Using Gee’s (2004) notion of ‘affinity spaces’ – places where people collaboratively interact in response to a common interest or affinity – this paper examines how a week-long astronomy camp can shape student self-identities. The paper also examines the design of the camp and notes that it successfully blends the ‘student-led research’ approach with the ‘cognitive-apprenticeship model’.
In this article, Lyon, Jafri, and St. Louis discuss the limitations of the concept of the “STEM pipeline,” an analogy commonly used in education and policy discussions to describe the academic progression of students from elementary school through higher education in STEM, ideally resulting in employment in a science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) field. Based on a decade of experience with the urban out-of-school time (OST) program Project Exploration, the authors propose a conceptual framework that supports youth development goals in addition to STEM learning. The Youth-Science
In this study, researchers investigated the commonly held view that collaboration improves scientific argumentation. The study tested the perspective that in collaborative investigations individuals build off each others' ideas, taking advantage of different cognitive and monitoring resources in the group, in order to develop more compelling and accurate scientific arguments than they would have if they had been working alone. The study results showed a mix of outcomes for the students.
The researcher of this study presents definitive arguments for the need to move beyond a “school-centric” approach to studying how people learn. Citing ecological perspectives on learning, this paper claims that for an understanding of how people develop interests, participation, and fluency in a given domain, it is necessary to first examine how these interests are developed and nurtured across time and settings. The researcher provides three case studies of teens who familiarized themselves with electronic technologies, each of them following different pathways, all of which spanned multiple
Students working in small groups during a field trip to a nature center prioritized the maintenance of social roles within groups of friends rather than exhibiting the behaviors that educators might desire a well-functioning group to engage in for science learning. ISE professionals may consider teaching strategies to help students learn to work through disagreements and discussion within a group, which students perceive as having long-lasting negative social consequences.
Do video games have positive impacts on the academic K–12 curriculum? The authors of this paper conducted a literature review of more than 300 research articles on the use of video games in the classroom. Their analysis found minimal evidence that video games have positive effects on mathematics and science learning.
This study reports on how high school students use scientifically correct language to articulate the concept of ‘force’. Although the analysis is somewhat complex, the importance of this study is its research of how the students engage with scientific concepts and language, and moreover, how they use and apply it.
Based on the data from the international student assessment study PISA, this research examines student interest in science as pointed out by measures of knowledge, affect, and value, and compares findings between four countries with contrasting cultural values. The authors argue that whilst levels of knowledge, value, and affect need to be understood in relation to the students’ cultural context, in general, an individual’s motivation for future participation in science, whatever their nationality, seems to be indicated by their current levels of enjoyment of science.
Scientists regularly use interactive visualizations and models of abstract phenomena in their work. There is a growing body of evidence showing students could also benefit from interactive visualizations. This study compared the impact of inquiry-based science instruction incorporating interactive visualizations with that of traditional instruction on students’ knowledge integration across science courses.
This design experiment integrated students’ everyday discourses and knowledge into classroom scientific practice, thereby allowing for the creation of hybrid spaces, where students were able to meaningfully apply science learning to their everyday lives. This research shows that providing students with opportunities to co-author their learning can engage students more deeply.
This study investigates the relationship between science learning, science learning identities, and student agency. To support the development of science learning identities, the authors argue for the need to provide children/youth with opportunities to engage with science in ways that meaningfully blend the world of science with students' social worlds. This paper can help ISE educators leading youth programs consider the ways they listen to voices and interests of children/youth in order to affirm and support their development of identities as productive science learners.
How do students understand through talk and interaction with their resources? This series of articles reviews conceptual change through social interaction, learning opportunities that support students’ gaining understanding of genetics, and institutional constraints that influence students’ discussions.