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zealand and malaysia the article explores both advantages and challenges in using such a mechanism significant factors included both technological ones and sociocultural ones particularly around asking questions and prompting responses in a timely manner jennifer o dea and louisa peralta examine teaching practicum experiences in an australian context and the extent to which e-learning supported this my paper is also centred on practicum experiences i explore the value and viability of twitter as a means of supporting secondary graduates to develop self-reflective pedagogical thinking while on their second teaching practicum through using twitter these teacher education students were able to connect with each other s practicum experiences across different schools using social networking processes to make sense of learning to teach thom cochrane and roger bateman on the other hand describe some effects of integrating `disruptive technologies i.e mobile web 2.0 tools both hardware and software across a bachelor of product design programme at unitec they combined these technologies with a social constructivist pedagogical orientation elaine khoo and mike forret also focused on the tertiary sector they explored what it means to develop and sustain online learning communities of practice which properly support learners they used a case study approach to examine this idea in relation to one graduate online course khoo and forret adopted a sociocultural framework to analyse the formation and efficacy of online learning communities this collection of e-learning articles feature not only a variety of e-learning tools and contexts but also include terms such as collaborative interactive student-oriented practices perhaps these opportunities for active collaborative and shared thinking mirror the principles seimens 2005 argues constitute connectivism a term we can apply to features of technologically connected students learning practices the practices outlined above also echo themes identified in wright s 2010 e-learning literature review it argues that teachers pedagogical design which facilitates such interactive opportunities is as important as it has ever been and appears to feature most often in learning environments where students are most often engaged this waikato journal of education issue while principally containing new zealand examples of educational practice also has an international flavour an australian article for example sits within the e-learning theme the article centred on chinese students experiences of learning online in new zealand and the use of blogs in conducting research with co-respondents in malaysia are the other examples with international connections in the general section of the issue maria del mar badia martín s article describes aspects of discipline in spanish schools discipline is a concern that transcends school contexts and countries and so adds to our wider understanding @3.33+13a siemens g 2005 april 5 connectivism a learning theory for the digital age elearnspace everything e-learning [web log message retrieved september 29 2010 from http www.elearnspace.org/articles/connectivism.htm wright n 2010 e-learning and implications for new zealand schools a literature review wellington new zealand education counts ministry of education retrieved from http www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/ict/77614

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012314 5 671 8 9 142 7 1$4131 41$617@1 012314 b c d3 e 1 13a fa 7 b&g9 3a 0 3 h 3 3 81#3+13 b aa ga i 3 b aaj k l3 b&l#3 0 3 i a1 4b 8 9 142 7 c72d&6,24b 8 012314 mca 1 investigations that allow for students to self-direct their inquiries in science classrooms involve building on existing understanding problem solving and reasoning the process of explaining complex problems means that students work with multiple sets of data including online resources and information from the internet outcomes of such activities are often in written form frequently prepared on the computer representing a collage of negotiated ideas this article presents primary science classroom investigations about changes of state and landforms and argues that inscription practices were shaped by the functional and social affordances students imbued with the computer and information from the internet findings from the qualitative study with a year 7 teacher clara and her students illustrate how the internet provided social and collaborative opportunities for scientific meaning making the argument is made that access to the computer and information from the internet can open up and constrain opportunities for social thinking and inscription practices talking thinking and composing were observed to constitute the nature of science inquiries as a collaborative effort of meaning making i3nl 0a computer internet science classroom inscription practices affordances h 01 the notion of using the internet in support of science investigations in classrooms has received considerable interest from researchers practitioners and policymakers cox et al 2003 ministry of education 2007 potentially the internet offers easy access to multimodal and up-to-date information and more opportunities for interactivity than does a standard text cowie et al 2008 slotta linn 2000 students are often encouraged to seek for information from websites identified by the teacher or identified by students themselves research on students web literacy identifies that the effective a1 4b 8 9 142 7 c72d&6,24b 8 012314 1%2#4 7 e&f g&1#17 +hhe ijk jl mnno lptr

