The investigator proposes to conduct design-based research to examine teachers' understanding and use of inquiry-based methods in science, children's emergent conceptual understanding of science content, and strategies embedded in inquiry-based activities to support metacognitive reading comprehension of fourth-grade students.
In this research, a series of qualitative and quantitative studies will be undertaken that examine the intersection of metacognitive comprehension strategies and inquiry-based methods in developing a technology-based system designed for fourth grade elementary school science. Comprehension skills are crucial to support elementary school students' learning of science content particularly when employing inquiry-based methods and expository text. The results are expected to improve understanding of reading comprehension strategy supports in science activities.
This research will be closely integrated with several educational activities in collaborative instructional design and elementary school science teaching. Two graduate assistantships will be supported across the five years of the grant in addition to tuition or stipend support for the participation of six teacher-designers who will co-construct an inquiry-based strategy support system with researchers. Research output from this effort will encompass multiple publications, Web-based curriculum artifacts and videotaped examples of the instructional approach disseminated on the Web for teacher review and comment.
