Making the invisible visible: enhancing students’ conceptual understanding by introducing representations of abstract objects in a simulation

This study aimed to identify if complementing representations of concrete objects with representations of abstract objects improves students’ conceptual understanding as they use a simulation to experiment in the domain of Light and Color. Moreover, we investigated whether students’ prior knowledge is a factor that must be considered in deciding when to use representations of abstract objects. A pre-post comparison study design was used, involving 69 participants assigned to two conditions. The first condition consisted of 36 students who had access to a simulation with representations of concrete objects, whereas the second condition consisted of 33 students who had access to a simulation with representations of both concrete and abstract objects. Both conditions used the same inquiry-oriented curriculum materials, consisting of three sections that included physical phenomena with increasingly complex underlying mechanisms, so that the third section’s mechanisms were more complex in nature than those in the first two sections. Tests were administered to assess students’ conceptual understanding before and after the presentation of the curricular material as a whole, as well as before and after each of its three sections. Results revealed that the presence of representations of abstract objects was helpful for the first two sections, but only for students with low prior knowledge. On the third, most complex section, also the students with higher prior knowledge profited from the presence of abstract objects. From these findings, we conjecture that for physical phenomena with a lower level of complexity, students with high prior knowledge are able to mentally construct the necessary abstract concepts on their own, whereas for higher levels of complexity they need an explicit representation of the abstract objects in the learning environment.     

Making Sense of Space: Distributed Spatial Sensemaking in a Middle School Summer Engineering Camp

Spatial thinking is important for success in engineering. However, little is known about how students learn and apply spatial skills, particularly in kindergarten to Grade 12 engineering learning. The present study investigated the role of spatial thinking in engineering learning at a middle school summer camp. Participants were 26 students (13 female, 13 male), predominantly from underrepresented groups. We took a cognitive ethnographic approach, using observations of hands-on engineering learning activities to identify moments when spatial problems arose and how learners made sense of these problems. We describe these processes as distributed spatial sensemaking because they involved both internal (cognitive) processes and also interactions with other learners, materials, and representations. We identified 90 distributed spatial sensemaking episodes in our data set. These episodes facilitated important engineering practices such as hypothesis testing and design iteration. We also found that different activities elicited different types of distributed spatial sensemaking episodes. Our results demonstrate how spatial thinking matters in everyday engineering learning and speaks to the types of engineering learning activities that scaffold particular spatial processes and practices. Our research also shows how cognitive, situated, and distributed theories can be used in tandem to make sense of a complex phenomenon like engineering learning.     

Teachers and Students’ Conceptions of Computer-Based Models in the Context of High School Chemistry: Elicitations at the Pre-intervention Stage

This study examined teachers’ and students’ initial conceptions of computer-based models—Flash and NetLogo models—and documented how teachers and students reconciled notions of multiple representations featuring macroscopic, submicroscopic and symbolic representations prior to actual intervention in eight high school chemistry classrooms. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 32 students and 6 teachers. Findings revealed an interplay of complex factors that functioned as opportunities and obstacles in the implementation of technologies in science classrooms. Students revealed preferences for the Flash models as opposed to the open-ended NetLogo models. Altogether, due to lack of content and modeling background knowledge, students experienced difficulties articulating coherent and blended understandings of multiple representations. Concurrently, while the aesthetic and interactive features of the models were of great value, they did not sustain students’ initial curiosity and opportunities to improve understandings about chemistry phenomena. Most teachers recognized direct alignment of the Flash model with their existing curriculum; however, the benefits were relegated to existing procedural and passive classroom practices. The findings have implications for pedagogical approaches that address the implementation of computer-based models, function of models, models as multiple representations and the role of background knowledge and cognitive load, and the role of teacher vision and classroom practices.     

