Abstracts - Earli

and vocational training interactions in particular. In order to address these issues, the paper willpropose a detailed analysis of a set of video recordings documenting real-time activitiesaccomplished by apprentices in the Swiss vocational education system.Promoting productive collaboration for learning scientific conceptsErica Sainsbury, The University of Sydney, AustraliaRichard Walker, The University of Sydney, AustraliaA study was undertaken of the relationship between the processes and outcomes of learning in afirst year Australian university cohort. Pharmacy students at the University of Sydney must learnto distinguish between the chemistry which is familiar from high school, and different conceptualmeanings which are accepted in pharmacy. A topic of particular difficulty is "acids and bases":identical terms used in the two disciplines carry different meanings in different situations, andstudents have consistently struggled with discriminating between them. The current study wasundertaken to investigate the significance of particular aspects of the learning environment on thelong-term learning of pharmacy conceptual understanding of acids and bases. The processes oflearning were studied through the use of videotapes of normal class activities, where small studentgroups worked together on a series of tasks designed to promote collaborative discussion andproblem solving. The outcomes of learning were investigated through the use of semi-structuredinterviews where students were given the opportunity to express their understanding in verbaldialogue with the interviewer. The results were used to describe a model relating learning to thenature of the social interactions which were apparent amongst group members during theirworkshops sessions. A positive relationship was identified between productive collaborativeinteractions and the formation of zones of proximal development, the development ofintersubjectivity and the promotion of long term conceptual learning. Members of groups whichengaged in less productive interactions displayed reduced long-term learning; this was associatedwith lower levels of intersubjectivity and limited formation of zones of proximal development.These findings provide a theoretical model for the design of supportive environments for thelearning of scientific concepts and suggest a number of dimensions which are likely to beimportant in promoting productive interactions amongst groups of learners.B 1428 August 2007 17:30 - 18:50Room: 0.79 JánossyPaper SessionStudent learning in higher educationChair:Carmen Vizcarro, Universidad de Castilla la Mancha, SpainA pilot exploration of doctoral students’ conceptions of researchJan Meyer, University of Durham, United KingdomDouglas Halliday, University of Durham, United KingdomThere is a limited literature on students’ conceptions of research and the earliest reported work onthis topic is believed to be the seminal study by Meyer, Shanahan and Laugksh (2005). This twopartstudy, embracing both a qualitative and a quantitative methodological component, established– 97 –