Community College Students' Conceptual Understanding of Statistical Measures of Spread

This study investigated the conceptual understanding of measures of spread among community college students in an introductory statistics course. The course is centered around deemphasizing computational skills and focused, rather, on development of conceptual understanding. Open-ended questions were developed to explore and assess students' conceptual understanding of measures of spread. A detailed analysis of the students' responses is presented to reveal the range of students' conceptions of the measures of spread. The analysis of a wide variety of responses provides evidence of the students' ability to organize concepts of spread in a way that is meaningful to them individually. Some common student misconceptions revealed by this study should be examined closely and taken into consideration to promote students' development of understanding of spread.     

The evolution of a collaborative concept mapping activity for undergraduate microbiology students

Concept mapping activities were trialed over a 2 year period as part of an undergraduate microbiology course. This paper describes this developmental process and offers insight into the most beneficial ways of employing this tool in a higher education setting. The aim was to investigate the use of mapping activities to improve students' integration of the material presented and as a method of course evaluation. It was found that the emphasis placed on concepts at the beginning of the course had a profound influence on the trajectory of conceptual development exhibited by students. Once established, initial conceptual structures seemed resistant to change and restricted the subsequent choice of superordinate concepts. The approach was modified in the second year. Students were encouraged to restructure their understanding by producing a concept map as part of a collaborative group. The concept labels were prescribed and excluded the terminology that had appeared to constrain conceptual development in the previous year. Findings suggest that in order to optimize concept mapping activities they should: (1) reflect a student‐centred teaching philosophy; (2) be collaborative; (3) be given sufficient time for reflection and development; (4) avoid using specific terms that restrict conceptual development by hindering appropriate switching between opposing conceptual frameworks. Linking the mapping activity to course grades provided an extrinsic motivation for active engagement in the task.     

Educational Standards: Mapping Who We Are and Are to Become

Educational technology supports meaningful learning and enables the presentation of spatial and dynamic images, which portray relationships among complex concepts. The Technology-Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) Project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) involves media-rich software for simulation and visualization in freshman physics carried out in a specially redesigned classroom to facilitate group interaction. These technology-based learning materials are especially useful in electromagnetism to help students conceptualize phenomena and processes. This study analyzes the effects of the unique learning environment of the TEAL project on students' cognitive and affective outcomes. The assessment of the project included examining students' conceptual understanding before and after studying electromagnetism in a media-rich environment. We also investigated the effect of this environment on students' preferences regarding the various teaching methods. As part of the project, we developed pre- and posttests consisting of conceptual questions from standardized tests, as well as questions designed to assess the effect of visualizations and experiments. The research population consisted of 811 undergraduate students. It consisted of a small- and a large-scale experimental groups and a control group. TEAL students improved their conceptual understanding of the subject matter to a significantly higher extent than their control group peers. A majority of the students in the small-scale experiment noted that they would recommend the TEAL course to fellow students, indicating the benefits of interactivity, visualization, and hands-on experiments, which the technology helped enable. In the large-scale implementation students expressed both positive and negative attitudes in the course survey.     

The effects of students' cognitive styles on conceptual understandings and problem‐solving skills in introductory mechanics

The purpose of this study was to determine if there are relationship among freshmen students' Field depended or field independent (FD/FI) cognitive style, conceptual understandings, and problem solving skills in mechanics. The sample consisted of 213 freshmen (female = 111, male = 102; age range 17–21) who were enrolled in an introductory physics course required for science education prospective teachers. Data collection was done during the fall semesters in three successive years. At the beginning of each semester the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and the Group Embedded Figure Test (GEFT) were administered to assess students' initial understanding of basic concepts in mechanics and FD/FI tendency of students, respectively. After completion of the course, the FCI and the Mechanics Base Line Test (MBT) were administered. The results indicated that students conceptual understanding were not statistically related to their FD/FI cognitive styles for both pre and post results. However, their problem‐solving skills were statistically related to their FD/FI cognitive style. The findings of the present and previous studies are compared, and the possible effects of the present studies on previous studies on teaching, learning and assessment for introductory mechanics are discussed.     

What do science teachers consider when selecting formative assessment tasks?

