TITLE:
Banter: An Alternative Strategy in Creating a Learning Community
AUTHORS:
Sumita Bhattacharyya
KEYWORDS:
Constructivism; Technology integrated Project Based Approach; Wetland, Self-Confidence; Banter; Belief System; STS; Teachers as Change Agents; Inspiration; NVivo
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.4 No.3,
March
18,
2013
ABSTRACT: In this qualitative study we investigated
the role of bantering in creating a learning community for science education.
The curriculum was centered on a technology-integrated Project Based Approach
(PBA). We examined the pattern of in-service teachers’ interaction with such a
learning environment and perceptions of their future instructional practices
that result from collaborative reflection on the use of Banter throughout the
semester. The findings suggest that exposure to bantering interaction not only
helped the in-service teachers to make decisions about the scientific issues
they will face in the future but also helped to construct a more inquiry based
understanding of the issues in science teaching. Methodological limits and
possibilities were explored through the use of data analysis software such as
Inspiration and NVivo.