Communicating not-yet-knowing

Videografische Untersuchung von Studierenden in kollaborativen Lerngruppen

Abstract

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching and learning method used at university level, characterised by collaborative learning. Students are encouraged to exchange information and opinions based on a practical task set by the teacher in advance. The aim is to identify gaps in knowledge relating to the underlying problem, develop new content, bring it together and find solutions in order to learn collaboratively. With the research question: ‘How do engineering students communicate physically in collaborative learning groups?’ video data was collected and analysed from the perspective of the sociology of knowledge and the theory of ‘communicative constructivism’ (Knoblauch, 2017) using ‘focused ethnography’ (Knoblauch & Vollmer, 2022). In the learning groups, the students' communication is partly characterised by a ‘not-yet-knowing’ that is expressed in multimodal, non-verbal, physical actions. These include as-if actions in which they shape their bodies into objects, for example, as if their hands were gears, in order to test different rotational movements with their hands to determine the direction of rotation of a gearbox. The subject of communication is translated into gestures that form a physical provisional solution (e.g. hands shaped like cogwheels) and make the body of the actor intersubjectively experienceable for the group. At the same time, the sensory gestures of the rotational movement enable the actor to subjectively trace the problem through reflexive self-perception. Based on genre analysis (Luckmann, 1986), communicative forms were identified that focus not only on linguistic interactions but also on physical interactions. The poster provides insights into the analysis of the reciprocal network of actions. Using a video sequence as an example, it shows how students in collaborative learning groups use different forms of communication to make the transition from ‘not yet knowing’ to a different kind of knowledge. These actions form the basis for reaching a common consensus.