Exploring How Students Construct Scientific Explanations After Implementation of an Immersive Virtual Environment

• In Event: Learning Science Through Engaging in the Practices of Science

Abstract

Immersive virtual environments (IVEs) hold great potential for scaffolding scientific practices in classroom teaching and learning. Effectively integrating IVEs into formal learning environments requires collaboration between teacher and students to make sense of the virtual world experiences. This study analyzed how teachers enabled students to construct scientific explanations through classroom discourse in twenty-four middle school science classrooms after implementation of the IVE, SAVE Science. One teacher shut down opportunities for students to create explanations by taking a role as the source of authority for knowledge. The other teacher probed student thinking and enabled students to build and refine explanations. This study has the potential to inform the development of whole class discussions that reflect best practices in scientific explanations.

Authors

• Kelly Mills, University of Maryland - College Park

• Diane Jass Ketelhut, University of Maryland - College Park

• Ashley Coon, University of Maryland

• Uma Natarajan, Education Development Center, Inc.