Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Seeking to contribute clarity in understanding the essential characteristics of social science, the thesis this essay defends is that the legitimacy of "social science" as a distinct patterned activity oriented to attaining objective knowledge of humanity depends upon the recognition of its characteristic set of phenomena and that this set is comprised of meaningful behavior; this set was isolated by Max Weber in his major theoretical work and is the central subject matter of his empirical studies. Weber's approach and view is compared with that of the contemporary Chicago historian William H. Sewell, Jr.; specifically, examination of Sewell's view on the nature of the "social" leverages the importance of Weber's concept of "action" underlying "social action" and draws attention to the elemental importance of "action" for social science. Chapter 1 discusses science seen as a "social institution." In this context, the goal or end of "social science" is examined, and a discussion of Geertz' concept "cultural system" is introduced so as to offer clarity concerning the value of the concept of "social institution." Delineating the "social" for "social science" is argued to be essential for the testing of social scientific theories grounded in empirical phenomena. Chapter 2 engages Sewell's approach to the question of the "social" with a view toward the status of his response as an ontological claim and examines his definition of "semiotic practices." A theoretical discussion of the concepts of "action" and "social action" rooted in Weber's Economy and Society provides the framework for Chapter 3, and a discussion of the importance of explanation and understanding in Weber's view is developed. The central argument here is that the concept of "action" is elemental to Weber's approach. Chapter 4 looks forward and discusses the convergence of thought between Sewell and Max Weber and argues that the merits of this view are suggestive for contemporary scholarship. / 2031-01-02

Developing explanations is a key inquiry practice in national science standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) and essential for learning science content (McNeill & Krajcik, 2011) and is conceptualized as consisting of three aspects: claims, evidence, and reasoning (Toulmin, 1958). However, students often have difficulty with these tasks (McNeill & Krajcik, 2011; Schunn & Anderson, 1999). Prior work by our group (Sao Pedro et al., 2014) has shown that auto-scaffolding in Inq-ITS (Inquiry Intelligent Tutoring System; Gobert et al., 2013) can help students acquire inquiry skills and transfer them to a new science topic. These data provide a rationale for the work presented, namely, designing, developing, and evaluating a real-time scaffolding approach for the development of the inquiry practices specifically for data interpretation and warranting claims, which, to us, underlie the explanation practices necessary for communicating science findings. Unpacking these practices can help us better understand, assess, and, in turn, scaffold them. Specifically, this work addresses the: (1) design of scaffolds for data interpretation practices; (2) efficacy of scaffolds for supporting these practices using a modified Bayesian Knowledge Tracing framework that captures the complexities of science inquiry, and (3) transfer of these practices within one science topic to another. Results from this work show that the developed scaffolds were effective in aiding students’ acquisition and transfer of the assessed practices. As such, this research builds on prior work on the nature of explanation (McNeill & Krajcik, 2011) as well as prior work on the assessment and scaffolding of science inquiry skills (Gobert et al, 2013; Sao Pedro et al., 2014).

This study investigates learners‟ understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI) in relation to their classroom experiences. Using the constructs of nature of scientific inquiry; inquiry-based teaching and learning; and principles of scientific inquiry as theoretical lenses, the study empirically explored learners‟ (n = 120) understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry which were captured through a questionnaire called Learners‟ understanding of science and scientific inquiry (LUSSI) and interviews and their perceptions of classroom inquiry (their experiences of inquiry were elicited through a questionnaire called Principles of scientific inquiry- student (PSI-S) and interviews). The participants were one hundred and twenty learners, 60 from each of two schools in an Education District in Lesotho. Eight learners, four from each school participated in the interviews. At the centre, the investigation sought to understand whether there was any relationship between learners‟ perceptions of their experiences of scientific inquiry and their understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry. As a result, this study was guided by the following questions: what are learners‟ understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry? What are learners‟ perceptions of their experiences of scientific inquiry? Are learners‟ understandings of NOSI in any way related to their experiences of scientific inquiry? Typological approach was used to analyse the qualitative data and descriptive statistics for analysing the quantitative data. The results of this study suggest that learners hold less informed understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry and that learners are experiencing closed-inquiry in their science classroom. The results also show that other learners‟ experiences of scientific inquiry are not related to their understandings of the nature of scientific inquiry. It was recommended that teachers should engage learners in inquiry activities rather than always carrying out teacher-demonstrations. It is also recommended that further studies should be done in Lesotho to examine the relationship between learners‟ understandings of NOSI and their perceptions of their classroom experiences.

