Shifts in Power Relations across Group Work Activities for Gas Laws

Current studies on group work illustrate the importance of student collaboration for enhancing conceptual understanding and participation in science. Research also documents the roles students adopt within group work, with some studies illustrating the underlying power relations. This study sought to expand on prior research literature to understand power relations in group and technology settings in a chemistry context. Using a power relations framework, this observation study investigates the discourse between high school students learning about gas laws in an instructional sequence starting with unstructured group work, group work with assigned roles, and technology-supported group work with assigned roles. Three observations were completed for each approach across three groups of four students (n = 12; 9 observations total). Audio transcripts were analyzed by two coders, and interrater agreement was determined. The findings show that students discuss science concepts more when in unstructured groups and ask more questions when in groups with assigned roles, with or without supporting technology. Most of the questions asked in the groups with assigned roles are about the logistics of the assignments or group roles, as students require scaffolding from the teacher before engaging in science concepts compared to being in unstructured groups. These findings illustrate the potential setbacks to conceptual discussions for classroom activities when shifting student power relations with new roles and/or technology and point to important implications for science education.