Abstract
The purpose of the study was to examine how the Interrogative Modelof Inquiry (I-Model), developed by Jaakko Hintikka and Matti Sintonenfor the purposes of epistemology and philosophy of science, could be applied to analyze elementary schoolstudents' process of inquiry in computer-supported learning. We review the basic assumptions of I-Model,report results of empirical investigation of the model in the context of computer-supportedcollaborative learning, and discuss pedagogical implications of the model. The results of the studyfurnished evidence that elementary school students were able to transform initially vagueexplanation-seeking question to a series of more specific subordinate questions while pursuing theirknowledge-seeking inquiry. The evidence presented indicates that, in an appropriate environment, it is entirelypossible for young students, with computer-supportfor collaborative learning, to engage in sophisticatedknowledge seeking analogous to scientific inquiry. We argue that the interrogative approach to inquiry canproductively be applied for conceptualizing inquiry in the context of computer-supported learning.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Belnap, N.D. & Steel, T.B., Jr.: 1976, The Logic of Questions and Answers, Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
Bereiter, C.: 1992, 'Problem-Centered and Referent-Centered Knowledge: Elements of Educational Epistemology', Interchange 23(4), 337-361.
Bereiter, C. & Scardamalia, M.: 1987, 'An Attainable Version of High Literacy: Approaches to Teaching Higher-Order Skills in Reading and Writing', Curriculum Inquiry 17, 9-30.
Brown, A.L.: 1992, 'Design Experiments: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in Creating Complex Interventions in Classroom Settings', The Journal of the Learning Sciences 2, 141-178.
Brown, A.L. & Campione, J.C.: 1994, 'Guided Discovery in a Community of Learners', in K. McGilly (ed.), Classroom Lessons: Integrating Cognitive Theory and Classroom Practice, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 229-270.
Carey, S. & Smith, C.: 1995, 'On Understanding Scientific Knowledge', in D.N. Perkins, J.L. Schwartz, M.M. West & M.S. Wiske (eds.), Software Goes to School, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 39-55.
Chi, M.T.H.: 1997, 'Quantifying Qualitative Analyses of Verbal Data: A Practical Guide', Journal of the Learning Sciences 6, 271-315.
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt: 1997, The Jaspers Project: Lessons in Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, and Professional Development, Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ.
Duhem, P.: 1954, Aim and Structure of Physical Theory, Atheneum, New York.
Duschl, R.A., Hamilton, R.J. & Grandy, R.E.: 1992, 'Psychology and Epistemology: Match or Mis-match when Applied to Science Education', in R.A. Duschl & R.J. Hamilton (eds.), Philosophy of Science, Cognitive Psychology, and Educational Theory and Practice, State University of New York Press, Albany, pp. 19-48.
Hakkarainen, K.: 1997, 'Question-Driven Inquiry and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning', a poster presented at The Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning 1997 (CSCL97) Conference, University of Toronto, 10–14 December, 1997.
Hakkarainen, K.: 1998a, Cognitive Value of Peer Interaction in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, a paper presented at The American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, San Diego, 13–17 April, 1998.
Hakkarainen, K.: 1998b, Epistemology of Scientific Inquiry and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto.
Hanson, N.R.: 1958, Patterns of Discovery, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Hintikka, J.: 1982, 'A Dialogical Model of Teaching', Synthese 51, 39-59.
Hintikka, J.: 1985, 'True and False Logic of Scientific Discovery', in J. Hintikka (ed.), Logic of Discovery and Logic of Discourse, Plenum, NewYork.
Hintikka, J.: 1988, 'What is the Logic of Experimental Inquiry?', Synthese 74, 173-190.
Kitcher, P.: 1988, 'The Child as a Parent of the Scientist', Mind and Language 3, 217-228.
Kuhn, T.: 1962, The Structure of Scientific Revolution, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Miyake, N. & Norman, D.: 1979, 'To Ask a Question, One Must Know Enough to Know what is not Known', Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 18, 357-364.
Moravcsik, J.: 1974, 'Aristotle on Adequate Explanations', Synthese 28, 3-17.
Perkins, D.A., Crismond, D., Simmons, R. & Under, C.: 1995, 'Inside Understanding', in D.N. Perkins, J.L. Schwartz, M.M. West & M.S. Wiske (eds.), Software Goes to Schol, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp, 70-87.
Piaget, J. & Garcia, R.: 1989, Psychogenesis and the History of Science, Columbia University Press, New York.
Posner, G.J., Strike, K.A., Hewson, P.W. & Gertzog, W.A.: 1982, 'Accommodation of Scientific Conception: Toward a Theory of Conceptual Change', Science Education 66, 211-227.
Ram, A.: 1991, 'A Theory of Questions and Question Asking', The Journal of the Learning Sciences 1, 273-318.
Scardamalia, M. & Bereiter, C.: 1992, 'Text-Based and Knowledge-Based Questioning by Children', Cognition and Instruction 9, 177-199.
Scardamalia, M. & Bereiter, C.: 1993, 'Technologies for Knowledge-Building Discourse', Communications of the ACM 36, 37-41.
Scardamalia, M. & Bereiter, C.: 1994, 'Computer Support for Knowledge-building Communities', The Journal of the Learning Sciences 3, 265-283.
Shapere, D.: 1977, 'Scientific Theories and Their Domains', in F. Suppe (ed.), The Structure of Scientific Theories, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, pp. 518-565.
Simon, H.: 1977, Models of Discovery, Reidel, Dordrecht.
Sintonen, M.: 1984, 'The Pragmatics of Scientific Explanation', Acta Philosophica Fennica, Vol. 37, Societas Philosophica Fennica, Helsinki.
Sintonen, M.: 1985, 'Separating Problems from Their Background: A Question-Theoretic Proposal', Communication and Cognition 18, 25-49.
Sintonen, M.: 1989, 'Explanation: In Search of Rationale', in W. Salmon & P. Kitcher (eds.), Sci-entific Explanation: Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. XIII, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pp. 253-282.
Sintonen, M.: 1990a, 'How to Put Questions to Nature', in D. Knowles (ed.), Explanation and its Limits, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 267-284.
Sintonen, M.: 1990b, 'The Interrogative Model of Inquiry in Evolutionary Studies', in Acta Philosophica Fennica Vol. 49, Societas Philosophica Fennica, Helsinki, pp. 473-487.
Sintonen, M.: 1991, 'How Evolutionary Theory Faces the Reality', Synthese 89, 163-183.
Sintonen, M.: 1993, 'In Search of Explanations: From Why-Questions to Shakespearean Questions', Philosophica 51, 55-81.
Sintonen, M.: 1996a, 'Structuralism and the Interrogative Model of Inquiry', in W. Balzer & C. Ulises-Moulines (eds.), Recent Topics in Structuralist Philosophy of Science, Rodopi, Amsterdam.
Sintonen, M.: 1996b, 'The Come-Back of Constructivism', Revue Roumaine de Philosophie 40(3-4), 217-225.
Suppe, F. (ed.): 1977, The Structure of Scientific Theories, University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
Thagard, P.: 1992, Conceptual Revolutions, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Toulmin, S.: 1972, Human Understanding, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Wisniewski, A.: 1995, The Posing of Questions: Logical Foundations of Erotetic Inferences, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hakkarainen, K., Sintonen, M. The Interrogative Model of Inquiry and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. Science & Education 11, 25–43 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013076706416
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013076706416