The role of informal discourses in students’ accounts of carbon-transforming processes 2010 NARST Presentation

Written by: Hamin Baek and Charles W. Anderson, Michigan State UniversityCulturally relevant ecology, learning progressions and environmental literacy

Long Term Ecological Research Math Science PartnershipApril 2010

Disclaimer: This research is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation: Targeted Partnership: Culturally relevant ecology, learning progressions and environmental literacy (NSF-

0832173). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science

Foundation.

The role of informal discourses in students’ accounts of carbon-

transforming processes

Hamin Baek and Charles W. Anderson

Michigan State University

Introduction• To become environmentally literate citizens, students need

to…– Know the differences between informal discourse and scientific

discourse– Know when and how to employ scientific discourse in debates

on environmental issues such as global warming• Therefore, one goal of science education should be to help

students progress in this aspect.

Informal discourse

Informal discourse

Scientific discourse

Student

Student

Progression

Rationale / Research Questions

• Rationale– We believe that tracing matter and energy is an important

way of constructing a scientific account of carbon-transforming processes.

– Our previous analysis indicates that lower-level students’ responses show force-dynamic reasoning. But, we do not know as much about what contributes to or constitutes this reasoning and eventually what hinders students from constructing a scientific account in the way we value.

• Research questions1. How do informal discourses enter into students’ accounts

of carbon-transforming processes?2. What are the sources of informal discourses that students

employ in constructing accounts?3. In what ways do students employ informal discourses in

constructing accounts?

Conceptual Framework• How children construct an account

– As part of talking and knowing, they construct an account using (e.g., reproducing, blending, synthesizing) various social languages and funds of knowledge (Moje et al. 2004, Wertsch, 1991).

• Discourse– A body of spoken or written texts that are used over time and

thus subject to identification– Part of students’ funds of knowledge

• Informal discourses– Discourses that are used in everyday life– Multiple sources: (e.g.) personal experience, family,

community, mass media• Moje, E. B., Ciechanowski, K. M., Kramer, K., Ellis, L., Carrillo, R., & Collazo, T. (2004). Working toward third space in content area literacy: An examination of everyday funds of knowledge and Discourse. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(1), 38-70. • Wertsch, J. V. (1991). Voices of the mind: A sociocultural approach to mediated action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Method

• Data sources– Transcripts of 6 elementary and 8 middle school

students’ pre- and post interviews conducted in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

– Two carbon-transforming processes (“Baby Growth” & “Girl Running”): Human-involved and familiar processes likely to elicit informal discourses from students

• Data analysis– Identifying informal discourses using the following

criteria.• Everyday occurrences/contexts described in colloquial

language: (e.g.) When people work out, their muscle gets bigger.

• When sources of informal discourses were mentioned: (e.g.) My dad said…

• Informal vocabulary

Method (cont’d)

• Category of students’ vocabularyCategory Description Example

informal Words that appear only in informal discourse

• Good material, bad material• They work out and get tired.

Informal-scientific

Words that appear both in informal and scientific discourses but with different meanings or associations

• Growth: - [informal] growing up, being healthy- [scientific] weight gain• Energy- [informal] feeling energetic, power that

is used up and can be recharged- [scientific] a traceable entity that is

conserved and has different forms

scientific Words that appear only in scientific discourse

• Molecule• Kinetic energy• The circulatory system

Method (cont’d)

– Coding informal discourses by type, purpose, and use

• Type: What kinds of informal discourses do students employ? (e.g.) first-hand experience, general experience, quotation, informal knowledge

• Purpose: What kinds of social purposes do students attempt to achieve? (e.g.) To explain what are needed for growing up, to explain how is energy involved in the processes

• Use: In what ways do students employ informal discourses in constructing accounts

– Finding patterns across students

Findings

1. How do informal discourses enter into students’ accounts?

• Students interpreted key words (e.g., growth, energy) in their informal sense and perceived the purpose of their accounts as explaining these events in informal ways. - Growth: growing up (getting old), becoming healthy - Energy: feeling energetic

Findings (cont’d)

• (e.g.) MMD (middle, Baby Growth)Pre Post

INTERVIEWER: So the baby gets heavier as she grows from 22 pounds to 50. How does that happen?

MMD: Because when you get older you need to eat more. And so you gain more weight when you get older too.

INTERVIEWER: Okay. Where does the extra weight come from?

MMD: The food that turns into fat on your body.

“Growth: Growing up”

INTERVIEWER: What about food? How does that help the girl to gain more weight?

MMD: Because when she's little, she doesn't eat as much food, but when she gets older, here body needs more food, so she has to have more.

...INTERVIEWER: Where does the increased

weight come from? You mentioned food....MMD: So she'll gain fat, and all that, when

she gets older.

“Growth: Growing up”

Findings (cont’d)• (e.g.) JIM (elementary, Baby Growth)

Pre Post

INTERVIEWER: Okay. Some other students may have mentioned that the baby also needs sleep or exercise to grow. Do you think that both of those are necessary for her to grow?JIM: Yeah. You need sleep because sleep rests your bone – well, your body – and then you have energy in the morning to go throughout the day. And once you eat breakfast you might get a little, if you eat the right one of protein.

“Growth: Being healthy”

INTERVIEWER: How about sleep?JIM: Sleep, rest, it helps you. Say if you have a broken arm you need a lot of rest. If you're sick you need a lot of rest so you could heal.INTERVIEWER: So do you think it is necessary for growth?JIM: Yes.

“Growth: Being healthy”

Findings (cont’d)

• (e.g.) BAW (elementary, Girl Running)Pre Post

INTERVIEWER: Okay. What kind of energy would you need? Or where would you get that energy?

BAW: From running like those girls are doing.

INTERVIEWER: Oh so the running actually makes the energy to keep running going?

BAW: Sometimes. Usually when people run they sort of get tired but a lot of people if they just stop for a second then they get back on track and start running again.

“Energy: Feeling energetic”

INTERVIEWER: Okay. And where does she get that chemical energy?

BAW: From food.INTERVIEWER: Okay. And can she use it

directly or does something happen to that food inside of her body to allow her to use the energy from it?

BAW: It, I think the food dissolves in it and then she can use it after awhile and the food helps her grow.

“Energy: A traceable entity”

Findings (cont’d)

2. What are sources of informal discourses?• Our analysis of types of informal

discourses suggests that students depended on three major sources of informal discourses. – Family and friends: Here, “friends” mean

people students know well (e.g., friends, neighbors).

– Personal experience– Mass media: books, TV, internet

Findings (cont’d)• Sources of informal discoursesCategory Example

Family and friends

INTERVIEWER: I'm interested in how does that [=sleep] heal? That's interesting. Did you hear something about that? In your class?

AWL: Well, my dad said something about when people get cut really bad, or like, injured, sometimes what the doctors will do will be to put them to sleep for a really long time, so they'll have a better time to heal.

Personal experience

INTERVIEWER: So do you need more energy to go faster, if she wants to go faster? As long as there's energy…

JIM: Sometimes, if you think you can only go slow and you usually do go slow, if you think you can go really fast, you usually do go really fast.

INTERVIEWER: Okay.JIM: For example, like my brother, he's a running back, and so am I, but he can plow

through all the other runners.

Mass media

INTERVIEWER: [Where] do you think the lost weight go?AWL: The lost weight goes probably to sweat, because (inaudible) lose when you

work out a lot, because you sweat and you always hear about people that are doing wrestling and stuff (inaudible) the trash bags and the sweat suits so it sweats more and helps you lose weight. So I would say it probably comes off of sweat, which causes you to lose weight.

Findings (cont’d)

3. In what ways do students employ informal discourses?

• Students employed informal discourses in various ways that include:– Describing a process: When asked to explain

how or why something happens, students provide a narrative-like or analogical description.

– Exemplifying an idea: To communicate a general idea, students refer to actual cases as examples.

– Providing evidence for a claim: To justify their claim, they provide their experience as evidence.

Findings (cont’d)• Ways of using informal discoursesCategory Example

Describing a process

INTERVIEWER: And where does she store the energy in her body?BEP: Well it can be stored in very many different places. It could be stored as fat

which our body will hardly ever use as energy because it will just take and build it up. When we try to use energy it will resort to the energy that we had that’s new. Fat is like an old battery. If you charge it when it’s half empty, that stuff just keeps getting older and older and just burns straight through it.

Exemplifying an idea

INTERVIEWER: What happens to the energy when it's inside the girl's body, when she runs?

JIM: Well, same with adrenaline; it goes through your veins, giving energy to parts of your body. Say you're going for a touchdown and the offender, he has more adrenaline than you, so he'd probably go faster than you because, even if he's like five yards back, he could still probably get you if he has more adrenaline than you.

Providing evidence for a claim

INTERVIEWER: Ok um is there anything that you have observed about people growing that provides evidence that you were right?

AWL: Um people who eat a lot generally are bigger.INTERVIEWER: Yeah um what about the sleep? Have you observed?AWL: I just know that. Well, I was really sore yesterday and I slept and now I feel a lot

better. My legs don’t hurt as much and my arms feel better so.

Discussion/Conclusion

• How students interpret key concepts and purpose of conversation plays a significant part in deciding which discourses to employ in constructing accounts.

• The sources of informal discourses can produce both scientifically correct and incorrect knowledge. More important is how students sort out these different kinds of knowledge and choose a proper one.

• Describing a process using informal discourses may hinder students from being environmentally literate because they do not feel the need to explain in more detail how and why the process takes place.

• On the other hand, using informal discourses to support or exemplify their idea, when correctly guided, may be helpful because it is a part of authentic disciplinary practice (Berland & Reiser, 2009).

Berland, L. K., & Reiser, B. J. (2009). Making sense of argumentation and explanation. Science Education, 93(1), 26-55.

Implications

To help students grow as fluent bilinguals on environmental issues, we need to understand and seek ways/strategies that enable students to…•Properly frame (interpret) key terms and social purposes of constructing accounts•Compare, contrast, and connect informal and scientific discourses•Employ scientifically proper informal discourses in everyday life