Tools, Problem Spaces, and Epistemic Games

• In Event: Discovery-Based STEM Learning 2.0: Are We There Yet?

Abstract

Objective
Inquiry-based pedagogies are criticized for involving unstructured searches for solutions. We examine the role that technology-mediated tools can play as scaffolds that allow students to “cognitively manipulate information in ways that are consistent with a learning goal” (Kirschner, Sweller, & Clark, 2006, p. 77). Such tools, we argue, can support particular epistemic games (Collins & Ferguson, 1993) that allow learners to organize, compare, and manipulate information and solutions in ways consistent with learning goals.

Theoretical Approach
Discovery-based learning environments engage learners in creating solutions to problems through inquiry and reflection. Often, the construction of digital artifacts is a part of this approach (e.g. Stratford et al., 1998; Van Joolingen & de Jong, 2007; Wilensky & Reisman, 2006). Implicit in these designs is the expectation that technological infrastructures can help learners organize and manipulate relevant subsets of information.

To explore this expectation, we leverage Collins and Ferguson’s (1993) notions of epistemic forms and epistemic games. Epistemic forms are representations (like lists, tables, or diagrams) that allow practitioners to organize and share knowledge, reveal new directions for inquiry, and compare and contrast ideas. Epistemic games are the strategies used to populate these forms.

We conjecture that the degree to which learners achieve relevant learning goals and generate problem solutions is related to the alignment between their engagement in certain epistemic games, and the epistemic forms they have available.

Methods
Student groups created animations and simulations during a two-weeks long classroom activity to explain evaporation and condensation (Authors, 2015d). Our goal was for students to “discover” the particulate and random nature of these phenomena through iterative testing and refinement of these digital artifacts.

We analyze the degree to which students played epistemic games appropriate for the simulation environment - that is, whether they described evaporation in terms of the objects, behaviors, and interactions involved. We also analyze whether students’ conversations reflected desired learning goals: mechanistic reasoning (e.g., Russ et al, 2008), and engagement with the random and particulate nature of matter (e.g., Johnstone, 1991).

Evidence & Results
Here we present content analyses of two focal groups, one successful and one unsuccessful. In the full paper, we will feature all participating student groups.

Group 1 did not engage in the “epistemic game” needed to leverage SiMSAM as an epistemic form (Figure 12). They described evaporation in terms of “phases”, and did not engage deeply in discussion of mechanism (Figure 13); likely drawing on prior school lessons that describe phases of the water cycle.

Group 2 did engage in the “epistemic game” of identifying objects, behaviors, and interactions. They described evaporation in terms of “vapor” that touches cold surfaces (Figure 14), and engaged deeply in discussion of mechanism and related learning goals (Figure 15); citing experiences with steam where visible particles “combust”.
Significance
Examining discovery through the lens of epistemic forms and games can help explain the effectiveness of such interventions, and inform the design of new supports for technology-mediated inquiry environments.

Authors

• Michelle Hoda Wilkerson, University of California - Berkeley

• Brian E. Gravel, Tufts University