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/0 1 230445 6 7 3$7 8 9&0 use of the internet requires a special set of knowledge skills and attitudes students need to assess and make appropriate decisions about their own information needs and be aware of the limitations of information accessed on the web kuiper volman terwel 2009 several studies have highlighted that despite students being avid users of information communication technology ict in their out-of-school lives they need support to develop the relevant digital literacy skills this is particularly the case when the purpose for engaging with information from the internet is to develop new science understandings as part of student inquiry such skills need to be responsive to and analytical of the variety sources and types of media that make information available furthermore just as is the case with other resources and materials the processes of working with digital resources from the internet is shaped by the variety of expertise and practices for collaborative meaning making available in a classroom when work on the internet is part of learning activities traditional classroom norms are often set aside with students interacting with information displayed on the screen as they talk to each other and the teacher somekh 2007 such conversations tend to be shaped by a high degree of interdependence with the person/s holding the mouse it is this person who manages what is displayed and hence is made available for consideration critique and inclusion in what is newly taken-as-shared and or taken-as-legitimate for this article we consider student and teacher practices for accessing and making sense of information from the internet as one of the multiple sources of knowledge and knowledge legitimation within a primary science classroom we propose that knowledge construction during science investigations with the assistance of the computer-plus-internet is accomplished through social interaction about the legitimation meaning and implications of the information in much the same way scientists reason and reach social agreement about experimental data duschl 2008 we provide illustrations that demonstrate the ways that students evaluate and make decisions on the nature quality completeness and/or significance of information retrieved from the internet however in order to present our considerations about ict use in the context of real classrooms it is important to consider the social setting and collaborative processes that take place in classrooms 1727 1327 27 2&7 1 1 21 17 1u 6142d n6 meaning making in science is a social process where students need to learn how to talk and write like a scientist driver asoko leach mortimer scott 1994 lemke 1990 an important aspect of science teaching therefore is to provide for opportunities where students have the chance to practice these skills that way they can better understand how scientific knowledge is generated and how scientific communities operate and develop qualitative and quantitative ways of expressing ideas roth roychoudhoury 1992 p 532 in order to achieve this science teachers need to include activities in their teaching that allow for students to practice talking writing and thinking science however creating and critiquing science duschl 2008 can be something that is difficult to achieve in an authentic manner activities with a purpose that is meaningful for students address this challenge more specifically learning activities that involve students as self-directed learners who investigate interpret and assess the trustworthiness of information from a variety of sources for the purpose of answering their own questions provides an authentic learning context when this learning is positioned within a social framework communicating and negotiating ideas

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3 0 0 0 4 4 4 a and explanations amongst group members contributes to authenticity dillenbourg traum 2006 kaartinen kumpulainen 2002 collaborative learning can be a powerful stimulus for reflection and has been described as being fundamental for conceptual change and meaning making anderson 2002 in particular when contrasting views create a need to resolve issues and create opportunities for conceptual restructuring mercer 1996 the meaning-making process is further promoted when information from others is needed to complete a collaborative task and/or tasks this is often the case when a task involves the synthesising of multiple sets of data and information sources to understand how patterns are being formed mistler-jackson butler songer 2000 dillenbourg and traum 2006 have argued that purposeful interactions provide the platforms for forming explanations and reasoning most significantly they point out that in order for the members of a group to build and maintain a shared understanding they need to undergo a grounding process by this the authors mean the progressive process of finding common ground on which the participants agree this process of establishing a shared understanding or common knowledge edwards mercer 1987 relies on the commitment of participants to clearly explain their own ideas and to reach a consensus the social negotiation process of finding common ground through talk requires ideas and information to be discussed and reified by the group members providing opportunities for information to move from the abstract to becoming more concrete wenger 1998 or what jewitt 2008 refers to as leaving one world of experiences for another p 260 the information used for establishing such a shared understanding influences the way meaning is made while participants make sense of information in the light of their own experiences their understanding is influenced by the modality of communication this shapes meaning making on the basis of its material cultural social and historical affordances in the context of its use jewitt 2008 for instance text with images and a video clip provide different insights into the same idea/event through the way they foreground certain different aspects whilst at the same time positioning other aspects in the background different levels of trustworthiness or importance are attributed to different sources and modes of information by different participants the grounding process as discussion evolves depends on students managing their levels of agreement/disagreement with the information sourced for the purpose of developing new knowledge and reaching consensus collaboration can provide for this workload to be shared across the group facilitating the collective construction of meaning and also creating spaces and artefacts of new understandings 1727 1327 1 1 n6 4s14 6&14 v6&w$26 7&f 164&81;4 17 n6 27 n$4&6k nn 64 7d26 7 74 as part of the scientific inquiry process collaborative activity can create new artefacts and practices engeström engeström suntio 2002 often such creations take the form of written inscriptions that can readily be shared roth mcginn 1998 inscriptions can function as short material records written accounts of what has just been established as taken-as-shared between group members and then evolve as part of the continuation of the inquiry in other words work in modern day classrooms frequently requires students to research and type up information on the computer that has been collected from a variety of sources including the internet such written records

