ASSESSMENT OF CONTENT AND COGNITIVE STRUCTURES IN PHYSICS AT COLLEGE LEVEL

First, the theory of directed graphs (digraphs) was used to map the conceptual structure of the content, implicit in the instructional materials, in the area of electricity at college level. After this, the graphical representation of content structure, thus obtained, was compared with those obtained for the teacher's cognitive structure and the student's cognitive structure through a word association test and the multidimensional scaling technique. Research findings suggest mainly that the techniques used to assess content and cognitive structures might be useful tools for such a purpose.

     

On Describing a Student's Cognitive Structure

For several decades, a model has been developing which depicts the learning process in terms of interaction between a student's cognitive structure and the structure of the discipline being studied. There arc a number of conceptual difficulties here that are trapping researchers in cognitive psychology, especially the problem of not confounding the two types of structure. Doubts can even be raised about the usefulness of the notion of cognitive structure as it is presently developed. Throughout the paper, insights from recent relevant philosophical work are used to throw light on the empirical research that is being carried out.     

On quagmires,philosophical and otherwise: A reply to Phillips

This reply addresses three related problems in research on cognitive structure identified by Phillips: (a) the difficulty (impossibility for Phillips?) of inferring cognitive structure from observed behavior, (b) the confounding of cognitive structure with subject‐matter structure, and (c) the validity of construct interpretations of cognitive‐structure measurements. Inference from behavior to cognitive structure can be made if done carefully and cautiously under adequate constraints placed on the data. Cognitive structure is not confounded with subject‐matter structure; to the contrary, cognitive structure has been defined as the student's public understanding of the subject‐matter structure. Extensive prior research has supported cognitive‐structure interpretations of word association, similarity judgment, card sorting, and graph building measurements. Additional criticisms also are discussed.     

Factors related to a college student's career optimism and their perception of career services

A student's expectation for a positive outcome for their future career development is referred to as career optimism. Career Services, a common university department, utilizes the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to understand how students form career interests and make educational and vocational choices. Then Career Services can assist students in finding a career that matches their interests. We hypothesize that students' perception of the assistance provided by the Career Services department when the SCCT is applied, impacts the student's career optimism. In addition, we hypothesize, and results support, that different factors, such as a student's chosen major, impact student perception of Career Services and career optimism.     

Problems and issues in the use of concept maps in science assessment

The search for new, authentic science assessments of what students know and can do is well under way. This has unearthed measures of students' hands-on performance in carrying out science investigations, and has been expanded to discover more or less direct measures of students' knowledge structures. One potential finding is concept mapping, the focus of this review. A concept map is a graph consisting of nodes representing concepts and labeled lines denoting the relation between a pair of nodes. A student's concept map is interpreted as representing important aspects of the organization of concepts in his or her memory (cognitive structure). In this article we characterize a concept map used as an assessment tool as: (a) a task that elicits evidence bearing on a student's knowledge structure in a domain, (b) a format for the student's response, and (c) a scoring system by which the student's concept map can be evaluated accurately and consistently. Based on this definition, multiple concept-mapping techniques were found from the myriad of task, response format, and scoring system variations identified in the literature. Moreover, little attention has been paid to the reliability and validity of these variations. The review led us to arrive at the following conclusions: (a) an integrative working cognitive theory is needed to begin to limit this variation in concept-mapping techniques for assessment purposes; (b) before concept maps are used for assessment and before map scores are reported to teachers, students, the public, and policy makers, research needs to provide reliability and validity information on the effect of different mapping techniques; and (c) research on students' facility in using concept maps, on training techniques, and on the effect on teaching is needed if concept map assessments are to be used in classrooms and in large-scale accountability systems. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Facilitating Meta‐learning in Art and Design Education

Art and design programmes are educationally unique in that students themselves play a central role in determining their own learning needs. To be successful in their study, art and design students are required to operate with a high degree of independence and self‐direction. Developing the skills for greater self‐reliance requires students to become aware of their conceptions of the subject of study, and of themselves as learners in a particular learning context. Developing greater self‐awareness as a learner and becoming more independent in one's learning is captured by the concept of meta‐learning. In this article I present an alternative strategy to prevalent diagnostic approaches to assist in developing a student's capacity for meta‐learning in the subject context of art and design. An inquiry cycle was created to provide a structure within which to facilitate generative thinking about learning through engaging with fundamental questions related to the subject of learning (art and design) rather than the learning subject (i.e. the student). This method represents a departure from existing approaches to engaging students in meta‐learning. A pilot study used to trial the effectiveness of this strategy is also presented here. The inquiry map, and the conceptual base upon which it was developed, were found to be useful ways to structure reflective thinking about learning and to assist in developing a student's conception of the subject.     

