Characterizing Discourse Group Roles in Inquiry-based University Science Labs

TL;DR

This study characterizes student discourse roles in inquiry-based university science labs, revealing diverse discourse styles, their variation across activities, and implications for promoting equitable engagement among students.

Contribution

It introduces a novel coding scheme for discourse moves and identifies four distinct discourse styles through cluster analysis in university science labs.

Findings

Students exhibit four main discourse styles.

Discourse styles vary across activities and individuals.

DHH students show lower engagement in mixed ability groups.

Abstract

Group work is commonly adopted in university science laboratories. However, student small-group discourse in university science labs is rarely investigated. We aim to bridge the gap in the literature by characterizing student discourse group roles in inquiry-based science labs. The instructional context for the study was a summer program hosted at a private research university in the eastern United States. The program was designed as a bridge program for matriculating students who were first generation and/or deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH). Accommodations such as interpreters and technology were provided for DHH students. We analyzed 19 students' discourse moves in five lab activities from the video recordings, resulting in a total of 48 student-lab units. We developed codes to describe student discourse moves: asking a question, proposing an idea, participating in discussion, chatting off-task, and talking with instructor. Through a cluster analysis using the 48 student-lab units on quantified discourse moves, we identified four discourse styles, High on-task high social, High on-task low social, Low on-task low social, and Low on-task high social. The results show that individual students tend to demonstrate varying discourse styles in different lab activities; students' discourse styles within the same groups tend to be aligned with their group members. By examining group members' discourse styles in mixed-gender groups, we did not observe a difference in engagement level between female and male students. DHH students in mixed hearing ability groups, however, were observed to have a lower level of engagement compared to their non-DHH group members. We discuss possible factors that may have contributed to the observations for genders and students with different hearing abilities. We also provide suggestions for promoting equitable small-group discourse in university science labs.