Ritsuko Oshima

Design Experiments in Japanese Elementary Science Education with Computer Support for Collaborative Learning: Hypothesis Testing and Collaborative Construction.

This paper reports design experiments on two Japanese elementary science lesson units in a sixth‐grade classroom supported by computer support for collaborative learning (CSCL) technology as a collaborative reflection tool. We took different approaches in the experiments depending on their instructional goals. In the unit ‘air and how things burn’, we designed the unit where groups of students engaged in building theories on ‘how a candle stops burning in a closed jar’. In the unit ‘characteristics of various solutions’, groups of students collaboratively constructed a pH scale as knowledge artefact. In both studies, the CSCL technology was implemented mainly for facilitating collaboration between groups. Results showed that: (1) students were more likely to engage in symmetric communication (i.e. between groups as well as within groups) in the second unit, and (2) they were also more idea‐centred and more frequently shared their ideas in the second unit. The results were discussed from the perspectives of the scientific practices students engaged in and task structure.

Changing Teachers’ Epistemological Perspectives: A case study of teacher–researcher collaborative lesson studies in Japan

Lesson study in Japan, the practice in which teachers work collaboratively and reflectively with colleagues on improving their classroom teaching, has recently attracted attention internationally as an effective means of teachers’ professional development. Although lesson study is very useful for helping new teachers join the profession and for teachers to develop pedagogical knowledge, its effectiveness is less clear when teachers have to understand new epistemologies for new forms of learning and teaching. This paper describes a variation of lesson study, called design study, which takes the concept further to involve teachers and researchers working together as a design team. Specifically it describes the development of an experienced classroom teacher through his participation in a design‐based research practice, tracing how he shifted his focus towards epistemological issues and successfully developed new pedagogical content knowledge. The paper describes how such a design‐based collaborative study might enrich teacher knowledge, and articulates possible factors that might contribute to it as a successful practice.

Teachers and Researchers as a Design Team: changes in their relationship through a design experiment using Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL) technology

Design experiment is a new approach to educational research that could lead to a major change in educational practices in schools. This article analyses a design experiment carried out in Japan, focusing on the elementary science curriculum, and using a Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL) technology, called Knowledge Forum®. The authors outline two particular challenges faced by participants in this experimental work: the redesign of the classroom environment, and the management of the design team. They illustrate how, in its first year, this team failed both in successfully managing its teamwork and in designing classrooms in such a way that students could engage in knowledge-building activities. Such failure, they argue, was because team members continued to work as members of different and distinct communities, i.e. researchers from the community of the learning sciences and teachers from the lesson study community. The authors analyze how they attempted to create a new institutional context for the design research in the second year of the project, in order to improve the organizational structure and work of the design team. By collaboratively engaging in every step of the lesson study, conflict between participants in the design team could be discussed and the distinctive perspectives of the educational communities of the participants recognized. Distributed/shared cognitive processes in the instructional design, together with classroom-based analysis, they argue led the team to be more productive.

KBDeX: A Platform for Exploring Discourse in Collaborative Learning

Abstract Knowledge building as defined in this study is emergent collaborative learning on ill-structured tasks. Although discourses in collaborative learning have been analyzed with traditional qualitative approaches in the learning sciences field, it is difficult to capture the group dynamics. Hence, we are trying to establish a methodology for discourse analysis in collaborative learning from the perspective of complex network science. In order to conduct this study effectively, we are currently developing an application platform, called Knowledge Building Discourse Explorer (KBDeX). The goal of this project is not only to facilitate productive communication between researchers who are concerned with research on knowledge building or emergent collaborative learning, but also to encourage students to explore their own group dynamics by themselves. KBDeX is an analysis platform to visualize network structures of discourse based on the bipartite graph of words × discourse units. KBDeX can visualize them into three different network structures of: (1) students, (2) discourse units, and (3) selected words. The users can explore these three networks with its coefficients and analyze the discourse across phases or in a and stepwise way. Using discourse which has been already analyzed with a traditional qualitative approach, we will demonstrate the beneficial attributes of the KBDeX platform.

Learners’ use of SNA-based discourse analysis as a self-assessment tool for collaboration

In this paper, we examine a methodology for assessing ‘21st century skills’ in the classroom. We have developed a tool named the knowledge building discourse explorer (KBDeX) to facilitate social network analysis-based analysis of collaborative learning discourses. A purpose of this study is to assess the capability of KBDeX as a self-assessment tool for learners. An experimental study was conducted with seven university students, and the results were qualitatively evaluated. This paper presents four cases of students using the tool, and analyses the following: 1 the semantic relationship of words 2 trend analysis using degree centrality charts 3 analysis of pivotal points, phases, and characteristics of the discussion 4 analysis of a social network by using semantics. We confirmed satisfactory results that student findings fit within the theoretical framework of the network analysis and were grounded by discourse data.

Application of Social Network Analysis to Collaborative Problem Solving Discourse: An Attempt to Capture Dynamics of Collective Knowledge Advancement

This chapter presents an analysis of collaborative knowledge building in the PLTL corpus using a Social Network Analysis approach. The goal is to present an analysis of collective knowledge advancement that goes beyond what has been accomplished using existing methodologies and offers a unique bird’s eye view of how knowledge advancement proceeds over time.

Design experiments for integrating a CSCL technology into Japanese elementary science education

We designed CSCL-based science lessons for 4th and 6th grade. The CSCL technology we used was Knowledge Forum (KF), the second generation of CSILE software. In the first year, we designed the lesson in which KF was used as an extra communication tool. Goal-sensitive assessments for the lesson showed that students did not frequently discuss on the lesson concepts in a cognitive manner. The lesson design in the second year was revised by providing students with cognitive scaffolds so that they could more articulately discuss their thoughts as objects. Comparative analyses manifested that students in the second year were more engaged in science activities through social construction of their knowledge on KF. Design principles we found to be effective are discussed.

CSCL-Based Pre-Service Teacher Program as Knowledge Building

The study reports two design experiments on the pre-service teacher program to advance their understanding of learning as knowledge building. We designed the course with a CSCL tool. In the first year, we did not have information on students’ characteristics. Analyses of students’ final essays and their discourse activities on the CSCL showed: (1) that we failed to improve students’ understanding at our expected level, (2) that collaborative students reached a deeper understanding than isolated students, and (3) that students’ beliefs of didactic instruction resisted the new perspective on learning we introduced. In the second year, we designed the course to overcome students’ resistance and to facilitate more frequent collaboration among them by: (1) making the course project-based, (2) having students in a small group use a computer for their collaboration between groups, and (3) involving them in collaborative problem-solving as learners. Results in the second year, compared with those in the first year, showed a crucial improvement of students’ conceptual understanding.