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to identify factors that influenced prospective and experienced secondary level science teachers' reasoning as they evaluated or selected tasks to formatively assess their students' understanding of scientific concepts. The analysis of the coded written responses revealed two categories of factors that influenced the teachers' reasoning: (1) characteristics of the task and (2) characteristics of students or the curriculum. Characteristics of the task related to qualities of the task regardless of the learning environment in which it would be used, such as the level of student thinking demanded by a task. Characteristics of the students and the curriculum related to the learning environment in which an assessment task would be implemented, such as students' abilities to complete the task. Both prospective and experienced teachers' task evaluations were influenced by the same factors related to the characteristics of the task, although their interpretations of the meaning of each factor varied. In addition, experienced teachers' task evaluations were more likely than prospective teachers to be influenced by factors related to characteristics of students and the curriculum. The findings are discussed as a conceptual framework that presents the identified factors along three different dimensions: (1) the influence of task, student, and curriculum characteristics, (2) the influence of expectations for success, and (3) the influence of teaching experience. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 1113–1130, 2008     

A window into thinking: Using student writing to understand conceptual change in science learning

This study, conducted in an inner-city middle school, followed the conceptual changes shown in 25 students' writing over a 12-week science unit. Conceptual changes for 6 target students are reported. Student understanding was assessed regarding the nature of matter and physical change by paper-and-pencil pretest and posttest. The 6 target students were interviewed about the goal concepts before and after instruction. Students' writing during lesson activities provided qualitative data about their understandings of the goal concepts across the science unit. The researcher constructed concept maps from students' written statements and compared the maps across time to assess changes in the schema of core concepts, complexity, and organization as a result of instruction. Target students' changes were studied in detail to determine patterns of conceptual change. After patterns were located in target students' maps, the remaining 19 students' maps were analyzed for similar patterns. The ideas that students identified in their writing showed changes in central concepts, complexity, and organization as the lessons progressed. When instructional events were analyzed in relation to students' demonstrated ideas, understanding of the goal conceptions appeared in students' writing more often when students had opportunities to explain their new ideas orally and in writing.     

Student affect and conceptual understanding in learning chemistry

This study explores the relationship between affective and cognitive variables in grade 9 chemistry students (n = 73). In particular, it explores how students' situational interest, their attitudes toward chemistry, and their chemistry‐specific self‐concept influence their understanding of chemistry concepts over the course of a school year. All affective variables were assessed at two time points: at the middle of the first semester of grade 9, and at the end of the second semester of grade 9, and then related to students' postinstructional understanding of chemical concepts. Results reveal that none of the affective variables measured at the earliest time point have a significant direct effect on postinstructional conceptual understanding. Looking at the different affective variables as intermediary constructs, however, reveals a pattern in which self‐concept and situational interest measured at the middle of grade 9 contribute to self‐concept measured at the end of grade 9, which in turn, has a positive, significant effect on students' postinstructional conceptual understanding. These results reveal the importance of a strong and positive self‐concept, the feeling of doing well in the chemistry class, for developing a meaningful understanding of scientific concepts. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 908–937, 2007     

Changing middle school students' conceptions of matter and molecules

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to understand the conceptual frameworks that sixth-grade students use to explain the nature of matter and molecules, and (2) to assess the effectiveness of two alternative curriculum units in promoting students' scientific understanding. The study involved 15 sixth-grade science classes taught by 12 teachers in each of two successive years. Data were collected through paper-and-pencil tests and clinical interviews. The results revealed that students' entering conceptions differed from scientific conceptions in various ways. These differences included molecular conceptions concerning the nature, arrangement, and motion of molecules as well as macroscopic conceptions concerning the nature of matter and its physical changes. The results also showed that the students taught by the revised unit in Year 2 performed significantly better than the students taught by the original commercial curriculum unit in Year 1 for 9 of the 10 conceptual categories. Implications for science teaching and curriculum development are discussed.     

