Theoretical and Practical Framework for a Multinational, Precollege, Peer Teaching Collaborative

Abstract

This paper discusses a formal peer teaching collaborative network of middle and secondary school students designing and prototyping science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) projects that they share in synchronous virtual settings and asynchronous settings. Funded primarily by the US National Science Foundation, the effort has involved students from five continents. The aims of the collaborative, called the International Community for Collaborative Content Creation, or IC4, include fostering STEM skills and intercultural competence. The practical framework for IC4 is replicable. It aligns closely with theorizing around intercultural competence formation. The practical framework relies on interest-driven creator theory as a confirmatory guide for formulation of the projects that students undertake. The theoretical framework involves the construct of participatory teaching and involves quantitative ethnography, a methodology that relies on techniques from social network analysis and from discourse analytics to create visual and statistical models for phenomena traditionally expressed through case study. The paper includes discussion of how activity theory provides an important descriptive tool for explaining how collaboratives such as IC4 mediate the formation of academic and intercultural competencies.