Abstract
For the past year we have been developing and implementing a program in which students design and construct remote operated vehicles. In this paper, we report on a pilot study that occurred over the course of an academic year in an inner city high school. Specifically, we have been investigating whether students learn meaningful science content through design activities. Through our teaching experiment methodological stance and analysis we found that (1) student attendance and engagement increased, (2) students learned physics content and recognized connections to their other coursework (3) teachers adopted an “organized chaos” posture and shifted their role from one of discipline keeper and content gatekeeper to one of coach and facilitator, (4) design projects need to be modularized if they are to be effective urban classrooms, and (5) teachers need to balance the tradeoffs between allowing students to develop aesthetically pleasing designs versus learning content and creating designs that are functional and useable.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barab, S. A., and Hay, K. E. (2001). Doing science at the elbows of scientists: Issues related to the scientist apprentice camp. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 38: 70–102.
Barab, S. A., Hay, K. E., Barnett, M., and Squire, K. (2000). Virtual solar system project: Building understanding through model building. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 37: 719–756.
Barton, A. (1998). Science education and the politics of poverty. Educational Policy 12: 525–541.
Borasi, R. (1996). Reconceiving Mathematics Instruction: A Focus on Errors, Ablex Publishing, Norwood, NJ.
Chamberlain High School. (2003). Odyssey High School Whole School Improvement Plan, Odyssey High School, Boston.
Chinn, C., and Brewer, W. (1993). The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition. Review of Educational Research 63: 1–49.
Cobb, P. (2000). Conducting teaching experiments in collaboration with teachers. In Kelly, A. E., and Lesh, R. A. (Eds.), Handbook of Research Design in Mathematics and Science Education, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey, pp. 307–333.
Crawford, B. A. (2000). Embracing the essence of inquiry: New roles for science teachers. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 37: 916–937.
Davis, M., Hawley, P., McMullan, B., and Spilka, G. (1997). Design as a Catalyst for Learning, Association for Supervision and Curriculum and Development, Alexandria, VA.
Denzin, N. K. (2000). The practices and politics of interpretation. In Denzin, N. K., and Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd ed.), Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Harel, I., and Papert, S. (1992). Software design as a learning environment. In Balestri, D., Ehrmann, S., and Ferguson, D. (Eds.), Learning to Design, Designing to Learn: Using Technology to Transform the Curriculum, Taylor and Francis, Washington, DC, pp. 35–70.
Hmelo, C. E., Holton, D. L., and Kolodner, J. L. (2000). Designing to learn about complex systems. The Journal of the Learning Sciences 9: 247–298.
Jackson, S. L., Stratford, S. J., Krajcik, J., and Soloway, E. (1994). Making dynamic modeling accessible to pre-college science students. Interactive Learning Environments 4: 233–257.
Jones, L. S. (1997). Opening doors with informal science: Exposure and access for our underserved students. Science Education 81: 663–677.
Jungck, J., Peterson, N., and Calley, J. (1992). Science through design practica, where students actively investigate and persuade. In Balestri, D., Ehrmann, S., and Ferguson, D. (Eds.), Learning to Design, Designing to Learn: Using Technology to Transform the Curriculum, Taylor and Francis, Washington, DC, pp. 141–157.
Kolodner, J. L. (1993). Case-Based Reasoning, Kaufmann, San Mateo, CA.
Lampert, M. (1990). When the problem is not the question and the solution is not the answer: Mathematical knowing and teaching. American Educational Research Journal 27: 29–63.
Lehrer, R. (1993). Authors of knowledge: Patterns of hypermedia design. In Lajoie, S. P., and Derry, S. J. (Eds.), Computers as Cognitive Tools, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Hillsdale, New Jersey.
Lepper, M. R. (1988). Motivational considerations in the study of instruction. Cognition and Instruction 5: 289–310.
Lesh, R., and Kelly, A. (2000). Multitiered teaching experiments. In Kelly, A. E., and Lesh, R. A. (Eds.), Handbook of Research Design in Mathematics and Science Education, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 197–230.
National Research Council. (2004). Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students’ Motivation to Learn, National Academies Press, Washington, DC.
Odyssey High School. (2003). Odyssey High School Whole School Improvement Plan, Odyssey High School, Boston.
Pappert, S. (1991). Situating constructionism. In Harel, I., and Pappert, S. (Eds.), Constructionism: Research Reports and Essays, Ablex, Norwood, NJ, pp. 1–11.
Penner, D. E., Lehrer, R., and Schauble, L. (1998). From physical models to biomechanics: A design-based modeling appraoch. The Journal of the Learning Sciences 7: 429–449.
Perkins, D. N. (1986). Knowledge as Design, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Hillsdale, New Jersey.
Peterson, N., Jungck, J., Sharpe, D., and Finzer, W. (1987). A design approach to science simulated laboratories. Machine Mediated Learning 2: 111–127.
Petroski, H. (1992). To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design, Vintage Books, New York.
Roth, W.-M. (1995). Authentic School Science, Kluwer Publishers, Netherlands.
Roth, W.-M. (1996). Art and artifact of children’s designing: A situated cognition perspective. The Journal of the Learning Sciences 5: 129–166.
Roth, W.-M., Tobin, K., and Ritchie, S. (2001). Re/Constructing Elementary Science, Peter Lang, New York.
Sadler, P. M., Coyle, H. P., and Schwartz, M. (2000). Engineering competitions in the middle school classroom: Key elements in developing effective design challenges. The Journal of the Learning Sciences 9: 299–327.
Tate, W. (2001). Science Education as a civil right: Urban schools and opportunity-to-learn considerations. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 38: 1015–1028.
Teel, K. M., Debruin-Parecki, A., and Covington, M. V. (1998). Teaching strategies that honor and motivate inner-city african-american studnets: A school/university collaboration. Teaching and Teacher Education 14: 479–495.
Tobin, K. (2000). Interpretive research in science education. In Kelly, A. E., and Lesh, R. A. (Eds.), Handbook of Research Design in Mathematics and Science Education, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barnett, M. Engaging Inner City Students in Learning Through Designing Remote Operated Vehicles. J Sci Educ Technol 14, 87–100 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-005-2736-z
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-005-2736-z