Abstract
Based upon "Lay Ethics" (LE) and "Expectation States Theory" (EST), this study proposed a theoretical interpretation of the phenomenon of social influences among peer interactions observed in previous study. Direct and indirect interaction wer e distinguished, and according to LE and EST, three hypotheses were generated. In the case of direct interaction, the acceptability of a given assertion depends upon the expected status of the individual offering the assertion; and the differences of the acceptability of a given pupil's statement depends upon the differences in the pupil's expected statuses held by his/her classmates. The expected status still plays an essential role in case of indirect interaction as well.
Five classes, 180 senior high school students and 156 junior high school pupils, were sampled from northern Taiwan. The expected status of pupils was measured by the "Classroom Structure Inventory", and tasks, such as "anomalous phenomenon", classroom dis cussion and paper-and-pencil test items.
Four experiments were designed to test the above three hypotheses respectively. The following is a summary of some of the most important findings: (1) A given assertion stated by higher status pupils was significantly more acceptable than when stated by s tudents with lower status; (2) A given pupil's statement was more acceptable when other pupils thought he/she to be of high status; (3) Similar results were found for indirect interaction.
The issue of learning opportunity and equity in full class discussions and small group teaching, and implications of such findings for science education were discussed in light of this empirical exploration.
| Keywords: | anomaly; expectation state; class discussion; peer interaction; social context. |
|---|
[Chinese Version | Index | Chinese Journal of Science Education | Other Journals | Subscription form | Enquiry ]
Mail any comments and suggestions to
hkier-journal@cuhk.edu.hk .