ABSTRACT
Scene 1. The professor, Michael, is interviewing Celia, a Grade 6 student from the class involved in a study on science learning. Two graduate students initially unfamiliar with research in science education, Michelle and Carolyn, sit next to him; a research assistant, Sylvie, films the interview. At first, Michelle and Carolyn follow the interview quietly; later, they begin to ask a few questions themselves. To them, it’s a dry run, for, on the next day, they conduct interviews with other students on their own. After Celia has left, the research team of four (Michael, Michelle, Carolyn, and Sylvie) debriefs about important conceptual aspects of physics to be probed in the interviews, about the interview protocol and details, and about details of the artifacts used to stimulate children’s talk.
