Micro-interactive Ethnography Of The "Third Space" Of Science Classroom In Primary School

Since the new curriculum reform,classroom teaching has owned a new relation and meaning of integration of teaching and learning.In view of classroom teaching,reforming the teaching methods has gradually become the concern of the research on classroom interaction.How “teaching” and “learning” complement and inspire each other to improve real and meaningful science learning is of great importance,which needs to be discussed urgently in the relevant research currently.According to the theoretical perspective of the “third space”,this paper reveals the new possibilities and difficulties of “teaching” and “learning”,by discussing two research questions: “what is the ‘third space' of science classroom and how does the identity work of a primary school student affect science learning?”In this paper,the research approach of micro-interactive ethnography was adopted,and analyzed 880-minute video of the 2th-grade science classroom in Shanghai,from which 20 interactive video clips in the “third space” are selected for textual transcripts and analysis.In particularly,this paper addressed the two core research questions through two researches.The first sub study paid attention to the overall general picture of the “third space”,which presented the characteristics and functions of the “third space” of science classroom from the perspective of hybrid discourse practice.It was concluded through the study that there were four modes of hybrid discourse practice in the “third space”of science classroom,including negotiation mode,hybridization mode,common mode and shift-in mode,which respectively promoted the reorganization of the room for learning,the intergrowth of scientific knowledge and daily knowledge and experience,the legitimization of emotion and humor,as well as the construction of the meaning of hybrid knowledge.There were also many new problems behind the “third space” of science classroom.In the second sub study,more attention was paid to the inner character of the “third space” and the identity work of a student in the “third space” of science classroom is explored.By using social practice theory and positioning analysis framework for reference,the second sub study conducted two rounds of data analysis on the identity work of the students: firstly,create a lens of ethnographic perspective of “what counts as a science person”,and then further analyzed and explained the identity work of a student through this lens.The results were as follows:(1)in the “third space” of science classroom,a “science person” referred to the one who can take an active part in the interaction in classroom,shared and explained scientific views,contributed to the learning of official knowledge,and listened to and respected others' ideas;(2)“learning opportunity” became the important condition or intermediary of the identity work of the students.Specifically,the relations among the official script,the non-official script and the “third space” influenced students' learning opportunity and consequently affected the process and result of the identity work;(3)the course of contending,providing and protecting learning opportunity or bearing the loss of learning opportunity was also a part of identity work carried out by students in the “third space”of science classroom.On the basis of the above research findings,this paper discussed the value of the“third space” of science classroom,the cultural production of science in the “third space”and the intermediary of the identity work of a student,and put forward the research theory and educational practice.