A Linguistic Analysis of Student Discussion Boards in Technology-Assisted Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Social Studies Classrooms

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 4:20 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Technology for Collaboration (Table 27)

Abstract

This paper investigates whether 4th and 5th grade students studying about local and systemic issues (in the U.S. and globally), respectively, in social studies classrooms through four units of technology-enriched instruction differed in their use of affect, logic, and morality related words in discussion posts. Our moderation analysis revealed while 4th graders studying about local issues showed negative relationships between use of logic-related and morality-related words, this relationship was positive for 5th graders learning about systems-level issues, perhaps owing to their need to logically apply insights about contexts familiar to them to issues in other contexts. Our study suggests elementary schoolers may need to exercise increased logic in moral argumentation as they begin discussing social issues beyond their local purview.

Authors

• Shantanu Tilak, The Ohio State University

• Ziye Wen, The Ohio State University

• Wonjoon Cha, The Ohio State University

• Michael Glassman, The Ohio State University

• Tzu-Jung Lin, The Ohio State University

• Eric M. Anderman, The Ohio State University