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This study examined the relationship between students' (N = 229) concepts of size and scale and students' achievement in science and mathematics over a 3-year period. Size and scale are considered one of the big ideas in science that permeates disparate science and mathematics content areas, yet little is known about the relationship between students' conceptualization of size and scale and students' achievement in science and mathematics. The study used a modified panel longitudinal design to follow the same class of students over a 3-year period. The goal was to explore whether understandings of size and scale are related to achievement in mathematics and science. Results indicated a strong positive significant relationship existed between students' understanding of size and scale and students' science achievement in grades 5 and 8. There was a positive significant relationship between students' concepts of size and scale and students' mathematics achievement in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. An examination of the relationships is included as well as a discussion of the integration of crosscutting concepts into science and mathematics instruction as a way to support deep learning.  相似文献   

3.
Incorporating engineering instruction into the elementary curriculum is not without challenges. Traditionally, researchers investigated using engineering design to promote students learning science concepts. More recently, researchers have conducted qualitative investigations to measure students' learning of engineering concepts after engaging in engineering design. In this study, we extended work on elementary engineering instruction by implementing an integrated engineering and writing unit with 58 third-grade students. Using stratified random assignment based on pre-intervention engineering vocabulary assessment scores, we assigned students to treatment (n = 28) or comparison (n = 30). During a 10-day unit, all students participated in design challenges, emulated the practices of actual engineers, and used writing to support and document their learning, as they designed and authored their own five-page pop-up books. Students in the treatment condition participated in additional writing during 8 of the 10 unit lessons. During this time, they responded to journal prompts related to lesson objectives. At the same time, students in the comparison condition participated in small-group discussions during which they discussed journal prompts orally. We found that all students made statistically significant gains from pre- to posttest on an engineering vocabulary assessment; total words written, number of different engineering concepts used, and depth of understanding of engineering concepts in a written essay response; and number of different engineering concepts used in an oral interview response, regardless of their incoming writing skills and regardless of whether they participated in additional writing or small-group discussion of lesson objectives. This study is the first to quantitatively document the effectiveness of a combined elementary engineering and writing intervention for promoting students' learning of engineering concepts in multiple ways (rote recall, written representation, and oral representation). We argue that literacy, particularly writing, provides an effective and feasible method for incorporating engineering instruction into the elementary curriculum.  相似文献   

4.
Inquiry instruction often neglects graphing. It gives students few opportunities to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to take advantage of graphs, and which are called for by current science education standards. Yet, it is not well known how to support graphing skills, particularly within middle school science inquiry contexts. Using qualitative graphs is a promising, but underexplored approach. In contrast to quantitative graphs, which can lead students to focus too narrowly on the mechanics of plotting points, qualitative graphs can encourage students to relate graphical representations to their conceptual meaning. Guided by the Knowledge Integration framework, which recognizes and guides students in integrating their diverse ideas about science, we incorporated qualitative graphing activities into a seventh grade web-based inquiry unit about cell division and cancer treatment. In Study 1, we characterized the kinds of graphs students generated in terms of their integration of graphical and scientific knowledge. We also found that students (n = 30) using the unit made significant learning gains based on their pretest to post-test scores. In Study 2, we compared students' performance in two versions of the same unit: One that had students construct, and second that had them critique qualitative graphs. Results showed that both activities had distinct benefits, and improved students' (n = 117) integrated understanding of graphs and science. Specifically, critiquing graphs helped students improve their scientific explanations within the unit, while constructing graphs led students to link key science ideas within both their in-unit and post-unit explanations. We discuss the relative affordances and constraints of critique and construction activities, and observe students' common misunderstandings of graphs. In all, this study offers a critical exploration of how to design instruction that simultaneously supports students' science and graph understanding within complex inquiry contexts.  相似文献   

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This paper describes a qualitative approach to analysing students' concept maps. The classification highlights three major patterns which are referred to as 'spoke', 'chain' and 'net' structures. Examples are given from Year 8 science classes. The patterns are interpreted as being indicators of progressive levels of understanding. It is proposed that identification of these differences may help the classroom teacher to focus teaching for more effective learning and may be used as a basis for structuring groups in collaborative settings. This approach to analysing concept maps is of value because it suggests teaching approaches that help students integrate new knowledge and build upon their existing naive concepts. We also refer to the teacher's scheme of work and to the National Curriculum for science in order to consider their influence in the construction of understanding. These ideas have been deliberately offered for early publication to encourage debate and generate feedback. Further work is in progress to better understand how students with different conceptual structures can be most appropriately helped to achieve learning development.  相似文献   

