Eye of the Beholder: Investigating the Interplay between Inquiry Role Diversification and Social Perspective Taking

Abstract

Students and teachers engage in specific roles in classrooms, and within inquiry classrooms, these roles tend to be more varied compared to traditional settings. Teachers may take on traditional student roles including the role of learner, and students, for example, take on the additional role of question asker, traditionally reserved for the role of a teacher. Several of these roles are specific to perspective taking, in particular, social perspective taking (SPT). SPT is critical to successful social interactions and, because group work occurs frequently within inquiry-based teaching and learning environments, a better understanding of SPT roles is required. SPT roles within two different inquiry classrooms were closely examined through audiorecorded group interactions. Additional data were collected in the form of questionnaires, interviews, student and teacher log responses, and field notes. Two teachers and eight students participated. Social perspective-taking roles were dynamic and susceptible to influences including the nature of the classroom activities and instructional choices, student personality differences, and group-work dynamics. All participants adopted SPT roles, however, students who played an active role in choosing their work partners and who were assigned a task that required a consideration of the audience’s understanding tended to adopt more Imagine Other roles as opposed to Imagine Self roles and also adopted more emotionally-based SPT roles compared to students in teacher-formed groups who were assigned more cognitively-based assignments. Implications for researchers, consultants, and students and teachers were discussed.