Browsing by Subject "relative expertise"

Learning environments in schools are changing into a more learner-centered direction, which changes the roles of both students and teachers. Currently there is not much knowledge about how teachers support students in novel, student-driven learning environments. The aim of this study is to analyze teacher interventions in students’ joint work in a novel digital design and making environment. This study examined which kind of situations caused teachers to intervene in students’ joint work and which intervention strategies teachers use when intervening. Previous research suggests that teacher interventions can support joint problem solving and improve students’ thinking skills (Hofmann & Mercer, 2016; Ding, Li, Piccolo & Kulm, 2007). Maker education in turn promotes students’ creative problem-solving (Bevan et al., 2016) and enables the growth of relative expertise that refers to students developing expertise relative to each other through social participation (Stevens et al., 2016). The data were collected by videoing lessons in a primary school, which had introduced a new design and making environment (called the FUSE Studio) in the fall of 2016. The lessons were held for 9 to 12-year-old students. The data consisted of 85 hours of video material. The video data were analyzed by using the techniques of Jordan and Henderson’s (1995) interaction analysis. The intervention strategies of the analyzed teacher interventions were modelled after Hofmann and Mercer’s research (2016). The results indicated that teacher interventions in students’ joint work occurred in response to many different situations. A total of 55 intervention episodes were classified into five categories: (1) STEAM-challenge related, (2) disciplinary, (3) material related, (4) technology related, and (5) motivation related interventions. Interventions were initiated by both teachers and students. While STEAM-challenge, material, and technology related interventions were mostly student initiated, disciplinary related interventions were mostly teacher initiated. Motivation related interventions were entirely initiated by teachers. Eight of the intervention episodes were analyzed further to examine the intervention strategies that the teachers were using. The strategies were modelled after Hofmann and Mercer’s study (2016) and included: (1) authoritative, (2) initiating, and (3) continuing interactive strategies. Examples of all strategies were found however none of the teachers used purely features of continuing interactive strategies when intervening. Authoritative strategies were found in disciplinary interventions and when guiding students through a new task. Initiating strategies supported by continuing interactive strategies appeared to promote peer collaboration and joint problem solving between students. Teacher interventions seem to be an effective way of supporting relative expertise within novel, student-driven learning environments as long as the teacher is able to use the appropriate intervention strategies according to the objectives of the learning environments.