Hierarchial relationships among formal cognitive structures and their relationship to principled moral reasoning

Measurements of formal reasoning and principled moral reasoning ability were obtained from a sample of 99 tenth grade students. Specific modes of formal reasoning (proportional reasoning, controlling variables, probabilistic, correlational, and combinatorial reasoning) were first examined. Findings support the notion of hierarchical relationships which exist among those variables. Further results from factor analysis provide evidence that the variables represent specific cognitive structures that are interdependent with each other and precede operations in development. Finally, significant relationships were found to exist between the different modes of formal reasoning and principled moral reasoning. Combinatorial and correlational reasoning were found to significantly account for 22% of the variance in principled moral reasoning. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed.     

Robotics and science literacy: Thinking skills,science process skills and systems understanding

This paper reports the results of a study of the relationship of robotics activity to the use of science literacy skills and the development of systems understanding in middle school students. Twenty‐six 11–12‐year‐olds (22 males and 4 females) attending an intensive robotics course offered at a summer camp for academically advanced students participated in the research. This study analyzes how students utilized thinking skills and science process skills characteristic of scientifically literate individuals to solve a robotics challenge. In addition, a pre/post test revealed that course participants increased their systems understanding, t (21) = 22.47, p < .05. It is argued that the affordances of the robotics environment coupled with a pedagogical approach emphasizing open‐ended, extended inquiry prompts the utilization of science literacy‐based thinking and science process skills and leads to increased systems understanding. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 373–394, 2008     

初中学生综合科学过程技能的水平、特点及影响因素

以1452名初中生为被试,以Burns等编制的综合过程技能测验(TIPS)和Hasan的科学教师的影响问卷,科学教科书的影响问卷,以及学生科学学习的自我效能感问卷为工具,考察初中学生的综合过程技能水平及其特点。结果表明,初中生的平均技能水平较高,但还不能达到满意水平,同时存在性别、年级和城乡的显著差异,表现为:随着年级的递增,初中生的TIPS成绩也递增;城市学校的学生成绩显著高于农村学校;在控制和操作变量技能上,男生得分显著低于女生;教师、教材、自我效能与综合过程技能显著相关,其中教材对综合过程技能的影响最大。     

Preservice teachers' acquisition and retention of integrated science process skills: A comparison of teacher-directed and self-instructional strategies

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two methods of instruction designed to teach preservice elementary teachers to acquire and retain integrated science process skills. In one section instruction was provided by the teacher, whereas in the other section, instruction was provided by written self-paced self-instructional materials. Results indicated that the self-instructional method was significantly more effective than the teacher-directed method. Both treatments produced long-lasting retention effects.     

Teaching skills to promote clinical reasoning in early basic science courses

Basic and superior reasoning skills are woven into the clinical reasoning process just as they are used to solve any problem. As clinical reasoning is the central competence of medical education, development of these reasoning skills should occur throughout the undergraduate medical curriculum. The authors describe here a method of teaching reasoning skills in a clinical context during a human anatomy course. Anat Sci Educ 3:267–271, 2010. © 2010 American Association of Anatomists.     

Flipping the experimentation process: influences on science process skills

Educational technology research and development - This paper reports on a study aiming at examining the development of science process skills through the implementation of experiments in a science...     

Studies of information processing rates in science learning and related cognitive variables. II: A first approximation to estimating a relationship between science reasoning skills and information acquisition

Performance in science reasoning tasks is a significant objective in modem science instruction and increasing emphasis is being placed on the development of higher cognitive processes in science education. An empirical analysis of the relationship between science reasoning skills and the amount of information acquired during science learning as predicted by a neuromathematical model of information processing is presented. As the neuromathematical model includes a variable representing verbal ability, it is to be expected that a direct relationship exists between the amount of knowledge gained as predicted by the model and reasoning ability. The purpose of this research is to derive a formal quantitative statement for the relationship between knowledge acquisition predicted by the neuromathematical equation and scientific reasoning skills. A linear regression equation is obtained relating performance on a science reasoning task to the amount of information acquired as predicted by the neuromathematical model. This research provides a first approximation to providing a theoretical and empirical link between information processing and higher cognitive thought processes in science education.     

The development of science process skills in authentic contexts

Instructional strategies and curriculum sequences aimed at teaching process skills have received considerable attention in science education. On the other hand, the teaching of domain-independent, context-free skills has been subject to criticism on the ground that important aspects of cognitive activities are functions of meaningful contexts. The intent of this study was to examine the development of integrated process skills in the context of open-inquiry laboratory sessions. The data-collection approach was qualitative and included videotapes of laboratory sessions, laboratory reports of students, and the reflective journals kept by the two teachers involved in the study. Forty-eight students from the Grade 11 introductory physics course, 29 students from the Grade 12 physics course, and 60 students from the Grade 8 general science course from an all-boys private school participated in the study. An interpretive research methodology was adopted for construction of meaning from the data. Students worked in collaborative groups during all of the open-inquiry laboratory sessions. Findings from the study indicate that students develop higher-order process skills through nontraditional laboratory experiences that provided the students with freedom to perform experiments of personal relevance in authentic contexts. Students learned to (a) identify and define pertinent variables, (b) interpret, transform, and analyze data, (c) plan and design an experiment, and (d) formulate hypotheses. Findings of this study suggest that process skills need not be taught separately. Integrated process skills develop gradually and reach a high level of sophistication when experiments are performed in meaningful context.     