The organization of conceptual materials: A methodology for measuring ideal and actual cognitive structures

The teaching-learning process is described in terms of a simple communication model with four components: the sender, the encoding structure, the decoding structure, and the destination. Within this context a method is proposed and illustrated for evaluating a student's understanding of the system of concepts underlying the topic areas in an elementary statistics and measurement course. The method, multidimensional scaling, involves determining the students' and instructor's cognitive maps for the various topics. A cognitive map represents a hypothetical cognitive structure of a student or instructor which characterizes his perceived organization of the concepts in a topic area. These individual cognitive maps were compared to the optimal organization or formal structure, as a basis for assessing the students' under-standing of the material. The present research was exploratory but demonstrated that:

1. With the help of experts it is possible to define the formal structure for the concepts in a topic area.
2. It is possible to measure, in a classroom setting, the cognitive maps that both the students and instructors have for a topic area.
3. By comparing individual students' cognitive maps to the instructor's cognitive map or to the formal structure, the student's understanding of the system of concepts defining the topic area can be evaluated.

     

“A Fantasy of Untouchable Fullness”: Melancholia and Resistance to Educational Transformation

The progressive language of growth and development that informs our shared ideal of the educated subject also informs the curricular structure of schooling, in which new learning builds upon established knowledge and students' development depends upon their desire to take on those identities associated with various achievements of knowledge. Each re‐creation of the student's identity requires a new production of the student's former identity as an uneducated self — a negative statement of the self‐overcome, fashioned in the language of the curriculum. But what of those objects of attachment or aspects of the child's identity that can neither be integrated in the student's educated identity nor accounted for as a recognizable lost object of childhood? In this essay James Stillwaggon argues that considering the student subject in terms of its melancholic attachments offers some alternatives to thinking of student identity primarily in terms of its progressive learning function. Julia Kristeva's treatment of melancholia as “asymbolia,” or against the representational function of language, is especially significant to this discussion, as it highlights the melancholic's resistance to the most basic educational purpose, namely the further engagement of the subject in language.     

Kohl berg's Cognitive‐Developmental Theory in Educational Settings: Some Possible Abuses

Abstract

Kohlberg's cognitive‐developmental theory provides teachers with a framework for understanding the change and development of moral judgment and decision‐making of their pupils. One major abuse, however, may be when teachers take the stage labels associated with the hypothesized stage levels of moral judgment as indicative of static student qualities or characteristics, by placing more emphasis on perceived and labelled qualities than on the actual moral reasoning of the student. This, it is suggested, together with some empirical examples, may obscure the developmental trend of the student's moral judgment or even affect the teacher's expectations and consequently student's performance, and fails to take into account such factors as environment and interpersonal interaction. A study is reported in which curriculum consultants exposed to moral development theory were tested to determine whether they would use Kohlbergian labels of stage content or actual moral reasoning when required to make assessments. Suggestions are put forward as to how moral development theory can be more closely linked to pedagogy.     

Personal glimpses and announcements

Classical Piagetian theory had much to offer education, which could not be derived from the learning theory of its day. Since the cognitive revolution, learning theory has accepted most of Piaget's basic constructivist premises and outstripped his theory in its ability to model the details of children's cognitive structures. Thus, an important question is whether Piagetian theory still has anything distinctive to offer. To support the claim that it does, the notion of a central conceptual structure is introduced. These structures have several features that make their discovery in the context of learning theory unlikely, most notably their generality, the wide range of content domains that they span and their susceptibility to general developmental as well as specific experiential influence. Educational areas in which analysis of central conceptual structures has proven useful include (a) assessment, (b) early childhood education, (c) curriculum design, and (d) remedial instruction.     

Using a Conceptual-Change Approach to Help Preservice Science Teachers Reorganize Their Knowledge Structures for Constructivist Teaching

This study, based on constructivist learning theory, examined how effectively preservice chemistry teachers (N = 43) can be educated to think flexibly and to reorganize their thinking in a way that may complement diverse ways students approach the subject domain. The teacher's cognitive structure was assessed prior to and after a conceptual change intervention using flow-map narrative analyses. There was a significant change in the organization of the preservice teacher's narrative after the conceptual change intervention, including greater networking of ideas and more thematic development of the content. Hence, a conceptual change approach may be a useful way to educate teachers to be more responsive to student individual differences when planning and delivering science lessons.     

Facial micro-expression states as an indicator for conceptual change in students' understanding of air pressure and boiling points

Utilizing facial recognition technology, the current study has attempted to predict the likelihood of student conceptual change with decision tree models based on the facial micro-expression states (FMES) students exhibited when they experience conceptual conflict. While conceptual change through conceptual conflicts in science education is a well-studied field, there is little research done on conceptual change through conceptual conflict in terms of students' facial expressions. As facial expressions are one of the most direct and immediate responses one can get during instruction and that facial expressions are often representations student's emotions, a link between students' FMES and learning was explored. Facial data was collected from 90 tenth graders. Only data from the 72 students who made incorrect predictions were analyzed in this study. The concept taught was the relationship between boiling point and air pressure. Through facial recognition software analysis and decision tree models, the current study found Surprised, Sad and Disgusted to be key FMES that could be used to predict student conceptual change in a conceptual conflict-based scenario.     

