When Middle School Kids Make: Understanding the Roles of Scaffolding for Troubleshooting to Support Inquiry

• In Event: 21.044 - Innovation-Driven Practice

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze a middle school teacher’s scaffolding strategies for troubleshooting in a maker environment to support students’ inquiry. Scaffolding for troubleshooting is critical throughout the whole design process and we need to know more about the relationship between scaffolding and a teacher’s teaching practices. This study took place in a combined 7th and 8th-grade classroom where students engaged in a cross-disciplinary inquiry: What do sustainable and resilient food systems look like? To address the inquiry, students built tabletop aquaponics systems and tried to understand food systems and sustainability. Results revealed three assertions: 1) Multiple Exposures Needed for a Complex Task, 2) The Teacher Scaffolded the Troubleshooting, and 3) The Teacher Supported Productive Failure.

Authors

• Hamid Nadir, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Krista D. Glazewski, Indiana University

• Thomas Brush, Indiana University

• Kyungbin Kwon, Indiana University - Bloomington