Browsing by Subject "innovation project"

Objectives. This paper examines the epistemic activity of a small group of 7th grade comprehensive school pupils in a single session of innovation. The pupils work together to design and build a "smart pillow". The pupils' handicraft combines electrical engineering and sewing. The study analyzes epistemic search sequences (ESS): situations in which pupils fill in gaps in their knowledge. In these situations, the pupils ask and answer questions in an informed way. The paper explores how pupils negotiate shared epistemic expertise and knowledge construction in their interactions. The paper analyzes the verbal, gestural, and material interactions of pupils. Methods. Conversation analysis (CA) looks at interaction moment by moment. It is based on pupils' interpretations of each other's verbal and nonverbal actions. The primary data for the study is video footage recorded with a single camera and microphone, which was then transcribed. The same group of pupils was previously studied (Davies et al., 2023; Mehto et al., 2020b) using mostly theory-driven methods with focus on a longer time span of collaboration. However, CA brings the pupils' interactions into a data-driven focus that includes microanalytical study of verbal, gestural, and material activities during a single meeting. Results and conclusions. The epistemic interaction between pupils was learning oriented. The analysis showed that the pupils made progress in their work by frequently asking and answering questions (F=157). Through question-answer adjacency pairs, pupils positioned themselves as epistemically knowledgeable (K) in different ways. The analysis showed that pupils who were more frequently positioned as more knowledgeable (K+) asked more informative questions and gave more instructions. Pupils used gestures to guide their work. They used gaze to review information stored both on the prototype and a smartphone. Pupils also showed epistemic evaluation expertise with the use of modal verbs. The pupils approached craft know-how from perspectives of possibility and necessity. The most frequently used modal verbs were voida (can), pitää (must), saada (get) and kannattaa (it is worth).