Constructing Learning Spaces in Urban Science Classroom

• In Event: Inquiry in Science Teacher Education: Powerful Pedagogical Approaches and Implications for Practices

Abstract

While sociocultural research has investigated the social nature of classrooms, it is not well understood how the participants themselves understand their role in construction of said learning environment; in this ethnographic case study, the researcher examines this dynamic. In Part One, the researcher discusses the social nature of the floor making two claims: 1) participants influence each other’s learning and students draw on each other’s ideas as they develop their own understandings; and 2) talk is valued in the classroom and thinking becomes “visible” to others as students talk aloud their ideas. Part Two of the study describes how participants are aware of their roles in the social construction of the classroom and use this meta-knowledge in varied ways.

Author

• Adriane McNamara Slaton, Michigan State University