Long-Term Teacher Orchestration of Technology-mediated Collaborative Inquiry

ABSTRACT

This explorative case study longitudinally examines teacher orchestration of an inquiry learning process in a technology-enhanced elementary classroom. A 13-month investigative study on cultural artifacts was conducted on 32 fourth grade students who progressed to the fifth grade during the project. The activities were mediated and documented using Knowledge Forum, a technology-enhanced collaborative environment. Data were gathered from video recordings of whole-class sessions and the teacher’s reflective diary entries. The coding scheme for the video analysis focused on identifying the various orchestration events, while drawing on theory and data-driven qualitative content analysis. Six types of orchestration events effectively maintained the process during whole-class sessions. These events supported the advancement of knowledge, reflection on inquiry, and pragmatic organization of inquiry. The study also adopted CORTDRA diagrams that highlighted temporal aspects of the orchestration events throughout the project. Knowledge Forum enabled the longitudinal advancement of the project.

KEYWORDS:

• Collaborative learning
• elementary school
• inquiry learning
• progressive inquiry
• teacher orchestration
• technology-enhanced learning

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Academy of Finland [grant number 1286837].