The Impact of Disciplinary Framing Upon Early Elementary Students’ Representational Critiques

• In Event: Learning Sciences Perspectives on Framing, Affect, and Epistemologies

Abstract

Two core assumptions of the learning sciences are that the context of learning matters, and that discipline-specific perspectives are valuable. However, few studies explicitly explore how students respond to cues of disciplinary framing. Our study addresses this by exploring how first and second grade students (n=40) engage with critiquing representations (storybooks of honeybees collecting nectar) when randomly assigned to either a science or language arts context, both before and after a 10-week intervention to learn the science content. Results indicate that students as young as first and second grade are acutely aware of disciplinary contexts and are likely to critique features in one setting that are overlooked in the other.

Authors

• Joshua Adam Danish, Indiana University

• Kylie A. Peppler, Indiana University - Bloomington

• David Phelps, Indiana University

• Alejandro Andrade, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Justin Whiting, Indiana University