Creating a Taken-As-Shared Understanding for Scientific Explanation: Classroom Norm Perspective

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate whether classroom norm perspective influence the studentsâ capability of elucidating a natural phenomena and beliefs about scientific explanation. In particular, our objective was to explore the process by which the norm for scientific explanation was established and discover how the studentsâ explanation and their beliefs about scientific explanation altered in this process. A case study approach was adopted and a total of 51 students participated in the study. The data has included videotapes of classroom periods for an entire school semester, individual interviews with the students conducted at the beginning and at the end of the semester, and studentsâ written responses collected in the middle and at the end of the semester in the year of 2012. In creating a sociocultural norm for scientific explanation, the teacher, in the class, was seen declaring his own expectation, negotiating the meaning by making comments on and legitimizing studentsâ accounts, and calling the studentsâ attention towards the important parts of an acceptable explanation. The results indicated that towards the end of the semester, the studentsâ explanation and their beliefs about scientific explanation have considerably improved.