JOURNAL OF ELEMENTARY SCIENCE EDUCATION, Vol. 6, No.2, Pp. 1·10, (1994), (C) 1994,College of Education, The University of West Florida

SITUATED COGNITION IN SECONDGRADE SCIENCE: LITERATURE

BOOKS FOR AUTHENTIC CONTEXTS

By David Kumar & John F. VoIdrich

AbstractA report ofhow literature books can be used to createauthentic contextsfor teaching science at the secondgrade level is presented. Since, from a cognitivepsychology perspective, language helps to mediatesocial actions and cognitive functions, at lower gradelevels it is possible to use literature books to situatescience learning in macro-contexts. Thispaperpointsout that instead ofrelying on expensive technologies,such as intelligent tutors and interactive videos,teachers could use carefully selected reading materialsto provide students with meaningful contexts forscience learning activities.

IntroductionThis paper will explore how "literature books" are used to

situate science learning by providing authentic contexts in a secondgrade science classroom in the United States. As Vygotsky (1978)said, "[k]nowledge acquisition and cognitive functions in general areinternalization of social actions." According to Brown, Collins, andDuguid (1989), knowledge is situated as a part ofthe context (culture)from which it is acquired, which forms the basis ofsituated cognition.Thus, the context of the social action is a crucial factor in learning.

For example, when problem-based learning is situated in areal-world event, the learner has the opportunity to develop anunderstanding of the concept under study and facilitate theinternalization ofthe information through meaningfulsemantic networkin order to overcome inert knowledge (Lockhart, Lamon, & Gick,1988). [The term "inert knowledge," according to Whitehead (1929),represents the knowledge often unable to be recalled and appliedspontaneously in problem-based learning due to a lack of meaningfulcontexts. Semantic network represents how knowledge is "organizedby associative structures" for example, the "vocabulary of a languagealong with general facts about the world" (Dunlop & Fetzer, 1993, p.115).] Brown and co-workers (1989) call for creating apprenticeshipsfor students to situate their learning in practices that are representativeof experiences in ordinary life.

Numerous studies suggest that situated cognition provides ameaningful learning context for students and helps them develop anunderstanding of how to use subject-specific knowledge in practicalproblem solving (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989; Kotovsky, Hayes& Simon, 1985; Lajoie & Lesgold, 1989; Cogniton & TechnologyGroup, 1990). Kotovsky, Hayes and Simon (1985) have shown thatreal world representations ofproblems yield significant improvementsin problem solving and learning abilities of students.

In science education, expensive technologies such as intelligentcomputer models and interactive video systems, are often used tofacilitate situated cognition (Merrill, 1988; Kumar, Smith, Helgeson& White, (in press); Cognition & Technology Group, 1990). Lajoieand Lesgold (1989) pointed out that the performance of Air Forcetrainees who used a computer tutoring system (SHERLOCK) masteredtrouble-shooting as well as their colleagues with more years of in­service experience. The Cognition and Technology Group describedthe effect of contexts provided by videos of movies such as "TheYoung Sherlock Holmes" on student learning. For example, onestudent after viewing "Sherlock Holmes" recognized a pattern in thestrange murders where the victims are always hit by poison darts inthe neck. This spontaneous recognition ofa pattern triggered a series

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of discussions ranging from movies to human biology. In anotherproject, adventures of a character named Jasper are presented tostudents via an interactive video system. Each adventure ofJasper isembedded with carefully structured data in a rich context. Thus,students are able to generate their own problems to solve. Findingsshowed that students who used the interactive video system becamebetter problem solvers than those who did not.

