Unpacking Sensemaking

ABSTRACT Learning science involves an ongoing process in which learners construct and reconstruct self‐explanations and evaluate their relative soundness. This work coordinates and aligns complementary methodological and theoretical approaches to learning to both unpack sensemaking and better unders...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science education (Salem, Mass.) Mass.), 2017-01, Vol.101 (1), p.165-198
Main Author: KAPON, SHULAMIT
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Females
Grade 7
Guidelines
Interpersonal Communication
Intuition
Knowledge
Learning
Middle School Students
Nonverbal Communication
Science education
Science Instruction
Scientific Concepts
Teaching Methods
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Summary:ABSTRACT Learning science involves an ongoing process in which learners construct and reconstruct self‐explanations and evaluate their relative soundness. This work coordinates and aligns complementary methodological and theoretical approaches to learning to both unpack sensemaking and better understand the conditions that facilitate it. I conceptualize people's sense of what constitutes a good explanation as taking place along a multidimensional metric and discuss three dimensions of this metric that are central to the evaluation of explanations of phenomena in the physical world: (1) intuitive knowledge, (2) mechanism, and (3) framing. The study operationalizes each dimension in terms that can be empirically tracked in students’ talk, gestures, and social interactions. The power and function of the multidimensional metric is illustrated through its account of the evolution of self‐generated explanations of two seventh‐grade girls who attempt to understand why a plastic bottle shrinks when air is pumped out of it. The analysis demonstrates that the framework can explain conviction in an explanation, preference for one explanation over another, and the complex conditions that facilitate this change. Methodological and practical implications are discussed.
ISSN:0036-8326
1098-237X
DOI:10.1002/sce.21248