On adopting an inquiry stance: A case study of three teachers as they integrated the interlace technology to encourage student sharing and reasoning

Abstract

To produce a more technically and scientifically literate population, we need to place student ideas at the forefront of science and engineering classroom activity so that those ideas can be exposed and refined and the students feel they have a stake in building that knowledge base. Accordingly the Interactive Learning and Collaboration Environment (InterLACE) Project has created a technological tool that allows students to post their thoughts via a Web-based platform to a centrally located screen for subsequent discussion and collaborative attainment of a deeper understanding. This paper examines in-class-use cases involving three teachers of diverse backgrounds who participated in our project; the goal of which is to answer the following questions: 1) How did our tool change the way the way the teacher engages with student thinking? 2) How did our technology support the teacher as he interacted with student ideas? 3) What are the factors that enable the teacher to or prevent him from capitalizing on opportunities afforded by the tool to probe student reasoning? 4) How does this engagement, as well as other aspects, affect the student discussions that result from using the tool? In so doing, we hope to inform future improvements made to the tool and to add to the collective understanding of teacher interaction with student thinking and the classroom discussions resulting from that process. ©American Society for Engineering education, 2013.