Hall, Angela; (2012) Critiquing a framework in principled software design. Doctoral thesis , Institute of Education, University of London.

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Abstract

This study uses educational design principles to interrogate an electronic tutorial from the Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology resources. The tutorial is based on Hammerling's historic experiment on the single-celled alga, Acetabularia. This leads to a critique of design principles, some outline revisions to these principles, and to a reconstruction of the tutorial. Data from students using the tutorial was recorded and transcribed, and pre- and post-tutorial test data and written tasks were also used. Cognitive barriers and opportunities were identified through repeated inductive analyses to produce and refine a task model for the tutorial. The initial analysis highlighted multiple phenomena of interest, so the scope of the study was narrowed to focus on how students use background science ideas to develop scientific explanations. The next stage of analysis involved a comparison of the data with an existing set of scaffolding design principles. These principles provided a framework for analysis of the scaffolding present in the tutorial, and suggested where the generic principles needed more detail or exemplification. The outcomes of the study include a methodology which uses design guidelines to analyse and refine the electronic tutorial. Where gaps in the guidelines were revealed in this process, revisions to the framework for analysis are suggested. The final chapters suggest a way of defining and exemplifying the content knowledge of educational design and making this knowledge explicit during the process of design. The study raised broader issues relating to the vocabulary used by science educators to discuss science inquiry and content. It is also suggested that the guidelines in the framework exemplify a flawed model of 'the scientific method' that has commonly been accepted for use in curriculum design for science inquiry learning.

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