Deborah J. Trumbull

Thinking scientifically during participation in a citizen-science project

A movement has begun recently to involve nonscientists in scientific investigations through projects in which a range of individuals gather data for use by scientists to investigate questions of research importance. These projects are frequently referred to as citizen-science projects, and the benefits are assumed to extend beyond the production of important large databases. Those who argue in support of citizen-science projects assume that participants will increase their understanding about the process of science through this engagement in authentic science, in contrast to traditional, tightly scripted school laboratory investigations. However, very little research on the impact of participating in such projects has been carried out. This article examines the letters written by more than 700 participants in a citizen-science project conducted by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Of these letters, which were unsolicited and not connected with a formal evaluation, nearly 80% revealed that participants had engaged in thinking processes similar to those that are part of science investigations. We cannot state that participation in a citizen-science project caused this thinking, but we can say that participation provided a forum in which participants engaged in these habits of thought. The letters also raise some issues about some misunderstandings of science that citizen-science projects should strive to address.

Relations Among Two Teachers’ Practices and Beliefs, Conceptualizations of the Nature of Science, and their Implementation of Student Independent Inquiry Projects

In this study we sought to understand factors that shaped teachers’ use of student inquiry projects. We examined, over 3 years, the practices and conceptions of two teachers involved in implementing student inquiry projects. Neither teacher was initially satisfied with her success at supporting student inquiry, but the two had very different responses to difficulties they faced. These responses related strongly to their ideas about how learning should be structured. There was less relation between their stated views about the nature of science and their use of inquiry than was expected. The teacher with espoused views about the nature of science generally in accord with reform documents did not support student inquiry projects that involved actual investigations. The teacher with views on the nature of science less aligned with reform documents worked hard to support student investigations in her classroom. Our findings support the claim that merely learning about the nature of science or about student inquiry may not generate changes in a teacher’s practice. On closer analysis, we found that the two teachers understood aspects of the nature of science from two quite different perspectives, the proximal and the distal. The proximal view of the nature of science was more closely aligned with implementation of actual student investigations. The efforts of these two teachers in implementing inquiry illustrate the dilemmas and challenges they faced as they attempted student inquiry projects.

Students' Actual and Perceived Use of Navigational and Guidance Tools in a Hypermedia Program

AbstractThis paper reports on exploratory research that examines the ways students used a hypermedia system. Outcome measures include the ways students learned to use the system, the strategies they used to search for information, the amount of relevant information located by their searches, and user perceptions about the system and their use of it. Forty-one students used four search modes (Browse, Index, Guide, or a Mixture) for searches of a highly visual, interactive program. Findings suggest that hypermedia system designers must develop a variety of interfaces to facilitate user searches, while attending to user needs, the task, and the environment. A visual metaphor proved to be an effective basis for the design of one search mode. Crucial questions are raised regarding user disposition and characteristics affecting search mode choice.

Learning to ask, listen, and analyse: using structured interviewing assignments to develop reflection in preservice science teachers

In this paper we report on work done with preservice science teachers in a course that aims to increase students’ abilities to reflect on their own pedagogical understandings. The course is part of a teacher education programme that embraces a constructivist philosophy and hopes to generate teachers able to help their future pupils learn science content and processes with greater depth of understanding than is too typically the case. Our paper begins with a description of the context of the course and a clarification of the notion of reflection. We move on to consider the interviewing activities that are designed to increase students’ understanding and reflection. In presenting the results of these activities we identify not only the kinds of understandings students developed but also what we as teachers learned and discuss some of the problems and dilemmas encountered in teaching this course.

Cutting into collaboration: understanding coordination in distributed and interdisciplinary medical research

Coordinating goals, schedules, and tasks among collaborators is difficult, and made even more so when there are disciplinary, geographic and institutional boundaries that must be spanned. Designing CSCW tools to support coordination in these settings, however, requires an improved under-standing of the constraints and conflicts that impede effective collaboration. We present findings from a study of distributed collaborations between academic surgeons and biomedical engineering researchers. These two groups differ significantly in their work priorities and institutional contexts, but are nonetheless able to work together and co-ordinate effectively. They accomplish this via human mediation, frequent ad hoc communication, and optimizing the use of their limited face-to-face interaction opportunities.

Factors Important for the Scholarship of Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices

This chapter links the scholarship on teaching to some central points in the scholarship on research approaches. It begins by presenting and analyzing some common adages regarding teacher education in order to clarify assumptions about the nature of teacher education. Each adage is examined to explicate its implicit views of knowledge, learning and schooling. The chapter then considers how the contexts of schooling a3ect the processes of teacher education and argues that complex contextual factors are central to our work in teacher education. It further argues that emotional reactions to the processes of growth encouraged in teacher education cannot be ignored. The chapter ends by arguing that all the factors discussed shape how our scholarship needs to be conducted in order to be useful and relates this to the wider literature on educational research.

Following a Student into Her Science Classroom to Better Understand the Tensions of Science Education

Much has been written about pedagogical content knowledge, and it continues to be an elusive yet tantalizing construct for science teacher educators. In my work in self-study of my teaching practices, I have spent considerable time examining the assignments given to students in my class by analyzing their work. In the process, I have learned much about my own practice. Although much of my work has focused on how novices develop, I have come to realize that I can also learn about factors that relate to how novices develop pedagogical content knowledge for teaching science. I present that case study of one student, Wendy, to illustrate some barriers to her development of pedagogical content knowledge and how those barriers were revealed in her early work in the teacher education program. In the process of studying Wendy’s development as a science teacher, my self-study helped me to understand and resolve my personal concerns about a significant tension in science education: formative assessment that supports learning versus standardized examinations that can constrain learning.

Teachers' Envisioning: A Foundation for Artistry.

Abstract This paper presents examples of the thinking of experienced teachers, examples that illustrate some characteristics of practitioner thinking. The argument is made that teacher education pays too little attention to a coherent conception of knowledge that would elucidate the development and refinement of practitioner thinking. The work of Rubin, Schoen, and Polanyi is cited to explicate conditions that could lead to the creation of artistic and reflective practice by improving practitioner thinking.