5.1.4 Perspectives task

The topic given to them was that “the land-use around Little Guilin does not encourage protection of its scenic beauty over the long-term”.  In their exchange of views, the seven adolescents sent photographs to each other as picture-messages, as evidence of their respective stands.  Given the fairly explicit link between the topic and the larger theme of environmental conservation, it was not surprising that the subject matter of the photographs which the students chose to capture and share, reflected this as well. 

In terms of the model of practical inquiry (Garrison, Anderson and Archer, 2001) which was developed to analyse the discourse modes generated by computer-mediated communication, 58 percent of the messaging exchange during the perspectives task for this team could be categorised as ‘exploration’ (for example, “I tink dat e surrounding land-use is causing pollution.:) ppl are abusing e land surrounding e little guiling..” at time index 1601), 30 percent as ‘integration’ (for example, “Ppl are drawing everywhere n government is not fining them.  Show they don care abt xiao guilin” at time index 1631) and 11 percent as ‘resolution’ (for example, “Let up all come up with a conclusion I say e government is doing its part to protect e area” at time index 1644).  When compared with other studies (Garrison et al, 2001 and Fahy, 2002), these proportions are favouable and indicate that the Structured Academic Controversy format would seem to promote a greater degree of ‘integration’, as opposed to merely ‘exploration’.

As for the ‘resolution’ phase, the tentative consensus that the team arrived at was that although there is evidence of pollution at Little Guilin, there are also strong suggestions (such as the provision of waste bins and signs reminding the public not to litter or fish) that the government would be able to address this problem in the long-term through public education.  It is noteworthy that the students should, of their own accord, raise the role of government in environmental conservation.  This is congruent with Kong’s (1999) observations that many adolescents in Singapore view the state as instrumental in ‘maintaining’ nature as part of a larger aesthetic landscape.  However, she does acknowledge that a minority of students do not subscribe to this instrumentalist ideology – indeed, during the peer critique session, one of their peers from another team commented on a post-it note “it is not the government responsibility to protect Little Guilin.  It is the citizen responsible.”

<- 5.1.3 Cognitive maps          -> 5.2 Case Two - Team 'Little Guilin' (B)