DEVELOPING AN UNDERSTANDING OF IONS IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL CHEMISTRY

There is growing research interest in the challenges and opportunities learners face in representing scientific understandings, processes and reasoning. These challenges include integrating verbal, visual and mathematical modes in science discourse to make strong conceptual links between representations and classroom experiences. Our paper reports on a project that aimed to identify practical and theoretical issues entailed in a representation-intensive approach to guiding students’ conceptual learning in science. We focus here on a teacher developing students’ understanding of the formation of ions and molecules. We argue that the representations produced by students in this process met the criteria for representational competence proposed by diSessa (Cognition and Instruction, 22, 293–331, 2004) and Kozma & Russell (2005). The students understood that an effective representation needed to show relevant information, focus on pertinent points, be self-sufficient in its claims about the topic and provide coherent links between different parts of the representation. The final activity showed that their representations reached Kozma & Russell’s (2005) highest level of competence, where the students were able to use specific features of their representations to critique their suitability for explaining bonding and were able to show how their representation linked to the periodic table as a representation. We conclude by considering the implications of these findings.     

Science education and affect

Thought experiments are tools often used by physicists. Learning authentic physics then also means that students need to develop a familiarity with the reasoning processes of thought experiments. This study examines the nature of learning processes that involve communication about image‐based micro‐worlds in optics. The results of this study show that students’ investigations often have the structure of thought experiments. Thought experiments that use computer‐based microworlds are powerful because they capitalize on the human capability for imagery that allow learners to ‘see’ the physical processes and construct qualitative understandings. In this study, the structure of students’ activities as thought experiments arose from their collective efforts which started with the construction of an optics simulation. In the course of the activities, students’ understanding evolved from fragmented views of optical situations to system views that included multiple components. Collaborative thought experiments are therefore emergent phenomena, triggered by the events as a whole rather than being pre‐designed. In the course of the activities, students who participated in collective problem solving gradually adopted shared graphical representations and meanings.     

Learning to Deflect: Conceptual Change in Physics During Digital Game Play

How does deep conceptual change occur when students play well-designed educational games? To answer this question, we present a case study in the form of a microgenetic analysis of a student’s processes of knowledge construction as he played a conceptually-integrated digital game (SURGE Next) designed to support learning about Newtonian mechanics. Grounded in the Knowledge In Pieces framework of conceptual change (A. diSessa, 1993), we analyze the processes through which the student, Jamal, developed an expert-like understanding of deflections, a phenomenon that has been previously identified as challenging to understand for novice physics learners. We also explore the key characteristics of SURGE Next supporting these conceptual change processes. Our analysis shows that Jamal’s learning involved iterative refinement of his conceptual understanding through distributed encoding (A. diSessa, 1993). That is, as Jamal advanced through the game levels in SURGE Next, he developed a progressively more distributed sense of mechanism (A. diSessa, 1993) and was able to identify and operationalize the roles of the direction and magnitude of an object’s initial (or previous) velocity in determining the velocity resulting from the application of a new impulse. We also discuss the methodological and design implications of our findings for future research on digital games for learning.     

The relationships and impact of teachers’ metacognitive knowledge and pedagogical understandings of metacognition

We know that metacognitive students are successful in school (Sternberg Instructional Science 26:127–140, 1998). However, despite the recognition of the role of metacognition in student success, limited research has been done to explore teachers’ explicit awareness of their metacognition and their ability to think about, talk about, and write about their thinking (Zohar Teaching and Teacher Education 15:413-429, 1999). Therefore, the current study investigates teachers’ understanding of metacognition and their pedagogical understanding of metacognition, and the nature of what it means to teach students to be metacognitive. One hundred-five graduate students in education participated in this study. The data analysis results, using mixed research method, suggest that the participant’s metacognitive knowledge had a significant impact on his/her pedagogical understanding of metacognition. The results revealed that teachers who have a rich understanding of metacognition report that teaching students to be metacognitive requires a complex understanding of both the concept of metacognition and metacognitive thinking strategies.     