On the other hand, how to provide similar meaningful learningexperiences without the aid of these expensive technologies is aquestion that challenges educators. One should not be led to believethat expensive technologies are essential for providing enrichedcontexts for learning. For example, Gragg (1940) proposed the useof "case based instruction" to enable learning in a real-world context.According to Rosenblatt (1978), from an educational point of view,reading could help the learner focus the "concepts to be retained,ideas to be tested, actions to be performed" (p. 24). Wallace-Jones(1991), in a research study with 11 to 16 year old students, found thatstudent response to reading poetry had not only emotional implicationsas conventionally held, but also cognitive implications. As previouslystated, since cognitive functions are internalization of social actions,an argument could be made that teachers at primary grade levels couldcreate authentic contexts for meaningful learning for their studentsusing literature books. Accepting this premise, a report of howliterature books are used to create enriched contexts for teachingscience concepts in a second grade classroom in the United States ispresented.

Weather Unit in Second GradeAn example of how techniques of situated cognition can be

utilized in a second grade science curriculum can be seen in a unit onweather from a public elementary school in Columbus, Ohio. Theteacher's primary objectives of the unit are:1. To develop "awareness" ofand "interest" in the weather phenomenathat affect both the students and the people around them. For example,

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as the students work through the unit, they will hopefully be askingthemselves questions such as: What experiences have I had withweather? What experiences have I shared vicariously with charactersin books? etc.2. To add to the students' understanding ofthe physical properties ofair, water, light, and heat, all of which are shown to contribute tovarious weather phenomena.3. To give a practical context to the use of math computation andmeasurement skills.4. To develop an attitude ofinquiry in each student, by asking questionssuch as: What do I want to find out about weather? How can I goabout answering questions I have about weather? etc.

MaterialsThe materials needed for the unit are fairly simple: student

journals, student weather folders (a manila folder containing a calendarand temperature graph), indoor and outdoor thermometers, class"Clock-In" chart, library books at appropriate grade levels on variousweather subjects, and literature relating to various aspects of theweather (to be read aloud by the teacher and discussed with the class).

ActivitiesOver the span ofthe school year, the teacher reads Laura Ingalls

Wilder's Little House books to his class. Three 10-minute periodseach day are set aside to read aloud to the students. Because childrenseem much more interested in science, math, health, and social studiesconcepts when placed in a meaningful context, (i.e. the personalexperiences ofa pioneer family as they face a variety of physical andsocial conditions) much of the teaching ofscience concepts spins offfrom the experiences of the Ingalls' family. Though the class maydiscuss different aspects ofweather and seasonal change presented inparticular chapters of Wilder's series throughout the year, a morefocused study ofweather and its causes usually occurs when the teacherbegins reading The Long Winter in January and February. Weather-

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related topics in this book include: weather forecasting (animal signs,Indian predictions, weather patterns), effects of extremely high andlow temperature, effects of wind speed and direction, snow cover,sunshine, and cloud cover on human survival, and seasonal norms.

Along with letting the students vicariously experience theeffects of blizzards, droughts, floods, tornadoes, and more normalprairie weather presented in the readings, the teacher and studentswill often spend journal time brainstorming ideas and writing aboutexperiences that students have encountered related to weather topics.For example, after reading the chapter in On the Banks ofPlum Creekin which Laura almost drowns in a flood-swollen creek, the teachercould write his/her own flood experiences on the chalkboard ornewsprint and encourage students to share their own experiences intheir journals. Further exploration into the subject offloods and theircauses can be encouraged as the teacher shares or reviews other non­fiction books on floods with students. Though the experiences relatedmay not be as dramatic or life-threatening as the ones presented in theLittle House, students are eager to share what they do know fromtheir own experiences.

A third activity that develops a sense of weather changes,cycles, and seasonal trends is the use of individual weather calendars.Each month the students is given a new calendar, showing five-dayschool-weeks. Space is provided in each day's square to paste one ofsix weather pictures kept in a zip-lock bag stapled to the inside ofthefolder depicting sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, windy, or foggy weather.Space is also provided to record the low and high temperatures foreach day. A grid to record the daily highs and lows as a line graph isstapled to the other side of the folder. With each succeeding month,students will hopefully notice not only the weather extremes possiblewithin each month, but the temperature trends (either up or down) asthe months pass from season to season. Graphing activities involvingtemperature measurements could also be used to further compare theweather conditions and trends from month to month, or over the courseof several months.