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b /0 1 230445 6 7 3$7 8 9&0 evolve through the input from group members and other information sources such material manifestations between group members bridge between the different types of information sourced through and from individual group members the process of creating and managing an inscription connects group members and the information accessed bowker star 1999 inscriptions can be created reviewed updated and shaped by the needs of different group members with different expertise to establish how information is being processed interpreted and shared carlile 2002 this active engagement with inscriptions by members of a group changes the inscription to become what roth and roychoudury 1992 describe as conscription which means that it brings individuals together in a joint task and serves as social glue to sustain conversation amongst group members p 552 the practice of using the computerplus-internet as a conscription device to support collaborative meaning making is one that requires that students make their actions and products accountable to themselves their peers and their teachers mcginn roth boutonné woszczyna 1995 cited in mcginn roth 1999 p 17 as new and old information is discussed melded and discarded so that new material and intellectual artefacts can be generated this is particularly significant in science where evaluation critique and reformulation of ideas are shaped by interacting with different communities their ideas and tools hoadley enyedy 1999 ict-based activities therefore provide students with new and different sources of information and possibilities to interact with this information compared to books or practical work kuiper et al 2009 slotta linn 2000 such activities encourage students to justify their ideas thus offering new opportunities for meaning making and the development of authentic science inquiries mcginn et al 1995 1727 1327 17 4s 188 6:17 8 n$4&6k nn 64 16727 the way students work together and use computers to access and process information is shaped by the way they conceptualise and use icts and this can be specific to a particular curriculum area hennessy ruthven brindley 2005 in order to adequately address and discuss the opportunities and limitations ict presents for classroom learning research has considered the particular functional and social affordances computers and the internet present kreijns kirschner jochems 2002 wallace 2004 affordances can be described as the opportunities that icts may offer users to achieve certain goals and depend on what users identify as features both abstract or more concrete to achieve such aims and the ease at which such tools allow users to operate wright 2010 for example how effortlessly a website lets its user browse and find information is dependent on how easy it is to navigate as well as the user s knowledge which enables them to identify certain features that might be conducive to achieving this goal a user needs to be aware of these affordances in order to use them towards achieving set goals nardi 1996 in the context of this study it is also important to note that student use of icts can be constrained by systemic school and subject cultures curricular and assessment frameworks hennessey deaney ruthven 2003 a consideration for the notion of affordance is of significance when students produce material evidence of their learning in classrooms because it allows researchers to distinguish between technological design features their intended and enacted uses and what this means for pedagogical practices wallace 2004 in order to consider what it means when students produce written evidence of learning through and with the support of digital tools it is necessary to consider social processes that

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3 0 0 0 4 4 4 c influence how students make sense and transform information when they are working on the computer and with the internet this article discusses how the inscription practices of students using the computer and the internet were defined and constrained by the different affordances the students assumed these icts to have or not have in order to achieve the task of investigating in groups examples of physical and chemical changes and formation of landforms 2 a a 0n this study is part of a two-year 2009­2010 teaching and learning research initiative tlri funded project with the aim to investigate the affordances of ict in support of primary science teaching and learning sciantict the project focuses on student learning outcomes in science in order to trace how individual students and their teachers through their actions and interactions with icts shape and reshape patterns of social interaction conducive of learning the project also investigated the relationship between pedagogy and learning in science by identifying how talk and interactions shape the nature of classroom community and the nature of science investigations in two primary classrooms this study was guided by several questions relating to the experiences and uses of ict tools in the science classroom in order to examine the role of ict and how it mediates students knowledge production in inquiry-based science learning namely · what are the existing experiences with ict that students have had · how do students think they can use these experiences in the classroom in particular when learning science and · how do these experiences shape students learning and behaviour qualitative content analysis was employed to examine how existing practices with ict relate to the nature of knowledge produced furthermore videotaped classroom observations provided for further descriptive analysis of the progression of student and teacher talk this was conducted on selected video episodes using the analytical software program studiocode this software program allowed the research team to examine selected episodes of interest and to tag them on a timeline otrel-cass cowie maguire 2010 all names used in the examples are pseudonyms this article presents findings from one of the two classrooms of 30 year 7 students we have been working with h&4427 4s 7 we observed the students in two units in clara s classroom clara described herself as someone who is interested in exploring new icts particularly with support from her colleagues when there are problems clara said she would use computers in the classroom as often as possible as well as other icts like the internet or video cameras she acknowledged that students needed to have the skills in order to use icts effectively this article presents episodes from two units that were observed one investigated physical and chemical changes while the second unit studied the dynamic processes that shape and produce landforms the selected episodes from the physical and chemical change unit represent classroom work when the students were engaging in independent

