A Comparison of the Social Positions Made Available by Students’ Work on Inquiry Artifacts

• In Event: Science Artifacts as Boundary Objects: Designs That Cross Social Settings

Abstract

Purpose
This comparative artifact analysis examines the kinds of science-related identities made socially available within three inquiry units by analyzing the social norms embedded within the key artifact students produced for each unit.
Theoretical Framework
I draw upon theories of normative identity (Cobb, Gresalfi, & Hodge, 2009) to argue that local classroom norms and norms derived from broadly-circulating discourses (i.e. scientific discourse, discourses of school reform) are embedded in and reinforced by students’ science artifacts in ways that have consequences for students’ opportunities to take positive and authoritative positions relative to their work in science class.
Methods
Data was collected during a one-year ethnography of an urban sixth grade science classroom. I examined the culminating project students produced in three different types of inquiry units: a data-driven collaborative argument project (biology unit) and a collaborative constructionist building challenge (physics unit). The expectations embedded in each project were analyzed in terms of how they constructed science, and the finished work of four focal students was examined in terms of the stances students took within their work.
Results
The argumentative biology essay captured the most sophisticated scientific thinking from students, while the working model roller coaster provided the greatest variety of authoritative roles for students to take up and functioned as a boundary object between home and school worlds. Analysis of the biology essay’s task structure showed that it fostered performances of scientific reasoning by scaffolding students to agree together on what counts as a good scientific explanation and to evaluate each other with those standards. However, the project required a significant amount of technological savvy and provided a limited number of authoritative roles for students, so some students were not as engaged in the work as others. A few missed opportunities for deeper connection with out-of-school worlds left this artifact bound within science class for most students rather than setting it up to function as a boundary object. Analysis of the rollercoaster challenge’s task structure showed that it fostered students’ uptake of authoritative roles due to the variety of flexible roles (designer, builder, time manager, troubleshooter, cheerleader) available, which made it easy for almost all the students to participate in enjoyable and authoritative ways. Additionally, several types of connections between out-of-school communities and interests set the coasters up to become boundary objects for many students. However, the assignment parameters deemphasized the connections between roller coaster construction and physics concepts, meaning science-specific norms were relatively unimportant to the construction of this artifact compared to artistic and practical considerations.
Significance
Given the emphasis on student-created artifacts in current approaches to teaching through inquiry, it is important to better understand what students get out of creating inquiry-based artifacts and which features of these projects best support students’ positive identification with science. I use my findings to suggest that artifact-based assignments should offer a wide variety of authoritative roles to students and include supports for student uptake of scientific norms.

Author

• Melissa Sunshine Cook, University of California - Los Angeles