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Talk in Hybrid Spaces: Expanding Opportunities for Student Engagement in Science Discourse

Sat, April 15, 8:00 to 9:30am CDT (8:00 to 9:30am CDT), Hyatt Regency Chicago, Floor: West Tower - Ballroom Level, Atlanta

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to document instructional practices that create hybrid discourse spaces (HDS), or spaces that integrate the diverse ways of knowing (funds of knowledge; FoK) of middle school students from historically marginalized groups in science discourse activities. Students’ engagement across five dimensions (behavioral, cognitive, affective, social, and agentic) in response in HDS were examined. The research questions that guided this study are:

1) What are the relationships among HDS instructional practices (discourse opportunities, connecting science to students’ FoK) and students’ engagement? (quant)
2) What are key features of HDS in middle school science classrooms and the nature of students’ engagement in these spaces? (qual)

Conceptual frameworks

This study integrates engagement frameworks that delineates how students connect to learning (Fredricks et al., 2004; Lawson & Lawson, 2013; Reeve, 2013) and hybridity theory that underscores students’ FoK as assets to integrate with canonical science content to support learning (Moje et al., 2004; Moll et al., 1992).

Methods

Students (N = 183) completed an online questionnaire in Spring 2022 consisting of five science discourse (Authors, 2018), four FoK (Dickson et al., 2016; Kumar et al., 2019), and five engagement items (Reeve, 2013; Wang et al., 2016). Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) to estimate the relationships among the instructional practices (discourse, FoK) and the five engagement dimensions. Nine classroom video recordings were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using existing discourse and engagement codebooks (Authors, 2021, 2022). Codes were grouped to identify and interpret common patterns (Saldaña, 2011) related to the relationship between instruction that creates HDS and students’ engagement. Following the convergent mixed-methods design (Creswell & Plano Clarke, 2018), qualitative and quantitative findings were integrated in the interpretation stage.

Results

Quantitative results from the first SEM demonstrated good fit (Hu & Bentler, 1999) and showed that discourse was a positive significant predictor of cognitive, social, and agentic engagement (𝞬=.32, .30, and .28, p<.05, respectively). Funds of knowledge was a positive significant predictor of behavioral and social engagement (𝞬=.39 and .28, p<.05, respectively; see Figure 1). The second SEM that included an engagement latent factor also demonstrated good fit and showed that both discourse and FoK predicted engagement (𝞬=.46 and .42, p<.05, respectively; see Figure 2).

Qualitative findings provided in-depth information about features of classroom instruction and discourse opportunities that shape students’ engagement in HDS including: structuring activities in small group formats that increased peer-to-peer sense-making; open-ended questioning that redistributed authority to students; and making explicit links between science ideas, local events, and students’ interests and identities.

Significance

This study demonstrates how hybrid discourse opportunities are positively related to engagement dimensions (behavioral, cognitive, social, agentic). The qualitative findings illustrate specific talk opportunities and structures that expand equitable access to science talk. Our study illustrates the affordances of integrating a sociocultural lens and mixed-methods to extend understanding of science instruction and student engagement. Findings have implications for practice, illustrating the potential and challenges of creating HDS in urban science classrooms.

Authors