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de /0 1 230445 6 7 3$7 8 9&0 group work activities after having spent a few weeks developing some conceptual background knowledge in the landforms unit the selected episodes occurred when at the beginning of the unit students were researching landforms and how they are formed as an overarching aim clara put emphasis on the nature of science strand of the new zealand curriculum which focuses on students exploring and learning about how scientists work think and ask questions 899 7 a 03 a 0#7 3+d g3 the first unit was about physical and chemical changes after covering some background knowledge for two weeks students were tasked to conduct their own investigations by experimenting with materials/substances that undergo some physical and/or chemical changes the teacher used the class blog to post task descriptions assessment expectations and resources that the students could use in support of their investigations these items drew attention to the nature of science aim of the unit which was to ensure students experienced something of what it was to work like a scientist following is an excerpt the teacher left for her students in the class blog group experiments please answer these questions when you have completed your experiment posting the answers as an entry on your blog · what does your investigation show about the changes of state · did a physical or chemical change take place explain how you determined this and · how did you work like a scientist these instructions were also intended to prepare the students to continue with a science investigation for the annual school science fair clara offered the students a choice between working by themselves or as a group some examples of the student investigations were nails rusting in different liquids and liquid milk turning to cheese most of the students chose to work in small groups of two to four students to support their investigations clara regularly posted information such as quizzes revision material and assessment information on the class blog site this action also meant clara had easy access to these selected resources while she was teaching about physical and chemical changes clara outlined that as a summative task she wanted each group to present their findings as a poster with a clearly defined structure see figure 1 on the class blog clara detailed that the children needed to include their question hypothesis method graphs results including table/chart conclusion and photographs on their poster she stressed that the students should use their own words in describing their investigation.

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3 0 0 0 4 4 4 dd figure 1 clara s checklist for students in the class blog for their final presentation when she explained this in class to her students clara referred to websites that she had posted on the class blog where the students could find additional information about how to write up and talk about scientific findings now this is a conclusion checklist re-state the problem answer the problem cite the data extend by evaluating and extend by evaluating lab this means investigation and apply the findings then they say what you should have in your first paragraph your second paragraph and your third paragraph clara she continued with a sample conclusion this framework defined for the students what and how they had to find information and more importantly explained the expected outcome of their investigation whilst leaving them the freedom to decide what to investigate and where to find information the computers-plus-internet were also used to access information clara had posted there for her students about how scientists ask questions along with content information on physical and chemical change the information about how scientists ask questions was one of clara s pedagogical tools to build students repertoire to prepare for and form arguments roth mcginn 1998 0 6327 7 4s n$4&6 17 f24s 4s 74&67&4 clara s classroom had several personal computer pc workstations the students could use each computer had access to the internet with a ratio of 10 groups and five computers students and groups had to share and take turns on the computers the students used the internet to prepare for and investigate their questions about physical and chemical change the situation meant that only some students had opportunities to form identities as inscribers of information that was taken-as-shared by group members.

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df /0 1 230445 6 7 3$7 8 9&0 students who had access to the mouse or were sitting next to the person on the keyboard could take up the role of the inscriber figure 2 group work one inscription handler figure 2 shows that those located on the periphery either had to leave the responsibility for information searching up to the student handling the mouse or look up the information in their own time x&8&6627 4 4s 1$4s 624b 8 4s 74&67&4 for their work about physical and chemical change students had to find background information in the following example a group of students were searching for information about dry ice one student barbara was sitting at the computer with the other two group members sitting behind her looking at the screen barbara was typing up the results of her group s investigation including the additional information they found out about dry ice when the group was asked by one of the researchers about what dry ice was the students said barbara [sitting on the computer basically dry ice is made up of carbon dioxide zoe [from behind added that s what i said rachel [from behind says i was wrong barbara [continues i found that out from the internet and it came up with it that basically dry ice is made up from carbon dioxide during the observation of the group and the discussion with the researchers it appeared that while zoe had contributed the notion that dry ice was made from carbon dioxide this answer was not validated until barbara had retrieved information from the internet and then typed it into the presentation they were preparing by way of another example barbara was typing in the group answer to a question about what types of metal stick to a magnet she added copper to her list and explained she had done this because it comes up when you look it up on the website to further support her reason for including copper in the group answer she keyed the question into her search engine and pointed to the webpage that she selected that showed,

