A Critical Examination of Tensions During Collaborations in STEM Inquiry

Abstract

Effective collaboration among people with multiple expertise and perspectives is essential as real-world problems become increasingly complex and interdisciplinary. STEM inquiry centers on student teamwork to address cross-disciplinary and open-ended real-world problems. It could provide a promising platform for cultivating students' collaborative skills. Although several studies have demonstrated the reciprocity between STEM inquiry and collaborative skills, more constructive insights on ways to facilitate effective collaboration among students, especially regarding its social dimensions, are needed. Specifically, this study adopted an instrumental case study approach to track the collaboration dynamics of three Grade 9 students during a 1-day STEM hackathon. Drawing on symbolic interactionism as the theoretical framework and integrating Foucault's power/knowledge lens, this study provides nuanced insights into the complexities of students' collaborative interactions shaped by multiple subtle social factors. The research findings revealed four emergent themes during STEM inquiry processes: (a) the power relations between the leader and team members might perturb their social interactions when task structures were designed as student-centered collaborative STEM problem-solving; (b) task and relationship conflicts would arise in specific disciplinary areas when students identified as experts tend to dominate inquiry spaces; (c) deteriorated relationships resulted from being positioned as delegitimized members by peers; and (d) territorial task division hindered excluded members' willingness to engage. These findings can provide informed insights to educators about designing STEM curricula with social affordances and supporting students' social interactions that facilitate effective collaboration.