7.
The study aims to investigate the effects of using mind maps and concept maps on students' learning of concepts in science courses. A total of 51 students participated in this study which used a quasi-experimental research design with pre-test/post-test control groups. The constructivist-inspired study was carried out in the sixth-grade science course unit of ‘Light and Sound’ in a primary school with two experimental groups and one control group. The intervention was held in the experimental group 1 by using technology-assisted technique of mind mapping, in the experimental group 2 by using technology-assisted technique of concept mapping, and in the control group by means of traditional classroom instruction. After the intervention in the experimental groups, concept tests and open-ended questions related to the unit were used as post-tests. According to the data obtained from concept tests, it was found out that all groups' understanding of concepts was equivalent. Significantly, students in the experimental group 2 reported positive opinions, stating that learning through concept maps was useful and engaging.  相似文献   

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The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of conceptual change-based instruction and traditionally designed physics instruction on students' understanding of projectile motion concepts. Misconceptions related to projectile motion concepts were determined by related literature on this subject. Accordingly, the Projectile Motion Concepts Test was developed. The data were obtained through 43 students in an experimental group taught with learning activities based on conceptual change instruction and 39 students in a control group who followed traditional classroom instruction. The results showed that conceptual change-based instruction caused significantly better acquisition of conceptual change of projectile motion concepts than the traditional instruction.  相似文献   

9.
Past studies have explored the role of student science notebooks in supporting students' developing science understandings. Yet scant research has investigated science notebook use with students who are learning science in a language they are working to master. To explore how student science notebook use is co-constructed in interaction among students and teachers, this study examined plurilingual students' interactions with open-ended science notebooks during an inquiry science unit on condensation and evaporation. Grounded in theoretical views of the notebook as a semiotic social space, multimodal interaction analysis facilitated examination of the ways students drew upon the space afforded by the notebook as they constructed explanations of their understandings. Cross-group comparison of three focal groups led to multiple assertions regarding the use of science notebooks with plurilingual students. First, the notebook supported student-determined paths of resemiotization as students employed multiple communicative resources to express science understandings. Second, notebooks provided spaces for students to draw upon diverse language resources and as a bridge in time across multiple inquiry sessions. Third, representations in notebooks were leveraged by both students and teachers to access and deepen conceptual conversations. Lastly, students' interactions over time revealed multiple epistemological orientations in students' use of the notebook space. These findings point to the benefits of open-ended science notebooks use with plurilingual students, and a consideration of the ways they are used in interaction in science instruction.  相似文献   

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Examining how teachers structure the activities in a unit and how they facilitate classroom discussion is important to understand how innovative technology-rich curricula work in the context of classroom instruction. This study compared 2 enactments of an inquiry curriculum, then examined students' learning outcomes in classes taught by 2 teachers. The quantitative data show that there were significant differences in the learning outcomes of students in classes of the 2 teachers. This study then examined classroom enactments by the 2 teachers to understand the differences in the learning outcomes. This research specifically focused on how teacher-led discussions (a) helped connect the activities within a curriculum unit and (b) enabled deeper conceptual understanding by helping students make connections between science concepts and principles. This study examined the role that teacher facilitation played in helping students focus on the relations between the various activities in the unit and the concepts that they were learning. The results point to important differences in the 2 enactments, helping to understand better what strategies might enable a deeper conceptual understanding of the science content.  相似文献   

11.
Recent instructional reforms in science education aim to change the way students engage in learning in the discipline, as they describe that students are to engage with disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and the practices of science to make sense of phenomena (NRC, 2012). For such sensemaking to become a reality, there is a need to understand the ways in which students' thinking can be maintained throughout the trajectory of science lessons. Past research in this area tends to foreground either the curriculum or teachers' practices. We propose a more comprehensive view of science instruction, one that requires attention to teachers' practice, the instructional task, and students' engagement. In this study, by examining the implementation of the same lesson across three different classrooms, our analysis of classroom videos and artifacts of students' work revealed how the interaction of teachers' practices, students' intellectual engagement, and a cognitively demanding task together support rigorous instruction. Our analyses shed light on their interaction that shapes opportunities for students' thinking and sensemaking throughout the trajectory of a science lesson. The findings provide implications for ways to promote rigorous opportunities for students' learning in science classrooms.  相似文献   

