Education Commons^™

A Case Study Of Middle School Students’ Science Learning, David Turner

UCUR

Problem based learning is an approach to education where students develop solutions to authentic problems (Hmelo-Silver, 2004) with support from scaffolding (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976; Reiser, 2004). Computer based scaffolding helps students organize thoughts and arguments while solving problems (Belland, Glazewski & Richardson, 2008). We examined how students from one small group constructed order in their interactions and arguments as they solved an environmental issue using a stakeholder lens. Method Setting and Participants Using stakeholder perspectives (e.g., farmers or the Environmental Protection Agency), seventh-grade students investigated their local river's water quality. Participants were from three periods; two periods were …