The Study of Students' Sensemaking in Fourth-Grade Science

• In Event: Applying Multiple Lenses to the Study of Project-Based Learning to Promote Equitable Educational Opportunity

Abstract

Purpose
Scientific sense-making supports students to make sense of scientific phenomena through the construction and critique of claims, as well as engaging in scientific practices, such as scientific modeling, in which students construct and interpret scientific models (Ford, 2012; Passmore et al., 2014). Consistent with the conference theme, scientific sense-making provides opportunities for students to draw on their own prior knowledge and experiences and develop scientific reasoning skills that allow students to critically examine and question information and knowledge.

In order to understand how to support scientific sense-making, we must understand its development. The purpose of this paper is to study trajectories of sense-making in one 4th grade classroom during a single unit of science instruction on sources of renewable energy that was taught over a period of 26 class periods. I ask, how did the construction and interpretation of scientific models influence students’ sense-making about renewable energy?

Theoretical Framework
This work draws on the theory of social constructivism (Palincsar 1998; Vygotsky, 1978), which states that learning occurs in social contexts and is mediated by tools, such as the use of scientific models to externalize ideas and provide opportunities for engagement in the critique of those ideas (Penner, 2000), which supports students to develop understandings regarding the practice of modeling and engage in scientific sense-making.

Methods and Data Sources
I use case study methods (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) to study the development of sense-making in a sub-set of three students that represent low, typical, and high prior knowledge levels in an academically and demographically diverse classroom. I constructed case studies for each student using multiple data sources, including fieldnotes of classroom instruction, student interviews conducted at multiple times throughout the unit, student-generated models, and pre- and post-unit assessments. These data sources were coded for: (1) accuracy and completeness of ideas, (2) depth of understanding, (3) change in sense-making across the unit.

Findings
Analyses of students’ models and corresponding interviews throughout the unit revealed that, despite entering the unit with different levels of prior knowledge, models for all three students became more accurate and increased in complexity as the unit progressed. Differences in depth of conceptual understandings and sense-making among the three students were revealed in the interviews. The student that entered with the lowest level of prior knowledge demonstrated the greatest depth in understanding by the end of the unit, while the students entering with typical and high prior knowledge concluded the unit with similar depth of understanding that was not comparable to the gains demonstrated by the low prior knowledge student.

Significance
The practice of modeling provides students with opportunities to represent their own thinking and provides insight into their sense-making. Prior knowledge is not a limiting factor in the quality or complexity of the models that students can construct with instruction. It is important to understand ways to support this practice in order to ensure that all students have opportunities to engage in authentic science experiences that value diverse ideas and supports the development of critical thinking skills.

Author

• Meredith Baker Marcum, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor