Blikstein, P; Van Aalst, J; Kizito, R; Brennan, K
(Ed.)
We study students in a college physics lab course encountering a designed-for discrepancy between their data and the relevant physical model. We examine the moment-by- moment dynamics of the groups’ efforts at problematizing and sensemaking, with a specific focus on epistemic agency. Drawing from prior studies of agency – as it relates to learning (Damşa et al., 2010), inquiry (Keifert et al., 2018), and scientific practice (Pickering 1995) – we study the complex ways in which epistemic agency manifests (and doesn’t) in the students’ work. Our analysis suggests several influences on the students’ agency, including features of the social and material context as well as how the students frame what it is they are doing (Hammer et al., 2005), in the lab as a whole and in moments within it. The findings suggest implications and questions with respect to designing labs to support disciplinary practices.
more »
« less