The purpose of this study is to explore and document the nature of children's
participation in elementary school science in British Columbia, Canada.
Using an ethnographic approach, extensive fieldnotes provide the foundation
addressing the question "What is the activity of science in an elementary
school?" Although current science curriculum documents continue to cast
science at school as a possible mirror of science in the 'real' world, this is a
thesis about elementary school science and a community of inquiry that
evolves at school. Instead of separating process and content, this thesis
emphasizes their co-emergence. Drawing upon sociocultural and enactivist
perspectives, the focus is on learning and context, learner and content as they
co-evolve.
This study was conducted in one elementary class at the intermediate level
(Grade 6/7) across one school year. The teacher and I collaborated to plan and
teach science with a focus on creating opportunities for children to participate.
Children embarked on three extensive science adventures with their teacher,
working in teams of four or five and learning as a community of inquiry.
Using audio taped records of children's and the teacher's comments,
children's creations, as well as my fieldnotes, I construct a narrative of one
year of school science. Researcher, children, and teacher describe what it
means to participate in a diversity of ways and, if we wish to understand how
children learn science it is important to listen.
Data analysis reveals the importance of contexts for participation in
elementary school science. In particular, I identify "spaces of inquiry" that
afforded students diverse opportunities to participate with science content in
a community of inquiry. They are generative spaces, rehearsal spaces, and
performative spaces. Spaces of inquiry are important because they provide an
alternative way to think about learning and teaching science, they provide
opportunities for designing collaborative group work, and they challenge
educators to consider children's contributions to their science learning.
Overall, this ethnographic study illustrates a dynamic interdependence of
learners and their environment in this open-ended, creative adventure in
and through school science.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/9555 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Mueller, Andrea Christiane |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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