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A fourth ongoing weather activity involves a daily check ofthe time and indoor/outdoor temperatures. The teacher introducesthe task at the beginning of the year by showing the students how toread the thermometers and clocks. When each student reaches the"Clock-In" task each day, s/he signs in, and fills in boxes on a chartlabeled "Analog time," "Digital time," "Inside temperature," and"Outside temperature." Later in the school year, when all studentshave been exposed to two digit subtraction, another column is addedto the chart, "Difference (High - Low Temp)." To support the routineofmonitoring temperature and weather conditions, students will listento weather information and forecasts on a weather radio each day anddiscuss how the forecasts will affect their plans for the next day, aswell as how accurate the weather forecasts have been in days previous.

EvaluationAt the second grade level, the primary focus of evaluation is

not on how well students gain and retain a knowledge ofscience factsand concepts, but on how much each student's awareness of andinterest in weather phenomena has been increased. If and when theneed does arise to gather "hard data" on understandings of scienceconcepts and facts, students will function best if they do not sensethey are being tested on their knowledge of facts presented in theliterature books, or science concepts learned in conjunction with theextension activities and centers. The natural enthusiasm of studentsand teachers is diminished when both sense that the ultimate purposeof their reading, investigations, and activities is to prepare for a paperand pencil test, or to earn a grade.

In order to evaluate the affective elements of "awareness,"and "interest" of students, individual work on projects and activitiescan provide much insight into the students' awareness, interest, andnew understandings of weather phenomena. In addition, anecdotalrecords can reveal an individual student's interest by noting frequencyof weather-related choices of books, magazine articles, and "showand tell" items for silent reading or sharing times, as well as by

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references to weather topics in class discussions and daily journalentries.

To evaluate a student's understanding of specific facts andconcepts encountered in a study of weather, (e.g., properties of air,water, light, and heat) as well as the student's capabilities in usingmath and measurement skillsthe teacher can employ hands-on activitiesdemonstrating the properties ofair, water, etc., and check the student'sunderstandings using an activity sheet or response journal. Anindividual conference with the students can add further insight intothe depth of student understanding of particular science concepts.

Another example ofevaluation ofthe student's grasp of mathand science concepts can be seen in the use ofthe weather folder. Atthe end of a given month, students can use information recorded ontheir weather folders to construct a bar or picture graph to comparethe numbers of sunny, cloudy, rainy, and snowy days. The students'understandings of "greater than," "less than," and "equal to," can beevaluated and reinforced as the students are asked to show thecomparisons using mathematical language and symbols. Similarly, ifstudents have recorded daily temperatures on their calendars, theinformation can be used to construct line graphs. Based on theirunderstandings ofseasonal changes and the trends they see representedon the graphs, students can be asked to predict future trends andcharacteristics of seasons and climates, showing their degree ofunderstanding of these concepts.

Evaluating the student's "attitude ofinquiry"can be approachedin several ways. Before investigating a specific science topic -- air,for instance, the class as a group will list on a wall chart titled, "WhatI know About Air," all ofthe facts, ideas, and concepts relating to airwith which they are already familiar. After exhausting the student'sreservoir of facts about air, the teacher will list on another wall charttitled, "What I Want to Find Out About Air," all of the questions forwhich students want answers. In the following weeks, students canrefer to the questions on the chart as they read during free-reading orproject time. When a student finds an answer to one of the class'questions, s/he brings the book to his/her teacher and shares the

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discovery, which is then recorded on a notecard and taped to thechart next to the question. The notecard not only shares the answerto the question, but the name ofthe person who found the answer andthe book in which the answer was found.

