Small Groups' Social Regulation of Learning When Facing Uncertainty in Science Inquiry

• In Event: Identifying, Developing, and Sustaining Learning Environments

Abstract

In this multi-method study, we explored how three small collaborative groups of pre-service science teachers (N=12) of different uncertainty orientations socially regulated their learning as they engaged in a series of five inquiry tasks of varying uncertainty levels in a science methods class. Video-observations were the primary data, and participants’ self-reported prospective intentions and retrospective reflections on learning were the secondary data sources. Sociocultural discourse analysis was the main method for qualitative data analysis, and was complemented by the quantitative analysis of the codes for regulative processing. We found that joint regulation in all three groups was characterized by: collaborative approach to task completion, regulatory processing primarily focused on task, and use of social comparison in regulation of learning.

Authors

• Dalila Dragnic-Cindric, Digital Promise

• Jeff A. Greene, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Janice L. Anderson, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill