Investigating Student-Generated Questioning in a Technology-Enabled Elementary Science Classroom: A Case Study

Abstract

This study is aimed at providing solutions to problems in the field of science and technology education, as well as approaches to improve its effectiveness. This study’s specific goal was to ascertain how inquiry-based learning, when aided by instructional technology, raises student success and fosters their capacity for scientific inquiry. In this paper, we investigate a technology-supported intervention that facilitates students to actively generate and solve questions in a cycle of science inquiry in a primary (elementary) school. Through utilizing a question generation technology platform with a guided pedagogical framework, the teachers purposefully leveraged on students’ generated questioning to design and implement a process of creating and presenting their inquiries. The questioning-driven dialogic exchanges took place in the classroom setting, as well as during online interactions outside of the class. Our empirical study, as demonstrated by quantitative and qualitative analysis, connotes a positive causal effect of students’ generated questioning to their cognitive performances, and their noteworthy differences of attitudes towards science between the experimental and control groups. The results uphold the value of fostering students to generate questions for their inquiries and learning. We also highlight the importance of teachers’ awareness of pedagogical design and enactment, enabled by technology, in order to adapt to the profiles of students’ generated questioning for fostering productive cognitive performances.