Exploring Student Engagement and Teacher-Student Interaction Patterns in Collaborative STEM PBL courses through Epistemic Network Analysis

Abstract

To assess junior high school students' engagement in collaborative STEM project-based learning courses, this study employed a web-based observation protocol called COPIE-STEM to collect classroom observation data. This protocol coded data based on the ICAP theory and teacher instructional approaches. Over the course of six weeks, data on student engagement behaviors and teacher behaviors were gathered. In addition to using coding and counting methods, Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) was employed to explore the trajectory of the STEM-PBL course during these six weeks. The results revealed that passive student engagement behaviors and teacher- centered behaviors clustered on the left side, while active student engagement behaviors and student-centered teacher behaviors clustered on the right side. Furthermore, examining the network graphs for each week's courses showed that as the course progressed, instruction shifted from teacher-centered to student-centered, and students exhibited higher levels of engagement. These findings provided insights into the dynamics of STEM-PBL classrooms.