Development of an instrument for measuring cognitive conflict in secondary‐level science classes

Based on conceptual change theory, cognitive conflict is known as an important factor in conceptual change even though there are still questions about its positive and negative effects on science learning. However, there is no reliable method by which to assess the cognitive conflict students experience in their learning. The purpose of this research was to develop an instrument for measuring secondary students' cognitive conflict levels as they learned science. The results of this study indicate that our instrument is a valid and reliable tool for measuring cognitive conflict levels. Factor analysis supported the model that cognitive conflict consists of four constructs: recognition of an anomalous situation, interest, anxiety, and cognitive reappraisal of the conflict situation. Implications for instruction and possibilities for future research are discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 585–603, 2003     

Exploring high school students' use of theory and evidence in an everyday context: the role of scientific thinking in environmental science decision‐making

This study examined 10th‐grade students' use of theory and evidence in evaluating a socio‐scientific issue: the use of underground water, after students had received a Science, Technology and Society‐oriented instruction. Forty‐five male and 45 female students from two intact, single‐sex, classes participated in this study. A flow‐map method was used to assess the participants' conceptual knowledge. The reasoning mode was assessed using a questionnaire with open‐ended questions. Results showed that, although some weak to moderate associations were found between conceptual organization in memory and reasoning modes, the students' ability to incorporate theory and evidence was in general inadequate. It was also found that students' reasoning modes were consistent with their epistemological perspectives. Moreover, male and female students appear to have different reasoning approaches.     

Revitalizing Algebra: the effect of the use of a cognitive tutor in a remedial course

This study investigated the effect of instruction with a cognitive tutoring software system in a remedial algebra course. The performance on algebra tasks of students who attended the experimental (cognitive tutor) and a control class was compared. The results indicated that the two groups of students were equally proficient with respect to algebraic manipulation skills. However, students who attended the experimental algebra section performed significantly better in problem solving than students in the control section. This finding suggested that the use of the cognitive tutor (a) improved students' problem‐solving abilities; (b) fostered student development of richer concepts of variable and function; and (c) improved students' procedural abilities in approaching and carrying through mathematical analyses of relatively complex situations.     

Effect of instruction using students' prior knowledge and conceptual change strategies on science learning

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.     

Mental computation and conceptual understanding

The goal of this study was to assess the strategic flexibility of students in mental arithmetic up to the number 100. Sixty Dutch second-graders who took part in an experimental ‘realistic arithmetic’ program participated in the study. Results showed that students' preference for certain mathematical procedures depended on the number characteristics of the problems. This indicates that the students had a good conceptual understanding of numbers and procedures. Their actual use of these procedures, however, was somewhat limited. Most problems were solved within a sequential structure. A completely different procedure was used for solving subtraction problems that had a very small difference between the two numbers. Furthermore, it was found that a substantial increase in the students' use of a base-ten procedure occurred after the introduction of this procedure in the mathematics curriculum. Students' preference for this procedure also increased, although to a lesser extent. Another finding of the study was that students exhibited more flexible strategic behaviour with context problems than with numerical-expression problems.     

The effects of instructional methods on students' learning outcomes requiring different cognitive abilities: context-aware ubiquitous learning versus traditional instruction

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of the context-aware ubiquitous learning (u-learning) approach versus traditional instruction on students' ability to answer questions that required different cognitive skills, using the framework of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives, including knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, and synthesis. In this study, 230 third- and fourth-grade students in 8 classes were counterbalanced and assigned to the u-learning approach and traditional instruction for learning different topics in two separate plant-observing activities. The results showed that the students who learned with traditional instruction performed better than those who used the u-learning approach in terms of answering questions that required their cognitive abilities of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, and synthesis. Moreover, an in-depth analysis of the students' learning behaviors in the u-learning context revealed that most of their learning behaviors recorded in the u-learning system were not significantly related to their cognitive abilities.     

Learning natural selection through computational thinking: Unplugged design of algorithmic explanations

