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Investigating Social Studies Teachers' Implementation of an Immersive History Curricular Unit as a Cybernetic Zone of Proximal Development

Authors :
Tilak, Shantanu
Glassman, Michael
Lu, Monica
Wen, Ziye
Pelfrey, Logan
Kuznetcova, Irina
Lin, Tzu-Jung
Anderman, Eric M.
Martinez Calvit, Adriana
Ching, Kimiko
Nagpal, Manisha
Source :
Cogent Education. 2023 10(1).
Publication Year :
2023

Abstract

This qualitative study presents 27 students' insights about four teachers' implementation of an immersive Native American history curricular unit designed to equip students with digital skills to critically navigate complex, polarizing social issues. The Digital Civic Learning (DCL) curriculum used Google Suite and Google Classroom or Schoology to provide collaborative slides supporting immersive 2D-graphics, children's books/resources, immersive activities/artefact-creation, and multimodal tools (e.g., discussion posts, Flipgrid video-essays). Teachers regulated student thinking/behavior towards cohesive outcomes, and encouraged open-ended exploration, operationalizing the design framework as a zone of proximal development (ZPD). The history unit incorporates four cybernetic design features (DF) that enable teachers to steer student-centered collaboration within the curricular unit. The teacher serves four diverse roles (guide, facilitator, modeler, participant observer) mapping onto the DF. Results of focus group interviews with students, which were analyzed based on a theory-informed coding scheme and narrative inquiry, suggest ways for social studies teachers to operationalize the DCL immersive history unit as a cybernetic ZPD by adapting its basic structure to technologies accessible in their schools by adapting its basic structure to technologies accessible in their schools. [For the corresponding grantee submission, see ED627933.]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2331-186X
Volume :
10
Issue :
1
Database :
ERIC
Journal :
Cogent Education
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
EJ1393482
Document Type :
Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2171183