Model-Based Knowing: How Do Students Ground Their Understanding About Climate Systems in Agent-Based Computer Models?

This paper gives a grounded cognition account of model-based learning of complex scientific knowledge related to socio-scientific issues, such as climate change. It draws on the results from a study of high school students learning about the carbon cycle through computational agent-based models and investigates two questions: First, how do students ground their understanding about the phenomenon when they learn and solve problems with computer models? Second, what are common sources of mistakes in students’ reasoning with computer models? Results show that students ground their understanding in computer models in five ways: direct observation, straight abstraction, generalisation, conceptualisation, and extension. Students also incorporate into their reasoning their knowledge and experiences that extend beyond phenomena represented in the models, such as attitudes about unsustainable carbon emission rates, human agency, external events, and the nature of computational models. The most common difficulties of the students relate to seeing the modelled scientific phenomenon and connecting results from the observations with other experiences and understandings about the phenomenon in the outside world. An important contribution of this study is the constructed coding scheme for establishing different ways of grounding, which helps to understand some challenges that students encounter when they learn about complex phenomena with agent-based computer models.

     

University Students’ Understanding of Electromagnetic Induction

This study examined engineering and physical science students' understanding of the electromagnetic induction (EMI) phenomena. It is assumed that significant knowledge of the EMI theory is a basic prerequisite when students have to think about electromagnetic phenomena. To analyse students' conceptions, we have taken into account the fact that individuals build mental representations to help them understand how a physical system works. Individuals use these representations to explain reality, depending on the context and the contents involved. Therefore, we have designed a questionnaire with an emphasis on explanations and an interview, so as to analyse students' reasoning. We found that most of the students failed to distinguish between macroscopic levels described in terms of fields and microscopic levels described in terms of the actions of fields. It is concluded that although the questionnaire and interviews involved a limited range of phenomena, the identified explanations fall into three main categories that can provide information for curriculum development by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of students' conceptions.     

Rubrics as a way of providing transparency in assessment

This paper reports on a study where rubrics have been used to convey assessment expectations to students (n?=?176) in three different assessment situations in professional education. These situations are: (1) the development of a survey instrument, which was part of a course in statistics and epidemiology; (2) an inspection of a house, which was part of a course about the functions of buildings for real estate brokers and (3) a workshop in communication with patients, which was part of a course in the evaluation of diagnostic procedures and treatments of oral infections in dental education. In all situations, students’ perceptions and uses of the rubrics were investigated. Findings suggest that it is indeed possible to convey expectations to students through the use of rubrics, in the sense that students not only appreciate the efforts to make assessment criteria transparent, but may also use the criteria in order to support and self-assess their performance. Important features of the rubrics, which were found to facilitate students’ understanding and use of the criteria in these situations, are presented and discussed.     

Making the most of the mosaic: facilitating post-school transitions to higher education of disadvantaged students

Research studies of post-school education and training conducted in Australia and internationally have revealed a mosaic of students’ education and employment experiences, with a multiplicity of nonlinear pathways. These tend to be more fragmentary for disadvantaged students, especially those of low socio-economic background, rural students, and mature aged students seeking a ‘second chance’ education. Challenges faced by students in their transitions to higher education are made more complex because of the intersection of vertical stratification created by institutional and sectoral status hierarchies and segmentation, especially relating to ‘academic’ and ‘vocational’ education and training, and the horizontal stratification of regional, rural and remote locations in which students live. If we are to achieve the equity goals set by the Bradley Review (Bradley et al., Review of Australian Higher Education Final Report, 2008) we need to acknowledge and work with the complex realities of disadvantaged students’ situations, starting at the school level. Interrelated factors at the individual, community and institutional level which continue to inhibit student take-up of higher education places are discussed in the context of discursive constructions of ‘disadvantage’ and ‘choice’ in late modernity. Research highlights the need to facilitate students’ post-school transitions by developing student resilience, institutional responsiveness and policy reflexivity through transformative education.     

