Solving complex problems is integral to science. Despite the importance of this
type of problem solving, little research has been done on how collaborative teams of
expert scientists and teams of informed novices solve problems in environmental science
and how experiences of this type affect the novices understandings of the nature of
science (NOS) and the novices teaching. This study addresses these questions: (1) how
do collaborative teams of scientists with distributed expertise and teams of informed
novices with various levels of distributed expertise solve complex environmental science
issues using web-based information and information technology (IT) analysis tools? and,
(2) how does working in a collaborative scientific team improve informed novicesÂ
understandings of the nature of authentic scientific inquiry and impact their classroom
inquiry products?
This study was conducted during Cohort II of the Information Technology in
Science project within the Sustainable Coastal Margins scientific group. Over two
summers, four environmental scientists from various disciplines led ten science teacher
and graduate student participants in learning how each discipline approaches and solves
environmental problems. Participants were also instructed about NOS by science
educators and designed an inquiry project for use in their classroom. After performing a pilot study of the project, they revised it during the second summer and the entire
experience culminated with diverse teams problematizing and solving environmental
issues.
Data were analyzed using statistical and qualitative techniques. Analysis
included evaluation of participants responses to a NOS pre- and posttest, their inquiry
projects, interviews, and final projects. Results indicate that scientists with distributed
expertise approach solving environmental problems differently depending on their
backgrounds, but that informed novice and expert teams used similar problem-solving
processes and had similar difficulties. As a result of the project, I developed a model of
distributed group problem solving for environmental science. ParticipantsÂ
understandings of NOS improved and matured after instruction and experience working
with scientists. The level of most instructional products was Âguided inquiry. The
implications are that working with scientists along with direct NOS instruction is
beneficial for teachers and science graduate students for their understanding of scientific
problem solving, but that much more work needs to be done to achieve authentic inquiry
in science classrooms at both secondary and post-secondary levels.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/3733 |
| Date | 16 August 2006 |
| Creators | Schroeder, Carolyn M. |
| Contributors | Loving, Cathleen C. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 737576 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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