This article reports the results of an ethnographic research about the multimodal science discourse in a sixth-grade sheltered classroom involving English Language Learners (ELLs) only. Drawing from the perspective of multimodality, this study examines how science learning is constructed in science lectures through multiple semiotic resources,…

This quasi-experimental, mixed methods study examined the transfer of a well-established pedagogical strategy, Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL), to an online workshop environment (cPLTL) in a general chemistry course at a research university in the Midwest. The null hypothesis guiding the study was that no substantive differences would emerge between…

One of the main objectives of many science educators is to enroll students into science majors and careers. Researchers have investigated students' views of science in terms of factors and influences that guide students to choose science as a career. However, few investigations exist that have studied the forms of language culture makes available…

Students' conceptions are characterized by some authors as having a high degree of coherence while, in the minds of others, they show little coherence and great heterogeneity. The objective of this study was to throw light on this problem by reference to "the particulate nature of matter," a topic where great discrepancies have been observed in…

This study investigated the impact of the use of computer technology on the enactment of "inquiry" in a sixth grade science classroom. Participants were 42 students (38% female) enrolled in two sections of the classroom and taught by a technology-enthusiast instructor. Data were collected over the course of 4 months during which several "inquiry"…

This study investigates the interaction between four pairs of high school students in a 7-week national research apprenticeship program. Each student was interviewed about perceptions of experiences working with a peer in the same setting, and the resulting stories were analyzed. Through discourse analysis of the interviews and interrelated…

Teachers' failure to use the microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) more widely may be a result of not recognizing its capacity to transform laboratory activities. This research aimed to increase understanding of how MBL activities designed to be consistent with a constructivist theory of learning support or constrain student construction of…

We examined third graders' understandings of condensation using an expanded notion of the Emergent Perspective, a reflexive consideration of individual and group meaning-making situated in the culture of the classroom. Data were collected from two small groups of students in an inquiry-based, urban classroom during a unit on the water cycle.…