平面简谐波势能的简易分析方法

平面简谐波是理工科专业《大学物理》课程中的重要内容。势能的分析和推导是平面简谐波教学中的难点。本文利用弹性波的传播机理和特征,提出一种简易的分析和推导平面简谐波势能密度函数的方法。此方法可以避开学生陌生和难以理解的一些物理量和概念,因此其可使教学过程大为简化,并便于学生掌握和深刻理解相关内容。     

大学英语课堂学生沉默行为的原因分析及其相关对策

通过调查分析认为造成课堂学生沉默的原因主要与以下几个方面有关:中国的传统文化和传统的道德观念,传统的教育理念及教学方法以及教师和学生本人的因素。基于以上原因本人针对如何学生课堂沉默这一现象提出了以下对策首先要更新教育观念,消除传统文化中的不利因素的印象;其次是改进教学方法,提高学生参与课堂教学的积极性,最后就是要关注部分后进生和性格内向的学生,提高学生整体参与课堂教学的广度。     

Modelling water systems in an introductory undergraduate course: Students’ use and evaluation of data-driven,computer-based models

ABSTRACT

Introductory undergraduate courses present an opportunity to use disciplinary concepts in solving authentic problems. Making complex natural systems accessible to students through computer-based models allows them to practice making evidence-based predictions and communicate understanding. Despite the importance of modelling tools in formal classrooms, gaps exist in our understanding of how post-secondary students engage in computer-based modelling. Introductory courses, particularly in the hydrosciences, typically do not use these tools. This mixed methods study examines students’ model-based reasoning about a water-related issue over two years in response to a flipped course model. Students in an introductory water course learned basic hydrologic content and used a computer-based water model to complete a project. Data came from a pre-/post-course assessment, student assignments, and student interviews. Results of quantitative and qualitative data analyses show that students in the revised version of the course (Year 2, n?=?53) increased their understanding of core hydrology concepts and performed better on their evaluation of a computer-based water model, than students in the initial course (Year 1, n?=?38). We tentatively attribute these observed changes to increased active learning opportunities surrounding computer-based modelling of water systems. Findings contribute to science literacy development, undergraduate science learning environment design, and undergraduate scientific modelling.     

Learning by self-explaining causal diagrams in high-school biology

Understanding scientific phenomena requires comprehension and application of the underlying causal relationships that describe those phenomena (Carey 2002). The current study examined the roles of self-explanation and meta-level feedback for understanding causal relationships described in a causal diagram. In this study, 63 Korean high-school students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: instructional explanation, self-explanation, and meta-level feedback. Results showed that self-explaining a causal diagram was as effective as studying instructional explanations. Furthermore, the effectiveness of self-explaining a causal diagram was enhanced by meta-level feedback that prompted students to reflect on their own explanations by comparing them with instructional explanations. We identified three main difficulties that high-school students experienced when explaining a causal diagram to themselves: one-sided explanation, erroneous explanation, and the lack of inference. Implications of the study were discussed in regard to the improvement of self-explanation and the design of causal diagrams in science education.     

Effect of a Problem Based Simulation on the Conceptual Understanding of Undergraduate Science Education Students

A study of the effect of science teaching with a multimedia simulation on water quality, the “River of Life,” on the science conceptual understanding of students (N = 83) in an undergraduate science education (K-9) course is reported. Teaching reality-based meaningful science is strongly recommended by the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996). Water quality provides an information-rich context for relating classroom science to real-world situations impacting the environment, and will help to improve student understanding of science (Kumar, 2005a; Kumar and Chubin, 2000). The topics addressed were classes of organisms that form river ecosystem, dissolved oxygen, macroinvertebrates, composition of air, and graph reading skills. Paired t-test of pre- and post-tests, and pre- and delayed post-tests showed significant (p < 0.05) gains. The simulation had a significant effect on the conceptual understanding of students enrolled in a K-9 science education course for prospective teachers in the following areas: composition of air, macroinvertebrates, dissolved oxygen, classes of organisms that form a river ecosystem, and graph reading skills. The gain was more in the former four areas than the latter one. A paired t-test of pre- and delayed post-tests showed significant (p < 0.05) gains in the water quality and near transfer subsets than the dissolved oxygen subset. Additionally students were able to transfer knowledge acquired from the multimedia simulation on more than one concept into teachable stand-alone lesson plans.     

