In this study, we investigated how high school credit recovery students
worked in small groups and used computer-based scaffolds to conduct scientific
inquiry in a problem-based learning unit centered on water quality. We examined
how students searched for and evaluated information from different sources, and
used evidence to support their claims. Data sources included screen recordings,
interviews, scaffold trace data, and scaffold entry quality ratings. Findings indicate
that many students struggled to use the scaffolding and did not fully respond to
scaffold prompts. Collaboration within small groups was often inhibited by frequent
absences, struggles using the scaffolding, desires to complete tasks quickly rather
than thoroughly, and an expectation that the group leader address the questions.
However, many groups followed the scientific inquiry process prompted by the
scaffolding, and support for collaboration within the scaffolds led students to
negotiate the meaning of water quality data, and this in turn led students to see
water quality as a complex, rather than a binary, construct.

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• An Examination of Credit Recovery Students’ Use of Computer-Based Scaffolding in a Problem-Based, Scientific Inquiry Unit