No abstract available

The main purpose of this study was to explore the influence of using "scientific inquiry ability scoring rubric" to be the learning scaffold and self-assessment stratagem in experiment curriculum on students' scientific inquiry ability. A quasi-experimental study was implemented in a university for one semester. Of the two classes participated in this study, one received the designed teaching stratagem and the other the traditional experiment curriculum. Students' reports were scored and sufficient data of quality were collected after each experiment to test the differences of the two classess, further analysed the self-assessment data and learning-questionnaire to assess students¡¦ perceptions. In addition, the influence of students' motive on learning was also investigated. The results obtained from this study are summarized as follows: 1. Among six abilities studied those belonging to "Nature of scientific inquiry" and "Communication"¡]¡¨forming a question¡¨, ¡¨the completeness of procedures¡¨, ¡¨the sufficiency of data¡¨, ¡§the organization of data¡¨, ¡§transferring data¡¨, ¡§reviewing and evaluating¡¨¡^had a greater progress under this stratagem. 2. Students changed step by step on four inquiry-ability dimensions (i.e., bring up self inquiry questions, try to transfer data to improve science communication etc.) during this investigation period. 3. The correlation between assessments of teachers' and those of students' increased gradually, but there was no significant difference in performance between hit and miss self-assessors. 4. Students had positive attitudes toward the self-assessment questionnaire. About 80¢Mstudents accepted that using the rubrics was beneficial for learning."Attitude" and "Science Learning Value" are the two items of students' motive that showed significant relation with their learning effects.

This exploratory, descriptive and interpretive study investigated the interactions among learners’ conceptions of the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI), teachers’ conceptions of NOSI and teacher instructional practices when teaching investigations in Physical Science. The participants were South Africa, Grade 11 learners (n= 167) and teachers (n=5), from five schools in the Johannesburg region of South Africa. The schools were conveniently and purposefully sampled. Learners’ and teachers’ conceptions on six NOSI tenets were investigated. These tenets are: difference between laws and theories; difference between observation and interpretation; there is no one method in science; accurate record keeping, peer review and replicability in science; socially and culturally embeddedness nature of scientific knowledge; and the role of human creativity and imagination in the development of scientific knowledge. Data on learners’ and teachers’ conceptions of the NOSI was obtained through; questionnaires, probes and interviews. Teacher instructional practices were determined using laboratory class observations, questionnaires, teacher and learner interviews, and analysis of instructional materials. The data was quantitatively analyzed using mainly, descriptive statistics, correlations, Regression Analysis and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). Qualitative data was analyzed using a combination of analytic induction and interpretive analysis. The results show that learners’ NOSI conceptions were inconsistent, fragmented and fluid, with the majority of the learners displaying naïve conceptions. Teachers were found to hold mixed NOSI conceptions ranging from static, empiricist-aligned to dynamic, constructivist-oriented. Teacher instructional practices were found to be a repertoire of contrasting methodological approaches lying along a continuum ranging from close-ended inquiry to open-ended inquiry. The study found the interactions between and among the investigated variables to be weak and not direct and simple, but complex and under the governance of a variety of factors in the instructional milieu. Curriculum and assessment demands were found to be major factors possibly responsible for weakening the interactions. For the investigated variables, it is posited that the interaction between variables is under the governance of both the context in which the instruction takes place and some factors already embedded in the teacher’s or learner’s conceptual ecology. Recommendations and implications for the practice of science education and future research are raised and discussed.

This mixed methods study was designed to compare the effect of using an inquiry teaching methodology and a more traditional teaching methodology on the learning gains of students who were taught a five-week conceptual change unit on density.

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to investigate the practice of scientific inquiry in two secondary biology classes and one agriculture class from different schools in different communities. The focus was on teachers' interests and intentions for the students' participation in inquiry, the voices contributing to the inquiry, and students' opportunities to confront their conceptions of the nature of science (NOS). The Partnership for Research and Education in Plants (PREP) served as the context by providing students with opportunities to design and conduct original experiments to help elucidate the function(s) of a disabled gene in Arabidopsis thaliana. Transcripts of teacher and student semi-structured interviews, field notes of classroom observations and classroom conversations, and documents (e.g., student work, teacher handouts, school websites, PREP materials) were analyzed for evidence of the practice of scientific inquiry. Teachers were interested in implementing inquiry because of potential student learning about scientific research and because PREP supports course content and is connected to a larger scientific project outside of the school. Teachers' intentions regarding the implementation of inquiry reflected the complexity of their courses and the students' previous experiences. All inquiries were student-directed. The biology students' participation more closely mirrored the practice of scientists, while the agriculture students were more involved with the procedural display of scientific inquiry. All experiences could have been enhanced from additional knowledge-centered activities regarding scientific reasoning. No activities brought explicit attention to NOS. Biology activities tended to implicitly support NOS while the agriculture class activities tended to implicitly contradict NOS. Scientists' interactions contributed to implied support of the NOS. There were missed opportunities for explicit attention to NOS in all classes. The major voices contributing to the inquiry in all classrooms included those of teachers, students, technology, scientists, textbooks, and mandated standards; however, they were more prevalent in the biology classrooms than the agriculture classroom. The powers influencing the voice frequency may be related to the teachers' own teaching and research experiences, as well as the alignment of the expectations and values of students' participation in scientific inquiry and those associated with the school-classroom communities and the students' identities. / Ph. D.

