Esther Tan
Country of origin:Singapore
Thesis topic: Effects of Differently Sequenced Classroom Scripts on Transformative and Regulative Processes in Inquiry Learning
Abstract: Research on orchestrating learning in the classroom has argued that the way activities are distributed and sequenced over the different social planes of the classroom (i.e., plenary, small-group, individual level) may have an effect on learning effectiveness. Premised on theories of scaffolding, fading, productive failure and the ICAP (interactive, constructive, active and passive) framework, this study investigates the effects of two differently sequenced classroom scripts (i.e., instructional interventions that distribute and sequence learning activities over different social levels) on the individual and group transformative and regulative processes in inquiry learning. Transformative processes refer to processes that yield knowledge and regulative processes are meta-cognitive processes. A curriculum unit on plant adaptation in different living conditions was partially realized in WISE and consisted of in- and out-of-classroom activities (i.e., a field trip to the Botanical Garden). Using a quasi-experimental design, students (N = 61; grade 6-9) in the Plenary-Small Group-Individual (PSI) classroom script condition carried out two inquiry tasks after the plenary session, with the first task in small groups before undertaking the second task individually, while the reverse was true for students in the Plenary-Individual-Small Group (PIS) condition.
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Frank Fischer; Prof. Dr. Ingo Kollar
Home discipline: Educational Science, Educational Psychology