Computational thinking (CT) is a way of making sense of the natural world and problem solving with computer science concepts and skills. Although CT and science integrations have been called for in the literature, empirical investigations of such integrations are lacking. Prior work in natural selection education indicates students struggle to explain natural selection in different contexts and natural selection misconceptions are common. In this mixed methods study, secondary honors biology students learn natural selection through CT by engaging in the design of unplugged algorithmic explanations. Students learned CT principles and practices and applied them to learn and explain the natural selection process. Algorithmic explanations were used to scaffold transfer of natural selection knowledge across contexts through investigation of three organisms and the creation of generalized natural selection algorithms. Students' pre- and post-unit algorithmic explanations of natural selection were analyzed to answer the following research questions: (a) How do students' conceptions of natural selection change over the course of a CT focused unit? (b) What is the relationship between CT and natural selection in students' algorithmic explanations? (c) What are students' perspectives of learning natural selection with CT? Results indicate students' conceptions of natural selection increased and natural selection misconceptions decreased over the course of the unit. Within their post-unit algorithmic explanations, students used specific CT principles in conjunction with natural selection concepts to explain natural selection, which helped them to learn the details of the natural selection process and correct their natural selection misconceptions. Students indicated the use of CT in unplugged algorithmic explanations in different contexts helped them learn natural selection. This study shows unplugged CT can be used to teach students science content, and it provides an example for further CT and science integrations. Implications for the field are discussed.     

Understanding genetics: Analysis of secondary students' conceptual status

This article explores the conceptual change of students in Grades 10 and 12 in three Australian senior high schools when the teachers included computer multimedia to a greater or lesser extent in their teaching of a genetics course. The study, underpinned by a multidimensional conceptual‐change framework, used an interpretive approach and a case‐based design with multiple data collection methods. Over 4–8 weeks, the students learned genetics in classroom lessons that included BioLogica activities, which feature multiple representations. Results of the online tests and interview tasks revealed that most students improved their understanding of genetics as evidenced in the development of genetics reasoning. However, using Thorley's (1990) status analysis categories, a cross‐case analysis of the gene conceptions of 9 of the 26 students interviewed indicated that only 4 students' postinstructional conceptions were intelligible–plausible–fruitful. Students' conceptual change was consistent with classroom teaching and learning. Findings suggested that multiple representations supported conceptual understanding of genetics but not in all students. It was also shown that status can be a viable hallmark enabling researchers to identify students' conceptual change that would otherwise be less accessible. Thorley's method for analyzing conceptual status is discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 205–235, 2007     

Effectiveness of conceptual change instruction on understanding of heat and temperature concepts

This study investigated the differential effects of two modes of instructional program (conceptual change oriented and traditionally designed) and gender difference on students' understanding of heat and temperature concepts, and their attitudes toward science as a school subject. The subjects of this study consisted of 72 seventh grade students from two General Science Classes taking the course from the same teacher. Each teaching method was randomly assigned to one class. The experimental group received reinforcement via the conceptual change texts while the control group utilized traditionally designed science texts over a period of four weeks. Analysis of covariance was used. Logical thinking ability was taken as a covariate. The results showed that the conceptual change oriented instruction produced significantly greater achievement in understanding of heat and temperature concepts. The result for science attitudes as a school subject showed no significant difference between the experimental and control groups. Also, no significant difference was found between the performance of females and that of males in terms of learning heat and temperature concepts and attitudes toward science, but the interaction of treatment regarding to gender was significant for learning the concepts. In addition, it was found that students' logical thinking ability accounted for a significant portion of variation in heat and temperature concepts achievement.     

Bridging scientific reasoning and conceptual change through adaptive web‐based learning

This study reports an adaptive digital learning project, Scientific Concept Construction and Reconstruction (SCCR), and examines its effects on 108 8th grade students' scientific reasoning and conceptual change through mixed methods. A one‐group pre‐, post‐, and retention quasi‐experimental design was used in the study. All students received tests for Atomic Achievement, Scientific Reasoning, and Atomic Dependent Reasoning before, 1 week after, and 8 weeks after learning. A total of 18 students, six from each class, were each interviewed for 1 hour before, immediately after, and 2 months after learning. A flow map was used to provide a sequential representation of the flow of students' scientific narrative elicited from the interviews, and to further analyze the level of scientific reasoning and conceptual change. Results show students' concepts of atoms, scientific reasoning, and conceptual change made progress, which is consistent with the interviewing results regarding the level of scientific reasoning and quantity of conceptual change. This study demonstrated that students' conceptual change and scientific reasoning could be improved through the SCCR learning project. Moreover, regression results indicated students' scientific reasoning contributed more to their conceptual change than to the concepts students held immediately after learning. It implies that scientific reasoning was pivotal for conceptual change and prompted students to make associations among new mental sets and existing hierarchical structure‐based memory. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 91–119, 2010