Implementation of Game-transformed Inquiry-based Learning to Promote the Understanding of and Motivation to Learn Chemistry

Many studies have used the potential of computer games to promote students’ attitudes toward learning and increase their learning performance. A few studies have transformed scientific content into computer games or developed games with scientific content. In this paper, we employed students’ common misconceptions of chemistry regarding the properties of liquid to develop a computer game. Daily life situations and everyday phenomena related to the chemical understanding of the properties of liquid were also taken into account. Afterward, we applied a process-oriented, inquiry-based active learning approach to implement the game in a Thai high school chemistry course. We studied the implementation of a game-transformed inquiry-based learning class by comparing it to a conventional inquiry-based learning class. The results of this study include aspects of students’ conceptual understanding of chemistry and their motivation to learn chemistry. We found that students in both the game-transformed inquiry-based learning class and conventional inquiry-based learning class had a significantly increased conceptual understanding of chemistry. There was also a significant difference between the gains of both classes between the pre- and post-conceptual understanding scores. Moreover, the post-conceptual understanding scores of students in the two classes were significantly different. These findings support the notion that students can better comprehend chemistry concepts through a computer game, especially when integrated with the process-oriented, inquiry-based learning approach. The findings of this study also highlight the game-transformed inquiry-based learning approach’s support of students’ motivation to learn chemistry.

     

Learning to Learn From Stories: Children's Developing Sensitivity to the Causal Structure of Fictional Worlds

Fiction presents a unique challenge to the developing child, in that children must learn when to generalize information from stories to the real world. This study examines how children acquire causal knowledge from storybooks, and whether children are sensitive to how closely the fictional world resembles reality. Preschoolers (N = 108) listened to stories in which a novel causal relation was embedded within realistic or fantastical contexts. Results indicate that by at least 3 years of age, children are sensitive to the underlying causal structure of the story: Children are more likely to generalize content if the fictional world is similar to reality. Additionally, children become better able at discriminating between realistic and fantastical story contexts between 3 and 5 years of age.     

高校教师开发课程资源的思考

超越现代主义所设定的课程观念,开发课程资源是当下高校教师的重要任务之一,课程资源开发的基本路径包括:转化教师的科研成果以拓展课程资源的深度;把学生作为课程资源开发的合作者以开发他们经验结构中已存在的资源;寻找课程资源的原初形式以建设案例库;整合课程资源建构富有校本特色的课程;利用现代技术媒体存取课程资源使课程资源得以有效地利用.     

Circadian Rhythms in Cognitive Processes: Implications for School Learning

Circadian variations have been found in cognitive processes, such as attention, working memory, and executive functions, which may explain oscillations in the performance of many tasks. These cognitive processes improve during the day and decrease during the night and early hours of the morning. Sleep deprivation further decreases these cognitive processes during daytime hours. This review analyses the recent findings on circadian rhythms in cognitive processes, as well as the implications of these rhythms for school learning.     

Learning About Measurement Uncertainties in Secondary Education: A Model of the Subject Matter

Estimating measurement uncertainties is important for experimental scientific work. However, this is very often neglected in school curricula and teaching practice, even though experimental work is seen as a fundamental part of teaching science. In order to call attention to the relevance of measurement uncertainties, we developed a comprehensive model that structures and describes all subject matter on measurement uncertainties relevant to secondary education (age 13–19 years). It consists of ten basic concepts categorized within the following four dimensions: (a) existence of uncertainties, (b) handling of uncertainties, (c) assessment of uncertainties, and (d) conclusiveness of uncertainties. The model was developed by reviewing the subject literature, constructing a model for university level, validating this model with 6 experts in metrology (the science of measurement), adapting the model to the target group, and validating the simplified model with 108 science teachers. We present the model and its development by describing the dimensions and concepts and by giving examples. Thus, our work provides a base for developing and assessing instructions to teach the estimation of measurement uncertainties in secondary education.     

Argument-Driven Inquiry as a Way to Help Undergraduate Students Write to Learn by Learning to Write in Chemistry

This exploratory study examined how undergraduate students’ ability to write in science changed over time as they completed a series of laboratory activities designed using a new instructional model called argument-driven inquiry. The study was conducted in a single section of an undergraduate general chemistry lab course offered at a large two-year community college located in the southeast USA. The intervention took place over a 15-week semester and consisted of six laboratory activities. During each laboratory activity, the undergraduates wrote investigation reports, participated in a double-blind group peer review of the reports, and revised their reports based on the reviews. The reports written during each laboratory activity were used to examine changes in the students’ writing skills over time and to identify aspects of scientific writing that were the most difficult for the undergraduates in this context. The reviews produced by the students during each report were used to evaluate how well undergraduates engage in the peer-review process. The results of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the reports and reviews indicate that the participants made significant improvements in their ability to write in science and were able to evaluate the quality of their peers’ writing with a relatively high degree of accuracy, but they also struggled with several aspects of scientific writing. The conclusions and implications of the study include recommendations for helping undergraduate students learn to write by writing to learn in science and new directions for future research.     

