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Demonstrations and problem-solving exercises in school science: Their transformation within the Mexican elementary school classroom

1997; Wiley; Volume: 81; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/(sici)1098-237x(199709)81

1098-237X

Antonia Candela,

Educational Research and Science Teaching

Science EducationVolume 81, Issue 5 p. 497-513 Demonstrations and problem-solving exercises in school science: Their transformation within the Mexican elementary school classroom Antonia Candela, Corresponding Author Antonia Candela [email protected] Departamento de Investigaciones Educativas, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Avanzados, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Apartado Postal 19-197, San Borja #938, Col. del Valle, Mexico, D.F., C.P. 03100, MexicoDepartamento de Investigaciones Educativas, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Avanzados, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Apartado Postal 19-197, San Borja #938, Col. del Valle, Mexico, D.F., C.P. 03100, MexicoSearch for more papers by this author Antonia Candela, Corresponding Author Antonia Candela [email protected] Departamento de Investigaciones Educativas, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Avanzados, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Apartado Postal 19-197, San Borja #938, Col. del Valle, Mexico, D.F., C.P. 03100, MexicoDepartamento de Investigaciones Educativas, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Avanzados, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Apartado Postal 19-197, San Borja #938, Col. del Valle, Mexico, D.F., C.P. 03100, MexicoSearch for more papers by this author First published: 07 December 1998 https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1098-237X(199709)81:5 3.0.CO;2-5Citations: 4AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract In this article I argue that scientific knowledge in schools is a social construct in which curriculum proposals are just a point of departure that are transformed by the social interaction which takes place within the classroom. The participants of the educational process, teachers and students, reconstruct and elaborate new meanings for the proposed knowledge through a negotiation mediated by discourse. Thus, I consider that discourse plays an important role in scientific knowledge construction within classroom interaction. Empirical data of different science classes on topics such as chlorophyll, machines, solar system dynamics, and flotation phenomenon are shown. These themes are basic subject matters in the Mexican elementary school curriculum. These data are presented as ethnographic entries and are used as the basis for qualitative analysis. In this analysis we find that, when presenting experiments and exercises in science classes, teachers often make didactic transpositions which transform exercises that the textbook proposes as problem-solving into demonstrations and, in other cases, transform demonstrations into problem-solving exercises. Another more interesting result of this analysis is the emergence of a new transformation in the character of experimental activities which takes place as a result of students' interventions. In the interactive dynamics within the classroom, and especially with students' questions and interventions, the experimental activities suffer significant changes in relation to their orientation and to the constructed knowledge meaning. For example, we can find that the exercises set up by teachers as demonstrations are frequently transformed into problems as a result of children's interventions. These results show students as active participants in the construction of scholastic knowledge. They contribute with their own ideas instead of acting as passive receptacles of knowledge. Social interaction enhances scientific knowledge and transforms it into a social construction process that is alive instead of appearing as a set of ankylosing truths transmitted to students from textbooks and by the teacher. This kind of ethnographic research helps to set up bridges between didactic proposals and classroom work by contributing the necessary information to learn about the characteristics of knowledge constructed in the classroom and the conditions that influence the construction of this knowledge and students' scientific formation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. References Apple, M. (1981). Reproduction, contestation and curriculum: An essay on self-criticism. Interchange, 12, 27–47. Ausubel, B. P. (1978). Psicología educativa: Un punto de vista cognoscitivo (Educational Psychology: A Cognitive Point of View) Trillas, México. Candela, A. (Coord.) (1985). 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