keselman.  Supporting Inquiry Learning by Promoting Normative Understanding of Multivariable Causality. , 2003 .

[30]  Pierre Tchounikine,et al.  Flexibility in macro-scripts for computer-supported collaborative learning , 2007, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[31]  Daniel L. Schwartz,et al.  Software for managing complex learning: Examples from an educational psychology course , 1999 .

[32]  Julian Swain,et al.  Students' discussions in practical scientific inquiries , 2004 .