12.
This study was based on the framework of the “conflict map” to facilitate student conceptual learning about causes of the seasons. Instruction guided by the conflict map emphasizes not only the use of discrepant events, but also the resolution of conflict between students' alternative conceptions and scientific conceptions, using critical events or explanations and relevant perceptions and conceptions that explicate the scientific conceptions. Two ninth grade science classes in Taiwan participated in this quasi‐experimental study in which one class was assigned to a traditional teaching group and the other class was assigned to a conflict map instruction treatment. Students' ideas were gathered through three interviews: the first was conducted 1 week after the instruction; the second 2 months afterward; and the third at 8 months after the treatment. Through an analysis of students' interview responses, it was revealed that many students, even after instruction, had a common alternative conception that seasons were determined by the earth's distance to the sun. However, the instruction guided by the framework of the conflict map was shown to be a potential way of changing the alternative conception and acquiring scientific understandings, especially in light of long‐term observations. A detailed analysis of students' ideas across the interviews also strongly suggests that researchers as well as practicing teachers need to pay particular attention to those students who can simply recall the scientific fact without deep thinking, as these students may learn science through rote memorization and soon regress to alternative conceptions after science instruction. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 1089–1111, 2005  相似文献   

13.
The process of students' conceptual change was investigated during a computer‐supported physics unit in a Grade 10 science class. Computer simulation programs were developed to confront students' alternative conceptions in mechanics. A conceptual test was administered as a pre‐, post‐, and delayed posttest to determine students' conceptual change. Students worked collaboratively in pairs on the programs carrying out predict–observe–explain tasks according to worksheets. While the pairs worked on the tasks, their conversational interactions were recorded. A range of other data was collected at various junctures during instruction. At each juncture, the data for each of 12 students were analyzed to provide a conceptual snapshot at that juncture. All the conceptual snapshots together provided a delineation of the students' conceptual development. It was found that many students vacillated between alternative and scientific conceptions from one context to another during instruction, i.e., their conceptual change was context dependent and unstable. The few students who achieved context independent and stable conceptual change appeared to be able to perceive the commonalities and accept the generality of scientific conceptions across contexts. These findings led to a pattern of conceptual change which has implications for instructional practices. The article concludes with consequent implications for classsrooms. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 859–882, 1999  相似文献   

14.
Students' organization of the knowledge that they acquire is an important factor in determining the degree to which it is retained and used. In the past we have used the “fill-in-the-structure” (FITS) task as a direct method of inferring students' cognitive structures of course content (Naveh-Benjamin, Lin & McKeachie, 1995). This study goes one step further by using the FITS task to assess the flexibility of students' cognitive structures of the material learned; that is, whether students are able to relate the same concepts in different ways when the concepts are embedded in two different conceptual frameworks. We assessed the flexibility of students' cognitive structures in three studies by asking students in an ecology course to complete two different structures, each based on a different major dimension in the course. Results of the first study showed that the FITS technique could be used to assess students' ability to use concepts learned in the course appropriately in two different frameworks. The flexibility measures obtained were positively related to academic performance. The second study demonstrated the usefulness of the technique in measuring the development of conceptual flexibility during the course. Finally, the third study employed the technique to show that students' flexible use of concepts can be enhanced by appropriate instruction.  相似文献   

15.
Abstract

The effects of students' conceptual levels and teachers' instruction patterns on students' motivation to learn academic course content were investigated. An examination of 63 students enrolled in a course entitled “Motivation and Performance in Organizations” at West Point yielded statistically significant interactions: For low-conceptual-level students, direct teaching methods maximize motivation to learn course content; for high-conceptual-level students, nondirect instruction significantly enhances motivation. These results expand existing educational literature that suggests that proper conceptual level/instruction pattern matches enhance students' motivation in the classroom. Educators may use this knowledge to develop teaching environments that support the specific learning needs of individual students.  相似文献   

16.
This paper presents the findings from a randomized control trial study of reading/literacy-integrated science inquiry intervention after 1 year of implementation and the treatment effect on 5th-grade low-socio-economic African-American and Hispanic students’ achievement in science and English reading. A total of 94 treatment students and 194 comparison students from four randomized intermediate schools participated in the current project. The intervention consisted of ongoing professional development and specific instructional science lessons with inquiry-based learning, direct and explicit vocabulary instruction, and integration of reading and writing. Results suggested that (a) there was a significantly positive treatment effect as reflected in students' higher performance in district-wide curriculum-based tests of science and reading and standardized tests of science, reading, and English reading fluency; (b) males and females did not differ significantly from participating in science inquiry instruction; (c) African-American students had lower chance of sufficiently mastering the science concepts and achieving above the state standards when compared with Hispanic students across gender and condition, and (d) below-poverty African-American females are the most vulnerable group in science learning. Our study confirmed that even a modest amount of literacy integration in inquiry-based science instruction can promote students' science and reading achievement. Therefore, we call for more experimental research that focus on the quality of literacy-integrated science instruction from which middle grade students, particularly low-socio-economic status students, can benefit.  相似文献   

