The strength of ideas in construction projects: A Teacher's window of perception

The benefits for a teacher in researching their own classroom have been well documented, but few reports have focused on how teachers make sense of what they see and hear during open-ended technology construction projects. This interpretive study has such a focus. It traces aspects of my learning trajectory as a teacher researcher in my Year Six classrooms, and aspects of improved classroom outcomes. In narrative voice I describe how my initial thinking about the building of acceptable scientific knowledge is modified through exploring the research literature and the strength of my students' ideas. My interpretation of videotape data of the collaboration process within group learning identifies the social dynamics which can influence the evolving nature of student's ideas in designing engineering structures. I describe how this research experience has influenced my planning and interaction with my students in the process of helping them to construct viable scientific knowledge.