For students who are less-ablereaders, or more suited to hands­on activities, a science center can be an effective means of not onlyintroducing a student to science concepts and facts, but also evaluatingan "attitude ofinquiry." The teacher's anecdotal records ofhow oftenand to what degree a student involves himself with explorations andapplications of activities in a science center can also reveal the depthof a student's "attitude of inquiry."

Discussion and ImplicationsMany other examples could be given to relate situated

cognition with the teaching of science concepts about weather inauthentic contexts. In teaching primary age children, the techniqueof situating science instruction in the student's "frame of reference,"(personal experiences, ofevents in literature, and hands-on activities)is crucial in helping students understand science concepts, as well asinitiating and developing an interest in the process of scientificinvestigation. In a study ofteachers' uses and beliefs oftext materialsin the context of science reading at the elementary grades, Shymansky,Yore and Good (1991) stated that "[u]nderstanding science ideasrequires purposeful action where the learner brings allforms ofactivityto bear on the task of making meaning of the ideas" (p. 452).

Even though terms like situated cognition appear strange atfirst, upon close examination they seem to represent learning strategiesfamiliar to most classroom teachers. The basic premise of situatedcognition lies in enriched context-based learning reflective ofordinaryevents in order to overcome inert knowledge. There is no genuinesubstitute for situated cognition focused on learning experiences inauthentic context, as illustrated by the four examples of scienceactivities on weather presented in this paper. It is hoped that teacherswill continue to value and provide such learning opportunities for

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their students. Generally, cognitive theories which call forapprenticeship in authentic contexts, help to reinforce the importanceof memorable, real-world practical learning experiences. Certainly,there are many teachers who are providing much experiences for theirstudents without even realizing the support their practices have fromthose in educational research, and the long-range positive implicationsof their actions on learner outcomes.

ReferencesBrown, S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition

and the culture oflearning. Educational Researcher, 17, 32-41.Cognition and Technology Group. (1990). Anchored instruction

and its relationship to situated cognition. EducationalResearcher, 19(6), 2-10.

Dunlop, C. E. M., & Fetzer, 1. H. (1993). Glossary ofcognitivescience. New York: Paragon Press.

Gragg, C. 1. (1940). Because wisdom can't be told. HarvardAlumni Bulletin, pp. 78-84.

Kumar, D. D., Smith, P. 1., Helgeson, S. L., & White, A. L. (inpress). Advanced technologies as educational tools in science:Concepts, applications and issues. In Thomas, D. (Ed.),Scientific visualization in mathematics and science teaching.Charlottesville, VA: Association for the Advancement ofComputers in Education.

Kotovsky, K., Hayes, 1. R., & Simon, H. A. (1984). Why are someproblems hard? Evidence from Tower of Hanoi. CognitiveP~chology, 17,248-294.

Lajoie, S. P., & Lesgold, A. (1989). Apprenticeship training in theworkplace: Computer-coached practice environment as a newform of apprenticeship. Machine-Mediated Learning, 3, 7-28.

Lockhart, R. S., Lamon, M., & Gick, M. 1. (1988). Conceptualtransfer in simple insight problems. Memory & Cognition, 16,36-44.

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Merrill, M. D. (1988). The role of tutorial and experiential modelsin intelligent tutoring systems. Educational Technology, 28(7),6-13.

Rosenblatt, L. (1978). The reader, the text, the poem. Carbondale,IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Shyrnansky. J. A., Yore, L. D., & Good, R. (1991). Elementaryschool teachers' beliefs about and perceptions of elementaryschool science, science reading, science textbooks, andsupportive instructional factors. Journal ofResearch in ScienceTeaching, 28(5), 437-454.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development ofhigher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Press.

Wallace-Jones, 1. (1991). Cognitive response to poetry in 11 to 16year olds. Educational Review, 43(1), 25-37.

Whitehead, A. N. (1929). The aims ofeducation. New York:Macmillan.

David D. Kumar, Assistant Professor of Science Education,College of Education, Building 38C, Florida Atlantic University.

John F. Voldrich, Windermere Elementary School, Columbus, OH43220.

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