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3 0 0 0 4 4 4 dg amongst a variety of metals copper the website barbara selected was the first on the list the search engine suggested and copper was one of the metals that was hyperlinked on the page and so stood out by way of being underlined and in a different colour however pure copper will not be attracted to a magnet careful reading highlighted that the website barbara was using suggested students test a selection of different metals to see if they would be attracted to a magnet barbara had missed this information she recorded the incorrect information because she did not question the validity of nor cross-referenced the information as these two examples illustrate students did not always scrutinise or discuss information sourced from the internet the next example exemplifies instances when students were observed talking/making sense of/discussing while they had to wait for information to be downloaded from the internet y6 7:27 41#3 4 13 7 8 278 6%142 7 86 4s 74&67&4 during our observations we recorded instances of students engaging in grounding practices similar to those described by dillenbourg and betrancourt 2006 this talk occurred when there was waiting time as they retrieved information from the web the following are examples from the physical and chemical changes unit when students came to a shared understanding about what makes metals rust they also illustrate the degree of authority information from the web exerts in the first example deepti was looking on the internet for information about vinegar her group investigation involved experimenting with different liquids to see which one would cause a metal to rust the following conversation took place between deepti and helen while deepti was waiting for a website to upload the words printed in bold were those the girls emphasised in their conversation helen why don t you look at the back of the vinegar container deepti oh it s all right i m just on here [gesturing at the answer appearing on her pc screen as her search engine loads the response to her question deepti [reads from screen vinegar is mostly water with a small amount of acid so its got acid deepti [frustrated because internet is slow she types and says out loud acid from the vinegar makes metal rust helen so is vinegar an acid deepti no helen has it got acid in it deepti yeah [she finishes typing rust deepti the inscription handler dismissed the suggestion of looking at information on the back of the vinegar bottle it appeared that to her this source was not as useful or valid as what she could read from the internet in this case the wait time for information to be loaded via the internet provided space and time for the students to talk about the information retrieved and to shape it into an answer that suited their specific task needs.

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d /0 1 230445 6 7 3$7 8 9&0 similar opportunities to discuss findings from the internet were observed when students from the same group were sitting side by side to independently search the web for information on two pcs both students had the same goal of looking up information about what makes metals rust deepti what ingredients in vinegar make metal rust faster [she types in the question in the search engine let s see if anyone has already done it helen [working on the computer next to her and reading from the screen it s water deepti what helen according to wiki answers it s water deepti what liquid makes helen iron nails deepti [retrieving new information from her internet search it actually doesn t say fastest it just says water because water does make it rust but it s just not as fast as some other things helen salt water rusts things deepti it takes like three days juice too but i have to say that juice does not taste nice so don t try that in this brief interchange the students retrieved information from two different websites they then compared what they had found out in the light of their own understanding and experiences when helen said salt water rusts things she was also referring to her own knowledge in a later conversation with the researchers she explained that she already knew this when deepti replied it takes like three days juice too but i have to say that juice does not taste nice so don t try that she was referring to the experiment her group had conducted in class this is another example when students as they waited for information to be downloaded took up opportunities to think aloud about and to make sense of information retrieved while they cannot be planned for and they can be seen as inconvenient these examples illustrate that delays in website loading can provide time and opportunities for student to think together about a task z 42 727 4s 1$4s 624b 8 278 6%142 7 86 4s 74&67&4 during the observations of the landforms unit there were two instances where the authority of the information from the internet was disputed in the first example two students mere and jodie were investigating background information from the internet about how mountains are formed the students selected a website they frequently used wikipedia however the information provided by the website used complicated and jargon-rich language the information read the formation of mountain ranges occurs by means of lateral movements as opposed to vertical ones mountain formation is related to plate tectonics folding faulting volcanic activity igneous intrusion and

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3 0 0 0 4 4 4 dh metmorphism are all parts of the orogenic processes of mountain building source http en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mountain_formation after reading this mere turned to jodie and said that s not right let s find another site the two girls then looked up several other sites until they agreed on a description about mountain building later when talking to the researchers mere commented that the information they found did not seem to be right the second observed instance of this kind was very similar in nature it occurred when two students were investigating how valleys are formed as in the first case the initial information retrieved from the internet was written in quite complex language and this led to the students doubting the trustworthiness of the information the students selected and looked up more websites until they found information that made sense to them

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