The effects of computer-assisted instruction and locus of control upon preservice elementary teachers' acquisition of the integrated science process skills

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) versus a text mode of programmed instruction (PI), and the cognitive style of locus of control, on preservice elementary teachers' achievement of the integrated science process skills. Eighty-one preservice elementary teachers in six sections of a science methods class were classified as internally or externally controlled. The sections were randomly assigned to receive instruction in the integrated science process skills via a microcomputer or printed text. The study used a pretest-posttest control group design. Before assessing main and interaction effects, analysis of covariance was used to adjust posttest scores using the pretest scores. Statistical analysis revealed that main effects were not significant. Additionally, no interaction effects between treatments and loci of control were demonstrated. The results suggest that printed PI and tutorial CAI are equally effective modes of instruction for teaching internally and externally oriented preservice elementary teachers the integrated science process skills.     

Computer simulations in the high school: Students' cognitive stages,science process skills and academic achievement in microbiology

Computer-assisted learning, including simulated experiments, has great potential to address the problem solving process which is a complex activity. It requires a highly structured approach in order to understand the use of simulations as an instructional device. This study is based on a computer simulation program, 'The Growth Curve of Microorganisms', which required tenth grade biology students to use problem solving skills whilst simultaneously manipulating three independent variables in one simulated experiment. The aims were to investigate the computer simulation's impact on students' academic achievement and on their mastery of science process skills in relation to their cognitive stages. The results indicate that the concrete and transition operational students in the experimental group achieved significantly higher academic achievement than their counterparts in the control group. The higher the cognitive operational stage, the higher students' achievement was, except in the control group where students in the concrete and transition operational stages did not differ. Girls achieved equally with the boys in the experimental group. Students' academic achievement may indicate the potential impact a computer simulation program can have, enabling students with low reasoning abilities to cope successfully with learning concepts and principles in science which require high cognitive skills.     

Inter-relationship among laboratory process skills in biology

Inquiry oriented practical matriculation tests of 3650 12th grade biology students in Israel were analyzed to find out the interrelationships among 21 process skills. Using correlations and varimax factor analysis, seven factors were obtained. These factors are listed according to the relative percentage of the total variance accounted for from highest to lowest: handling quantitative relationships, explaining and assessing data, conceptualizing and planning investigations, summarizing results, interpreting and concluding, selecting form of presenting findings, designing experiments. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are briefly discussed. Theoretically, the associations as well as the dissociations identified provide important clues regarding the organization of process skills related knowledge in cognitive structure. From a practical perspective the findings offer guidance for teacher educators as well as biology teachers on more effective ways for developing science process skills.     

Assessment and investigation of science laboratory skills among year 5 students

In line with the current interest in alternative and authentic assessment, this study focused on the evaluation of students' performance on science laboratory process skills. A sample of 147 year 5 students from six schools responded to laboratory process skills tests which assess investigating, performing and reasoning in the content areas of biology, chemistry and physics. The data were analysed to provide information about students' overall practical performance and to identify specific preinstructional conceptions and erros. An investigation of predictors of laboratory performance revealed significant associations between performance and amount of homework done and students' perceptions of several aspects of the classroom environment (personalisation, investigation and organisation). The gender differences commonly found in science achievement were absent when laboratory performance was used as the criterion.     

Identifying patterns and relationships among the responses of seventh-grade students to the science process skill of designing experiments

The development of reasoning skills, higher-level thinking skills, and science process skills are some of the benefits students can realize by participating in inquiry in the science laboratory. We used student responses to the Alternative Assessment of Science Process Skills (AASPS) developed by the Missouri Department of Education and the Department of Educational Assessment to develop the Science Process Skills Inventory (SPSI). The SPSI was then used to analyze student efforts at writing experimental designs. Our goal was to gain insight into factors that may be related to students successfully designing experiments. The instrument guides teachers and researchers in assessing seven main components of experimental designs. Each component consists of elements unique to the specific laboratory exercise. Subsequent to its development, the instrument was used to score 364 student responses to the “design an experiment” portion of an alternative assessment instrument for science process skills. Results indicate that explicit, incremental development of the science process skills of formulating hypotheses and identifying variables, together with model examples, may be a means to facilitate student success in designing science experiments. Implications for the classroom and for research are discussed. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Developing science process skills in special schools in South Africa

This paper describes research conducted alongside the implementation of 'Translation Activities' to teach science process skills in three Schools for Children with Special Educational Needs (known as special schools) in the Western Cape, South Africa. Teachers were interviewed about the differences of teaching science to their learners in the context of the new Outcomes Based Education Curriculum. They were then trained in the strategy and observed while they started to implement it in their classrooms. Further interviews were conducted over the period of a year to discover how this particular teaching innovation fitted with the special conditions. The case studies explain how pupils were able to spend a greater proportion of time working in groups, learning from the activities, and attempt to throw light on how access to science might be facilitated in a future system characterised by inclusion.