Analyzing Learning About Conservation of Matter in Students While Adapting to the Needs of a School

We probed the impact of two teaching strategies, guided inquiry and argumentation, on students' conceptual understanding of the conservation of matter. Conservation of matter is a central concept in middle school science curriculum and a prerequisite upon which rests more complex constructs in chemistry. The results indicate that guided inquiry was particularly effective in improving students' conceptual understanding, as evidenced by pre/posttest results and by a skill analysis of in-depth interviews of student dyads. We also discuss how the challenges inherent to educational contexts can undermine the quality and limit the impact of empirical research carried out in many schools. We suggest how these challenges could be met in the emerging infrastructures for change called the Research Schools Network.     

听讲式接受学习过程中存在的一些问题--一种来自认知负荷的观点

听讲式接受学习仍是传统课堂教学的主要模式，但它存在着很多固有的缺陷。从认知负荷的观点来看，在这种模式下，教师很难有效地解决学生认知负荷的个别差异，大部分学生不能满负荷学习；学生也很难有效地使用认知资源、认知容量、认知策略和信息外存。剖析这些影响学习荻取知识和技能的因素，可给课堂教学改革以启迪。     

Incommensurability and Multiple Models: Representations of the Structure of Matter in Undergraduate Chemistry Students

The notion of incommensurability has provided a rationality criterion for the development of scientific theories, as well as some insight into theories developed by students while learning science. However, the relationship between the multiple models held by students and incommensurability requires further discussion. We present the results of empirical work that investigated the multiple models of the structure of the matter held by university students and we analyze these results using the notion of incommensurability. We also point out implications in the construction of students’ scientific models as they move forward in their careers.     

Learn to Lead: Mapping Workplace Learning of School Leaders

In recent years policy makers’ interest in the professional development of school leaders has grown considerably. Although we know some aspect of formal educational programs for school leaders, little is known about school leaders’ incidental and non-formal learning in the workplace. This study aims to grasp what workplace learning activities school leaders value most, what work-related questions incite them to learn, what outcomes they achieve through workplace learning and what conditions support workplace learning of school leaders. In order to generate answers to the research questions, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 Dutch school leaders in secondary education, which also served as a form of reflection for the respondents. Results show that school leaders mostly value workplace learning through working on improvement and innovation and through reflection. In addition to outcomes for the school leader, working on improvement and innovation also leads to learning outcomes for teachers, and seems to provide opportunities for teachers to influence changes in the school. On the other hand, teachers take little or no part in reflection. Here, school leaders find peace and stability to reflect with fellow school leaders. If adjusted to a specific context, the methods used in this study might be transferred to other contexts, to study workplace learning of all kinds of leaders.     

Concept Development in Relation to the Particulate Theory of Matter in the Middle School

The paper explores the concept of cognitive style as a feature of individuality and its importance as a component of problem‐solving. Also considered are the nature of the problem and the interpretation of the situation by the person encountering the problem as vital influences. A review of work in this area is provided before supporting empirical evidence is presented. Findings from a controlled investigation of the problem‐solving abilities of 142 students studying physics at advanced secondary school level in the UK are given. A comparison of their solving activities with Field Articulation, Category Width and Impulsivity Reflectivity scores suggests that while further work must be carried out, caution must be exercised in making any extravagant claims for the importance of cognitive style in overall problem‐solving ability.     

认知结构理论的扩展化：自我调节学习的建构主义理论

认知结构理论的扩展化时期,众多认知心理学家不断扩充认知结构理论,对认知结构的过程和机制进行了具体而细微的研究,为真正的课堂教学提供了广泛而具体的指导。自我调节学习近20年来得到了广泛关注,成为教育心理学的研究热点,自我调节学习是有效地进行学习和解决问题的主要方面,能够促进学习在新情景中的迁移。学生的自我调节学习过程中存在三个影响因素即个人、环境和行为。自我调节学习的建构主义理论是认知结构理论在扩展化时期发展的重要代表之一,是指在学习活动中建构自我调节学习的理论。这些理论包括四方面的内容：即自我能力理论、努力程度理论、学习任务理论和学习策略理论。     

Eliza in Computerland: Learning About One's Cognitive Capabilities Through the Looking Screen and Touch Board

Through Eliza's adventures in computerland, she learns many new things about children's cognitive capabilities and styles and about learning processes and environments, She learns about the possibilities of capitalizing on one's recognized strengths and overcoming one's recognized weaknesses, in various learning situations. She learns about the heterogeneity of domains of knowledge, and she realizes that everyone can understand any domain of knowledge by a variety of ways. Furthermore, she learns about how computers can aid learning by providing rich and heterogeneous learning environments and by enhancing the construction of metacognitive knowledge and self-reflection.