Exploring Student Sensemaking during a Collaborative Biology Lab

Authors

• Rebecca Kollipara, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Jenny Dauer

Second Advisor

Joe Dauer

Date of this Version

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science

Major: Natural Resource Sciences

Under the supervision of Professors Jenny Dauer and Joe Dauer

Lincoln, Nebraska, May 2026

Comments

Copyright 2026, Rebecca Kollipara. Used by permission

Abstract

Collaborative learning environments offer valuable opportunities for students to construct scientific understanding through dialogue, yet the conditions that support sustained conceptual reasoning in group settings remain incompletely understood. While prior research has identified discourse moves associated with productive collaboration, less attention has been paid to how those moves function together across turns and conceptual boundaries, or how individual student characteristics shape their emergence. This thesis examines collaborative sensemaking in an undergraduate General Biology II course, drawing on two complementary analyses of student discourse during a bryophyte life-cycle modeling activity.

Chapter 1 investigates how student groups participated in sensemaking and how interactional patterns varied across groups. Using an inductive coding framework adapted from Socially Mediated Metacognition theory, discourse from focal groups was analyzed to identify the moves through which students introduced, evaluated, and developed biological ideas. Findings indicate that all groups demonstrated moments of sensemaking, but that sustained sensemaking occurred only when students engaged in strong peer accountability and conceptual exploration.

Chapter 2 extends this analysis by examining how students' prior knowledge and intrinsic motivation related to their sensemaking participation and post-assessment performance. Findings suggest that neither variable predicted participation independently of the group context: students with higher prior knowledge or motivation tended to contribute in ways that supported accountability and deepening, but only when the group's interactional norms created space for that kind of engagement. Frequency of participation was insufficient without quality and what mattered was whether contributions enacted peer accountability and conceptual deepening within a shared problem. Post-assessment performance was higher among students in groups with sustained sensemaking and group-level patterns mediated individual outcomes.

Together, these findings suggest that the quality of collaborative sensemaking depends not only on what individual students bring to a task, but on how contributions are taken up and extended within the group. Implications for instructional design and directions for future research are discussed.

Advisors: Jenny Dauer and Joe Dauer