"Catch of the Day" is an ethnographic case study of children's perceptions,
experiences, and explorations, as well as their learning, in the informal social context of
recreational fishing. The intent of the study was to observe what the children experienced and
explored, analyze how they shared their experiences with the other participants, interpret their
explanations and extensions, and determine their perceptions of their fishing experience.
Constructivism and situated cognition provided a theoretical perspective for the study
that was congruent with the naturalistic inquiry research design and methods used. Small
groups of children were videotaped as they fished off a marine float and interviewed after they
had reviewed their video. Observations focused specifically on the children's verbal and nonverbal
behaviours as they interacted with their social and physical environment. Transcriptions
provided a database for the construction of individual "Fish Tales," vignettes of the fishing
experience from the child's point of view. The interpretive commentaries highlight salient
details from the researcher's perspective as a participant observer on the site. Examples of the
children's levels of engagement in learning are listed under Feher's (1990) categories
(Experience, Explore, Explain, Extend) so that comparisons can be made among the children.
The findings showed an increasing differentiation in the children's levels of
engagement, from universal sensory and perceptual experiences to unique examples of
abstract cognition (explanations and extensions). The children's drawings revealed
misconceptions in marine ecology that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. The findings
also revealed a range of children's perceptions, and these affected not only what the children
learned but also how the children learned and acted at the site. Authentic science experiences
such as fishing promote children's engagement in collaborative problem solving and learning
in marine education and have the potential to reduce the gap between classroom learning and
cognition in practice.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/4634 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Parker, Ann Louise |
| 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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