Implementing an epistemologically authentic approach to student-centered inquiry learning

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Curriculum Development: Theory into Design.] This paper discusses the theoretical framework and curriculum materials that form the basis of the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach to learning and teaching physics. ISLE, as a philosophical approach to learning, has two core intentionalities: (i) We want students to learn physics by thinking like physicists; by engaging in knowledge-generating activities that mimic the actual practices of physics and using the reasoning tools that physicists use when constructing and applying knowledge. (ii) The way in which students learn physics should enhance their well being. These intentionalities form the basis upon which we build a bricolage of multiple theoretical perspectives. We will show how the ISLE approach and its implementation is shaped by (a) the epistemological commitments of physics, (b) the findings of cognitive science, (c) theories of learning communities, and (d) the perspective of universal design. We will present both qualitative and quantitative data that demonstrate the effectiveness of ISLE in helping students to achieve our intentionalities. We conclude with a call to curriculum developers and implementers to explicitly articulate their intentionalities and theoretical perspectives so that we may forge deeper connections between educational theories, curriculum development, and implementation.

This article appears in the following collection:

Figure 1

Observational experiment: Snapshots of the two pulses (a) before and (b) after they meet.

Figure 2

Outcome of the first testing experiment. Snapshots of the two pulses (a) before and (b) after they meet.

Figure 3

Outcome of the second testing experiment, sending two opposite-sign pulses towards each other. Snapshots of the two pulses (a) before and (b) after they meet.

Figure 4

The students watching the slow motion video of the initial observational experiment will notice that when the pulses overlap the amplitude is about twice as large as the amplitude of individual pulse before they met (compare with Fig. 1).

Figure 5

The outcome of the testing experiment shown in Fig. 3 at the moment when the pulses meet. The displacement at the meeting location is significantly smaller than the amplitudes of the pulses but not zero. Students realize that the prediction included an assumption that the pulses have the same amplitude.

Figure 6

The underlying epistemic process of ISLE. The process starts on the top of the diagram by students observing and collecting data from simple observational experiments, identifying patterns using appropriate representations, developing explanations or mathematical models, and testing them in testing experiments. The process of testing involves designing the experiment and making the prediction based on the explanation of relation under test and then comparing the outcome to the prediction. In the case of a match, more testing is needed, in the case of a mismatch the process of revisions starts. Any of the experiments can become an observational experiment when an unexpected outcome occurs.

Figure 7

Activity 3.3.1 from the active learning guide. Observational experiment to find the relationship between the force diagram and motion diagram [69].

Figure 8

Steps that the students are supported to follow when drawing a force diagram.

Figure 9

Student’s first attempt at force and motion and evaluation scientific abilities cluster.

Figure 10

Student’s 2nd attempt at force and motion and evaluation scientific abilities cluster.

Figure 11

Duration of the interview, the number of themes, and time frequency coded for each interviewee. Dashed lines show average values.

Figure 12

Most common themes that emerged from the interview broken down by gender.