Epistemic Frames as an Analytical Framework for Understanding the Representation of Scientific Activity in a Modeling-Based Learning Unit

Abstract

Set in the context of modeling-based learning (MBL), this research investigated the potential of epistemic frames as a theoretical and analytical framework for understanding teaching and learning practices used in classroom communities of practice. Epistemic frames are conceptualized as an orienting lens for a classroom community of practice that emerges out of how they organize knowledge structures and practices to support their ways of knowing. This research examined the types and organization of practices in the classroom where a MBL unit was implemented to understand what sense-making practices were used, and how these practices supported the classroom community’s negotiation of understanding. Through this analysis, a sense of the viability of epistemic frames as a productive theoretical and analytical lens was revealed in terms of providing a better understanding of the nuances and context dependencies of what students and teachers do to make sense of real-world scientific phenomena in classrooms.