Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education (한국초등과학교육학회지:초등과학교육)

The Korean Elementary Science Education Society (한국초등과학교육학회)
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Elementary Children's Mental Functioning and Internalization in Social Constructivist Teaching with Dialogic Inquiry about Strata and Fossils

대화적 탐구를 적용한 '지층과 화석' 단원 수업에서 초등학생들의 심리기능 형성 및 내면화 과정

  • Received : 2018.10.01
  • Accepted : 2018.11.07
  • Published : 2018.11.30
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Abstract

In social constructivist teaching, knowledge construction is achieved through learners' collective social interaction. Vygotsky argued that this process is mediated with language use, and the development of higher order thinking is realized through the transition from inter-personal psychological functions to intra-personal psychological functions. In so doing scientific concepts are internalized to learners. This study examined the third grade elementary students' inter/intra-personal psychological functions and their internalization processes during social constructivist teaching plan about strata and fossils. The lessons were designed along with Wells' dialogic inquiry and Leach and Scott's social constructivist teaching-learning sequences. Results showed that a teacher's utterances of talking with questioning to switch attention, creating cognitive disequilibrium, and expanding the width of students' opinions could make effective inter-personal psychological function. In addition, a learner's inner speech expressed into social discourse through talking about personal experiences, comparing epistemic idea with visual representation, or applying to different situation showed his/her intra-personal psychological function. Some cases of learners' internalization through language use could be at the stage of knowledge building and understanding of the spiral of knowing, but not all. Thus it is argued that a teacher's deeper insight into Vygotskian social constructivist teaching can make elementary science classroom teaching more effective in their inter/intra-psychological functions.

Keywords

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Fig. 1. Spiral of knowing translated and revised from Wells (2002).

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Fig. 2. Three steps of designing Vygotskian social constructivist teaching sequence (Leach & Scott, 2002).

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Fig. 3. Flow of strata lesson based on the spiral of knowing model.

Table 1. Content of each class in the unit of strata and fossils

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