Working as a Scientific Community: Collecting and Sharing Evidence From Camera Trap Photos of Our Schoolyard

• In Event: 26.024 - Collaborative Engagement and Science Learning via Technology

Abstract

We engaged middle school students in a six-week field study of schoolyard wildlife, with “camera trap” photos at the center of student inquiry. Our analysis concerns the students’ use of photos as data within a scaffolded technology-mediated environment called Common Knowledge. We compare patterns of note-taking activity against our curriculum designs. We identify five photo types that students attached to notes and perform a thematic analysis to understand the kind of information they convey. We analyze the congruency of photos and notes to understand the extent to which photos empirically supported notes. Our findings show that students were supported through a carefully structured inquiry sequence, note structure, and scaffold prompts.

Authors

• Rebecca M. Quintana, University of Toronto

• Tom Moher, University of Illinois at Chicago

• James D. Slotta, University of Toronto