A TA's intervention that incrementally added epistemic distancing to his questions shifted a dismissive group into sensemaking with a lasting effect¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · qualitative r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2012 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? TA Joey rephrased "What happened there" as "What do you think happened there, any idea?", adding hedges, rising intonation, and kneeling, after which students offered ideas and continued sensemaking after he left. → Conlin 2012 q2 i? After the TA left, the Silver group continued sensemaking about the discrepancy between trials, indicating the intervention repaired their understanding of the tutorial activity. → Conlin 2012 (2)

Evidence¶

Conlin 2012¶

Conlin, L. D., & Scherr, R. E. (2012). Making Space to Sensemake: Epistemic Distancing in Small Group Physics Discussions. Preprint under review. https://eric.ed.gov/?q=Making+Space+to+Sensemake

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

Discourse analysis of TA Joey's intervention with the Silver group during Tutorial 1, in which he introduced epistemic distance linguistically and paralinguistically; no effect size is printed.

"All of these subtle moves contribute to a safe space in which the Silver group is willing to share their ideas to explain the jumps in the graph"

Conlin 2012 (2)¶

Conlin, L. D., & Scherr, R. E. (2012). Making Space to Sensemake: Epistemic Distancing in Small Group Physics Discussions. Preprint under review. https://eric.ed.gov/?q=Making+Space+to+Sensemake

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

Post-intervention discussion transcript shows the group ran a second trial and kept resolving the trial discrepancy. The article limits the lasting effect to "at least on a short timescale"; no effect size is printed.

"Overall the Silver group's discussion provides evidence that the TA's intervention has had a lasting effect on the their understanding of their activity, at least on a short timescale."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Epistemic distancing plays a critical role in student groups' construction of a safe space for collaborative sensemaking in physics tutorials — a broader claim this one bears on
• Tutorial groups varied widely in when they first entered collaborative sensemaking, from about 13 minutes to nearly 53 minutes of tutorial time — related
• A new group member's heavily distanced bid to discuss shifted the Bronze group's norms toward sharing and evaluating ideas — related
• Both too much and too little epistemic distancing can shut down group discussion — related