Education

What role can technology play in cultivating a disciplinary stance — raising questions, planning investigations, interpreting data and constructing explana- tions in a way that reflects disciplinary values and principles? How can overt and tacit expert scientific knowledge be captured, represented and used to design software that enables novices to assume a disciplinary stance in their investiga- tions? We present The Galapagos Finches software designed to foster a biological and evolutionary stance. Our approach, Discipline-Specific Strategic Support (DSSS), translates the main variable types, comparison types and relationships in a discipline into manipulable objects in the interface. Pre/post-tests show how DSSS helps achieve a balance between content and process goals. A contrastive- case microanalysis of high, medium and low-achieving students’ inquiry shows progress toward a disciplinary stance. Our study shows how software representa- tions carry multiple levels of meaning, and that the efficacy of learning technolo- gies hinges on reflection at both the navigation and disciplinary-signification levels.

Abstract This paper presents research that is part of a broader project called BGuILE (Biology Guided Inquiry Learning Environments) on supporting learning through student-directed inquiry in high school biology classes. In this paper we describe how student-directed inquiry in an environment designed to focus students on key principles of evolution can provide them with opportunities for challenging their alternative beliefs, and forming new, scientific conceptions.