An Interactional Ethnographic Approach To Understanding The Design Of Student Learning In A Self-directed STEM Class

Abstract

This study aims at exploring the dynamic in self-directed learning (SDL). It examines how uncertainties are caused by pedagogy oriented by the SDL process and how students overcome uncertainties. A qualitative case study was conducted on a group of fourth graders in a self-directed STEM lesson. The STEM lesson was designed by a team of teachers from a school supported by a university-school partnership project. Data sources included videos on classroom observation, teacher interviews, student focus group interviews and artifacts generated for learning. The STEM lesson was analyzed with the scholarship of interactional ethnography. The case analysis makes visible how uncertainties and student learning emerge in the SDL process. This study contributes to explicating why uncertainties are needed for promoting SDL and how uncertainties are dynamically shaped by and shape learning contexts. Student agency is realized in this dynamic. The findings inform the science of designing learning for promoting SDL.