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Thematic continuities: Talking and thinking about adaptation in a socially complex classroom
Author(s) -
Ash Doris
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of research in science teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.067
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1098-2736
pISSN - 0022-4308
DOI - 10.1002/tea.20199
Subject(s) - appropriation , sociocultural evolution , class (philosophy) , pedagogy , mathematics education , adaptation (eye) , thematic analysis , science education , ethnography , sociology , psychology , participant observation , qualitative research , epistemology , social science , philosophy , neuroscience , anthropology
In this study I rely on sociocultural views of learning and teaching to describe how fifth–sixth‐grade students in a Fostering a Community of Learners (FCL) classroom gradually adopted scientific ideas and language in a socially complex classroom. Students practiced talking science together, using everyday, scientific, and hybrid discourses as they studied endangered species. Students' overarching content themes, or “thematic continuities,” acted as generative scaffolds for developing complex lines of inquiry, leading ultimately to the appropriation of aspects of the biological principle of adaptation. Thematic continuities provided an organizing framework for thinking and talking about previously disconnected science facts, and set the stage for the adaptationist stance. Mixed method data analyses relied on written assessments, in‐depth guided clinical interviews, video and audiotaping of small and large group participant structures, in‐class student work, and ethnographic notes. Data analysis included two discrete levels, the macro (whole and half class) and the intermediate (case study of one small group) to capture both holistic and detailed aspects of dialogue. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 1–30, 2008