Multi-theoretic approaches to understanding the science classroom

Conference paper


Clarke, David, Xu, Li Hua, Arnold, Jenny, Seah, Lay Hoon, Hart, Christina, Tytler, Russell and Prain, Vaughan. (2011). Multi-theoretic approaches to understanding the science classroom. The ESERA 2011 Conference : Science learning and Citizenship. Université de Lyon, Lyon, France 05 - 09 Sep 2011 Lyon, France: European Science Education Research Association. pp. 26-40
AuthorsClarke, David, Xu, Li Hua, Arnold, Jenny, Seah, Lay Hoon, Hart, Christina, Tytler, Russell and Prain, Vaughan
TypeConference paper
Abstract

Multi-camera on-site video technology and post-lesson video stimulated interviews were used in a purposefully inclusive research design to generate a complex data set amenable to parallel analyses from several complementary theoretical perspectives. The symposium reports the results of parallel analyses employing positioning theory, systemic functional linguistics, distributed cognition and representational analysis of the same nine-lesson sequence in a single science classroom during the teaching of a single topic: States of Matter. Without contesting the coherence and value of a well-constructed mono-theoretic research study, the argument is made that all such studies present an inevitably partial account of a setting as complex as the science classroom: privileging some aspects and ignoring others. In this symposium, the first presentation examined the rationale for multi-theoretic research designs, highlighting the dangers of the circular amplification of those constructs predetermined by the choice of theory and outlining the intended benefits of multi-theoretic designs that offer less partial accounts of classroom practice. The second and third presentations reported the results of analyses of the same lesson sequence on the topic “states of matter” using the analytical perspectives of positioning theory and systemic functional linguistics. The final presentation reported the comparative analysis of student learning of density over the same three lessons from distributed cognition and representational perspectives. The research design promoted a form of reciprocal interrogation, where the analyses provided insights into classroom practice and the comparison of the analyses facilitated the reflexive interrogation of the selected theories, while also optimally anticipating the subsequent synthesis of the interpretive accounts generated by each analysis of the same setting for the purpose of informing instructional advocacy.

Keywordsclassroom research; multi-theoretic research design; science education; videobased research
Year2011
PublisherEuropean Science Education Research Association
Web address (URL)http://www.esera.org/publications/esera-conference-proceedings/esera-2011
Open accessOpen access
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Open
Book titleE-book proceedings of the ESERA 2011 Conference : Science learning and citizenship
Page range26-40
Book editorBruguière, Catherine
Tiberghien, Andrée
Clément, Pierre
ISBN9789963700448
Web address (URL) of conference proceedingshttps://www.esera.org/conference/33-conference/694-esera-conference-2011-lyon-france
Research GroupSchool of Education
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online2012
Place of publicationLyon, France
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