Synchronous computer mediated communication in an 8 th grade science classroom: A qualitative analysis of social behavior

"...if we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow." - John Dewey (1916).;This dissertation focuses on social constructivism and how it manifests through synchronous computer-mediated communication in comparison to face-to-face interaction in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academy. The inquiry was situated in the exploration of the interplay of 8th grade students in a social networking web-based environment in order to understand how a social networking environment (SMARTSync) contributed to behaviors and personal cognitive growth.;The goal of the research was to provide an in-depth description, exploration and analysis of a social networking environment in an 8th grade science classroom guided by the following questions: 1. In what ways does a social networking environment contribute to collaborative learning among students and teacher? 2: How does cognitive growth (personal factor) manifest within a social networking environment? 3. How does a social networking environment balance teacher control and student autonomy?;The study further illuminates how the replication of a previous exploratory study assisted in identifying, comparing and contrasting patterns, and themes among participants (students and teacher) to better understand how social cognitive theory, the zone of proximal development and pedagogy of collegiality interplay in the group's dynamic learning experiences. The interplay of these components illustrated how balancing teacher control and student autonomy was achieved and nurtured through discussions via synchronous computer mediated communication compared to face-to-face discussions.