Optical pulsars and black arrows: Discovery's work in 'hot' and 'cold' science

Prior research in science education has explored differences in professional scientific inquiry and classroom science, what has been characterized as hot and cold discovery. We compare here two previously analyzed instances of 'doing discovery.' The first is the discovery of an optical pulsar reported by Cocke, Disney, and Taylor (1969) and analyzed in some detail by Garfinkel, Lynch, and Livingston (1981). The second is an example of practical reasoning performed by two students working in a microworld analyzed by Roschelle (1992). One can observe differences across the two cases in the nature of the things discovered and in the practices of inquiry that led to their discovery, though the interactional work of doing discovery is remarkably similar. It is a work of noticing, of directing partners' attention, and of seeking, negotiating, and securing ratification of an understanding. We propose further inquiry into the interactional organization of discovery's work.