基于思维导图的中小学教学策略探究与示例

基于图式理论、可视化理论、认知加工层次理论等理论基础,对托尼·博赞的思维导图进行改造,形成基于中小学教学视域的思维导图教学策略。思维导图是学生有意义学习的主动建构过程,成为知识建构的概念支架和思维深度加工的外显表征。思维导图可划分为线性结构、放射结构和平面结构,在教学应用时应秉持不同内容设计不同结构、不同年龄选用不同方式、不同时机具有不同作用的原则,按照明确绘制要求—提取关键概念—构建系统化内容—展示交流成果的方法予以实施。     

Higher Education Science Student Perspectives on Classroom Instructional Methods: A Pilot Study

Abstract: Constructivist‐based inquiry instruction has been popularized for several decades in primary‐ and secondary‐science education, with overwhelmingly positive results across all sciences. Importantly, higher education faculties have begun to embrace inquiry instruction in many subject areas. In fact, a growing body of literature illustrates the positive impact of inquiry instructional methods on science student achievement, such as in Food Science. While it has long been shown that student's instructional preference has a positive impact upon achievement, very little work has been done to assess college student's instructional preferences, especially in lecture‐based classes. A recent study was conducted at the Univ. of Idaho to identify student preferences of generic instructional models. Students from 4 majors (Food Science, Geological Sciences, Secondary Education, and Elementary Education) participated in the study. A 35‐question survey was developed to gather data on student's instructional strategy preferences. The data were analyzed to determine (a) instructional preferences inclusive of all majors, (b) instructional preference within each of the 4 majors, (c) a comparison of preferences of each major to other majors, and (d) gender issues within and across majors. The results suggest that there is perceived value of particular instructional methods over others, both within and across majors. In addition a gender relationship with methodology exists, particularly within certain subject areas.     

An examination of the professional development needs of out-of-field mathematics teachers

This paper presents an empirical study examining the professional development needs of out-of-field mathematics teachers in the Irish context (n = 202). An online questionnaire gathered data on cohort demographics and confidence with regard to teaching mathematics. A paper-and-pencil test evaluated teachers' cognitive and conceptual proficiency with curriculum-aligned mathematical content. Low achievement levels and high occurrence of conceptual errors indicate inadequate subject content knowledge and difficulties with the content of the curriculum. Additionally, these teachers described themselves as either somewhat or very confident in teaching all content. The discrepancies which exist between confidence levels and content proficiency highlight the importance of designing appropriate professional development programs that are situated and practice based.     

From conceptual development to science education: a psychological point of view

A theoretical framework based on cognitive/developmental research is described. It is argued that science learning is a gradual process during which initial conceptual structures based on children's interpretations of everyday experience are continuously enriched and restructured. Conceptual change also involves increased metaconceptual awareness, cognitive flexibility, and theoretical coherence. Some of the implications of this research for the development of science curricula and for instruction are discussed. It is also argued that while cognitive/developmental research can provide us with important information about the process of learning science, it does not provide much information about the external, environmental variables that can facilitate cognitive performance and conceptual change. What is needed in the future is the development of a theory of learning that bridges science education and cognitive/developmental research. Such a theory should specify the mechanisms that can take an individual from one level of cognitive performance to the next and relate them to situational and cultural factors.     

Shifting sands: a case study of conceptual development as competition between alternative conceptions

Conceptual change may be considered as a process of coming to view one theory or model as having more explanatory power than others. Various theorists have described how an individual's understanding of a concept may be multifaceted; how conceptual frameworks develop in a cognitive ecology, and are subject to selection pressures; and how alternative frameworks compete in terms of their explanatory coherence. The present paper applies these ideas to a case study of learning in science. It is argued that conceptual development may be described in terms of a gradual shift in which of several alternative explanatory principles is the learners' preferred choice. The case study illustrates the long-term nature of conceptual change, as a learner comes to see the limitations of one explanatory framework, and the scope for exploring and developing another.     

Contrasting Ohlsson's Resubsumption Theory With Chi's Categorical Shift Theory

Ohlsson's proposal of resubsumption as the dominant process in conceptual, or nonmonotonic, change presents a worthy challenge to more established theories, such as Chi's theory of ontological shift. The two approaches differ primarily in that Ohlsson's theory emphasizes a process of learning in which narrower, more specific concepts are subsumed by more general, abstract categories through recognition of similarities, whereas Chi's theory emphasizes the dissociation of overly general categories through the recognition of differences. We examine the evidence for both theories and consider the educational implications of each. Overall, though subsumption almost certainly plays a role in nonmonotonic change, we maintain, on the basis of evidence from cognitive science and developmental psychology, that dissociation accounts for a greater portion of the re-representational processes underpinning changes in the structure of learner's knowledge.