Collaborative inquiry and the construction of explanations in the learning of science

This study investigates the construction of explanations in a social science-learning situation, in which 18 university students participated. The science-learning task which implicitly modelled design principles for science instruction in school contexts was derived from kitchen chemistry where the students investigated in small groups the nature of five solid samples of different cooking ingredients. The instructional goal of the learning situation was to develop the studentsʹ conceptions of solubility, the activity itself involved collaborative inquiry and experimentation. The study follows a three-step research design: pre-test, intervention and post-test, in order to highlight the studentsʹ explanations around the concept of solubility and their elaboration in social activity. A specific discourse analysis method was developed for the study, to investigate the mechanisms of explanation-building in small-group discourse. The data for the study were collected by means of videotapes, direct observations, transcriptions and questionnaires clarifying the studentsʹ explanations for dissolving. The study introduces an analytic tool for untangling the processes of explanation-building in collaborative inquiry which takes a synchronous and diachronic approach to communicative and cognitive processes of student discourse. The analysis highlights the reciprocal relationship between the nature of explanations and the studentsʹ communicative processes in the evolving discourse. The data analysis shows that the negotiation processes around the concept of solubility consisted of diverse interpretations, varying from informal explanations to formal explanations, and from descriptive reasoning to causal reasoning. The results of the studentsʹ pre- and post-tests indicate that the social science-learning situation provided the students with opportunities to elaborate their explanations for dissolving, and reflecting practical, theoretical and applied understanding.