Physical-Computing-Geräten wie Robotern und Mikrocontrollern wird eine wichtige Rolle als Lernmedium für Schülerinnen und Schüler zugesprochen. Zu lernende Kontexte sind ähnlich vielfältig wie die inzwischen existierenden Geräte. Die Komplexität der Systeme ist mannigfaltig und bisherige Forschung geht zumeist von dem Gerät als Forschungsgegenstand aus. Im Rahmen dieser Dissertation wird von einem geräteunabhängigen Physical- Computing-Prozess als Problemlöseprozess ausgegangen, um ein Fundament für nachhaltige und geräteunabhängige Forschung zu schaffen sowie Physical Computing als Unterrichtsgegenstand zu beschreiben. Aufgrund von Merkmalen, wie der Arbeit mit Sensorik und Aktuatorik sowie dem iterativen Testen und Evaluieren, scheint Physical Computing Ähnlichkeiten zu dem naturwissenschaftlichen Experiment aufzuweisen. Dieser Zusammenhang und die potentiellen Auswirkungen auf die Informatikdidaktik werden in den folgenden drei Ausprägungsformen untersucht. Basierend auf Modellen aus der Literatur wird ein Modell des Physical-Computing- Prozesses abgeleitet und mithilfe empirischer Studien adaptiert. Bei dem Vergleich der Prozesse der wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisgewinnung und des Physical Computing können diverse Gemeinsamkeiten festgestellt werden. Insbesondere verlaufen die Prozesse parallel zueinander, was die Grundlage für einen MINT-Problemlöseprozess bildet. Bislang wurden konkrete Probleme von Schülerinnen und Schülern bei der Interaktion mit den Geräten peripher beschrieben. In dieser Arbeit wird eine Analyse von Problemursachen vorgenommen und auftretende Probleme werden kategorisiert. Probleme, die gleichzeitig mehrere Problemursachen haben, werden aufgedeckt und eine Problemtaxonomie zur Beschreibung von Problemursachen abgeleitet. Ein mehrstufiges Feedback-Modell zur Unterstützung des Problemlösens in Physical- Computing-Aktivitäten wird basierend auf der Problemtaxonomie entwickelt. Durch eine empirische Untersuchung wird es als unterstützend für den Physical-Computing-Prozess evaluiert und bildet damit ein Modell zur Entwicklung von kognitiven Tutorensystemen für Physical Computing. / Physical computing devices like robots and microcontrollers play an important role as learning devices for students. These devices as well as the learning contexts are multifaceted. The complexities of the systems are diverse and the existing research is usually concentrated on the devices. This thesis develops as a starting point a device-independent physical computing process by seeing it as problem-solving process. The goal is to construct a base for sustained and device-independent physical computing research and to describe physical computing as a school subject. The physical computing process seems to share similarities with the scientific inquiry process, because of characteristics like working with sensors and actuators and iterativ testing and evaluating. This relation and the implications on computer science education are explored in the following three facets. Based on existing literature, a model of the physical computing process is derived and supplemented by empirical data. In the comparison of the scientific inquiry and the physical computing processes substantial commonalities are identified. Hence, a base for a joint STEM problem-solving process is built. So far, concrete students’ problems during the activities with physical computing devices are described as a side product. In this thesis problem sources are uncovered and occurring problems categorized. Problems having more than one problem source are uncovered and a problem taxonomy is derived from that. Based on the problem taxonomy, a multilevel feedback model to support problem solving during physical computing activities is developed. With an empirical exploration, the taxonomy is evaluated. Results indicate that the taxonomy is supportive for achieving the physical computing process. Finally a model for a cognitive tutoring system for physical computing is outlined.

Nature of Science (NOS) har varit i utbildares och forskares blickfång länge. Elevers kunskaper är av intresse att analysera eftersom det kan bidra till en utveckling av lärares undervisning och förståelse av lärandeprocesser i no-ämnena. Syftet med studien var att analysera hur elever i årskurs 4 ser på vad som är en vetenskaplig undersökning och ett experiment. Den data som används i studien består av redan insamlade frågeformulär från 2019. Studiens data analyseras genom en innehållsanalys. Resultatet visar att elevers kunskaper om undersökningar och experiment är varierande. Eleverna ger exempel på att undersökningar kan innefatta att antingen titta först och sedan ställa en fråga eller tvärtom och att ett experiment kan innebära att blanda eller att prova sig fram. Lärare kan utveckla sin undervisning genom att exempelvis använda elevnära innehåll som eleven känner igen och kan relatera till eller använda modeller och metoder för att visa på systematik och underbyggda slutsatser för att bidra till en högre förståelse om naturvetenskaplig kunskap hos eleverna.