17.
This article examines the impact of a specially designed in-service model on teacher understanding of selected science concepts. The underlying idea of the model is to get teachers to restructure their own understanding of a selected science topic by having them study the structure and evolution of their students' ideas on the same topic. Concepts on topics from the life, earth, and physical sciences served as the content focus and middle school Grades 4–9 served as the context for this study. The in-service experience constituting the main treatment in the study occurred in three distinct phases. In the initial phase, participating teachers interviewed several of their own students to find out what kinds of preconceptions students had about a particular topic. The teachers used concept mapping strategies learned in the in-service to facilitate the interviews. Next the teachers teamed with other teachers with similar topic interests and a science expert to evaluate and explore the scientific merit of the student conceptual frameworks and to develop instructional units, including a summative assessment during a summer workshop. Finally, the student ideas were further evaluated and explored as the teachers taught the topics in their classrooms during the fall term. Concept maps were used to study changes in teacher understanding across the phases of the in-service in a repeated-measures design. Analysis of the maps showed significant growth in the number of valid propositions expressed by teachers between the initial and final mappings in all topic groups. But in half of the groups, this long-term growth was interrupted by a noticeable decline in the number of valid propositions expressed. In addition, analysis of individual teacher maps showed distinctive patterns of initial invalid conceptions being replaced by new invalid conceptions in later mappings. The combination of net growth of valid propositions and the patterns of evolving invalid conceptions is discussed in constructivist terms.  相似文献   

18.
One of the factors affecting students' learning in science is their existing knowledge prior to instruction. The students' prior knowledge provides an indication of the alternative conceptions as well as the scientific conceptions possessed by the students. This study is concerned primarily with students' alternative conceptions and with instructional strategies to effect the learning of scientific conceptions; i.e., to effect conceptual change from alternative to scientific conceptions. The conceptual change model used here suggests conditions under which alternative conceptions can be replaced by or differentiated into scientific conceptions and new conceptions can be integrated with existing conceptions. The instructional strategy and materials were developed for a particular student population, namely, black high school students in South Africa, using their previously identified prior knowledge (conceptions and alternative conceptions) and incorporate the principles for conceptual change. The conceptions involved were mass, volume, and density. An experimental group of students was taught these concepts using the special instructional strategy and materials. A control group was taught the same concepts using a traditional strategy and materials. Pre- and posttests were used to assess the conceptual change that occurred in the experimental and control groups. The results showed a significantly larger improvement in the acquisition of scientific conceptions as a result of the instructional strategy and materials which explicitly dealt with student alternative conceptions.  相似文献   

19.
The greenhouse effect is a reasonably complex scientific phenomenon which can be used as a model to examine students' conceptual understanding in science. Primary student-teachers' understanding of global environmental problems, such as climate change and ozone depletion, indicates that they have many misconceptions. The present mixed method study examines Finnish primary student-teachers' understanding of the greenhouse effect based on the results obtained via open-ended and closed-form questionnaires. The open-ended questionnaire considers primary student-teachers' spontaneous ideas about the greenhouse effect depicted by concept maps. The present study also uses statistical analysis to reveal respondents' conceptualization of the greenhouse effect. The concept maps and statistical analysis reveal that the primary student-teachers' factual knowledge and their conceptual understanding of the greenhouse effect are incomplete and even misleading. In the light of the results of the present study, proposals for modifying the instruction of climate change in science, especially in geography, are presented.  相似文献   

20.
Science includes more than just concepts and facts, but also encompasses scientific ways of thinking and reasoning. Students' cultural and linguistic backgrounds influence the knowledge they bring to the classroom, which impacts their degree of comfort with scientific practices. Consequently, the goal of this study was to investigate 5th grade students' views of explanation, argument, and evidence across three contexts—what scientists do, what happens in science classrooms, and what happens in everyday life. The study also focused on how students' abilities to engage in one practice, argumentation, changed over the school year. Multiple data sources were analyzed: pre‐ and post‐student interviews, videotapes of classroom instruction, and student writing. The results from the beginning of the school year suggest that students' views of explanation, argument, and evidence, varied across the three contexts with students most likely to respond “I don't know” when talking about their science classroom. Students had resources to draw from both in their everyday knowledge and knowledge of scientists, but were unclear how to use those resources in their science classroom. Students' understandings of explanation, argument, and evidence for scientists and for science class changed over the course of the school year, while their everyday meanings remained more constant. This suggests that instruction can support students in developing stronger understanding of these scientific practices, while still maintaining distinct understandings for their everyday lives. Finally, the students wrote stronger scientific arguments by the end of the school year in terms of the structure of an argument, though the accuracy, appropriateness, and sufficiency of the arguments varied depending on the specific learning or assessment task. This indicates that elementary students are able to write scientific arguments, yet they need support to apply this practice to new and more complex contexts and content areas. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 793–823, 2011  相似文献   

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