Students’ Learning with the Connected Chemistry (CC1) Curriculum: Navigating the Complexities of the Particulate World

The focus of this study is students’ learning with a Connected Chemistry unit, CC1 (denotes Connected Chemistry, chapter 1), a computer-based environment for learning the topics of gas laws and kinetic molecular theory in chemistry (Levy and Wilensky 2009). An investigation was conducted into high-school students’ learning with Connected Chemistry, based on a conceptual framework that highlights several forms of access to understanding the system (submicro, macro, mathematical, experiential) and bidirectional transitions among these forms, anchored at the common and experienced level, the macro-level. Results show a strong effect size for embedded assessment and a medium effect size regarding pre-post-test questionnaires. Stronger effects are seen for understanding the submicroscopic level and bridging between it and the macroscopic level. More than half the students succeeded in constructing the equations describing the gas laws. Significant shifts were found in students’ epistemologies of models: understanding models as representations rather than replicas of reality and as providing multiple perspectives. Students’ learning is discussed with respect to the conceptual framework and the benefits of assessment of learning using a fine-tuned profile and further directions for research are proposed. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Problem-based learning and argumentation: testing a scaffolding framework to support middle school students’ creation of evidence-based arguments

Students engaged in problem-based learning (PBL) units solve ill-structured problems in small groups, and then present arguments in support of their solution. However, middle school students often struggle developing evidence-based arguments (Krajcik et al., J Learn Sci 7:313–350, 1998). Using a mixed method design, the researchers examined the use of computer-based argumentation scaffolds, called the Connection Log, to help middle school students build evidence-based arguments. Specifically we investigated (a) the impact of computer-based argumentation scaffolds on middle school students’ construction of evidence-based arguments during a PBL unit, and (b) scaffold use among members of two small groups purposefully chosen for case studies. Data sources included a test of argument evaluation ability, persuasive presentation rating scores, informal observations, videotaped class sessions, and retrospective interviews. Findings included a significant simple main effect on argument evaluation ability among lower-achieving students, and use of the scaffolds by the small groups to communicate and keep organized.     

Representational Classroom Practices that Contribute to Students’ Conceptual and Representational Understanding of Chemical Bonding

Understanding bonding is fundamental to success in chemistry. A number of alternative conceptions related to chemical bonding have been reported in the literature. Research suggests that many alternative conceptions held by chemistry students result from previous teaching; if teachers are explicit in the use of representations and explain their content-specific forms and functions, this might be avoided. The development of an understanding of and ability to use multiple representations is crucial to students’ understanding of chemical bonding. This paper draws on data from a larger study involving two Year 11 chemistry classes (n = 27, n = 22). It explores the contribution of explicit instruction about multiple representations to students’ understanding and representation of chemical bonding. The instructional strategies were documented using audio-recordings and the teacher-researcher’s reflection journal. Pre-test–post-test comparisons showed an improvement in conceptual understanding and representational competence. Analysis of the students’ texts provided further evidence of the students’ ability to use multiple representations to explain macroscopic phenomena on the molecular level. The findings suggest that explicit instruction about representational form and function contributes to the enhancement of representational competence and conceptual understanding of bonding in chemistry. However, the scaffolding strategies employed by the teacher play an important role in the learning process. This research has implications for professional development enhancing teachers’ approaches to these aspects of instruction around chemical bonding.