Comparison of learning in two context-based university chemistry classes

ABSTRACT

Context-based learning (CBL) is advocated as beneficial to learners, but more needs to be understood about how different contexts used in courses influence student outcomes. Gilbert defined several models of context that appear to be used in chemistry. In one model that achieves many criteria of student meaning-making, the context is provided by ‘personal mental activity’, meaning that students engage in a role to solve a problem. The model’s predicted outcomes are that students develop and use the specialised language of chemistry, translate what they learn in the immediate context to other contexts, and empathise with the community of practice that is created. The first two of these outcomes were investigated in two large-enrolment university chemistry courses, both organised as this CBL model, in which students were introduced to kinetic molecular theory (KMT). Sample 1 students (N₁?=?105) learned KMT through whole-class kinaesthetic activity as a human model of a gas while focusing on a problem identifying substances in balloons filled with different gases. Sample 2 students (N₂?=?110) manipulated molecular dynamics simulations while focusing on the problem of reducing atmospheric CO₂. Exam answers and pre-/post-test responses, involving a new KMT context, were analysed. Students in Sample 1 demonstrated a stronger understanding of particle trajectories, while Sample 2 students developed more sophisticated mechanistic reasoning and greater fluidity of translation between contexts through increased use of chemists’ specialised language. The relationships of these outcomes to the contexts were examined in consideration of the different curriculum emphases inherent in the contexts.     

探究教学设计思路与实施策略

针对义务教育物理课程标准的新变化 ,本文认为初中物理教学应该突出探究能力培养 ,建构新的教学设计思路和教学实施策略。教学设计应整合三维目标、突出探究的核心过程 ,教学中应该把握实施策略。     

How does STEM context-based learning work: what we know and what we still do not know

ABSTRACT

Context-based learning (CBL) has influenced teaching and learning science in many countries over the past decades. Twelve years ago, a special issue on CBL was published in this Journal, focusing on CBL curriculum development. Seven papers in this current special issue on CBL now address the question of how a context influences the learning process. The papers focus on the stimulation of learning STEM subjects within contexts, how the learning process occurs and is enhanced, and the application of contexts in different settings. The approaches, results, and implications of the papers are located in a larger view that considers the question of what must be the case if a student not only engages in the tasks of learning but also succeeds at them. Concerning willingness and effort by learners, the papers draw conclusions about which STEM-related interests of students endure and are ephemeral across a decade, design criteria for maximising students’ situational interest, and students’ engagement with content and context simultaneously. Focusing on the opportunity to teach and learn, the papers reveal how a professional development approach functions to support STEM teachers to develop CBL materials, and how specific scaffolding acts in teaching bring students to more complex reasoning. Regarding good teaching, insights are offered on how metacognitive prompts improve teaching. Centring on the social surround that supports teaching and learning, a comparison of two contexts for teaching the same content reveals which aspects of the contexts move student learning forward. From this mapping, paths toward future research are projected.     

试论创造性教学

培养和发展学生的创造性,是当前国内外教学改革的主题.创造性教学应遵循主体性、民主性和差异性原则.树立新的创造性教学观,改革课堂教学方法,大力培养创造性教师.     

An examination of the relationship between technology problems and teaching evaluation of online instruction

To address faculty members' concern that teaching evaluation in the online environment might be lowered because of technology problems students experience in online courses, a sample of 202 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory statistics course in a college of business administration was surveyed. Students' evaluation of their instructors and the course and their experiences with technology problems when taking the course were measured. As expected, a negative correlation between teaching evaluation and experience of technology problems was observed. Based on the finding, it is suggested that, to encourage faculty members to teach online, universities need to examine the relationship between teaching evaluation and technology problems experienced by students in the online environment and adjust the evaluation skewed by problems that are out of instructors' control. Measurement instruments used in the study and a suggested formula for adjusting teaching evaluation are provided.     

浅谈中学化学教学中的问题设计

本文论述了中学化学课堂教学中的"问题设计"及其对提高教学质量的作用.     

普通高中物理课程改革的研究报告

由于学科课程目标的“划一化” ,使学生的个体差异问题得不到解决 ,学生的认知、情感 ,知识和能力的协调发展难以实现 ,本文着眼于物理学科课程结构改革 ,进行物理学科的分层次教学 ,使不同层次的学生都得到良好的发展     

现行课堂教学评价模式评析

现行课堂教学评价模式追求客观化、数量化、意在使课堂教学评坐更趋 科学。而深入研究课堂教学评价实践,却发现现行课堂教学评价模式在评价观、评价内容、评价过程等方面存在许多非客观的及不确定因素,影响了课堂教学评价的科学性。因此,有必要改进现行课堂教学评价模式,突破现行模式的一元化状态,向多元化模式发展。     

Classroom action research on formative assessment in a context-based chemistry course

Context-based science courses stimulate students to reconstruct the information presented by connecting to their prior knowledge and experiences. However, students need support. Formative assessments inform both teacher and students about students’ knowledge deficiencies and misconceptions and how students can be supported. Research on formative assessments suggests a positive impact on students’ science achievement, although its success depends on how the formative assessment is implemented in class. The aim of this study was to provide insights into the effects of formative assessments on achievement during a context-based chemistry course on lactic acid. In a classroom action research setting, a pre-test/post-test control group design with switching replications was applied. Student achievement was measured in two pre-tests, two post-tests and a retention test. Participants were Grade 9 students from one secondary school in the Netherlands. Repeated-measures analysis showed a significant effect of formative assessments on students’ achievement. During the implementation of the formative assessments, intriguing discussions emerged between students, between students and teacher, and between teachers. Adding formative assessments to context-based approaches reinforces their strength to meet with the current challenges of chemistry education. Formative assessments affect students’ achievement positively and stimulate feedback between students and teacher(s).     

如何应用物理规律进行教学

物理规律教学是物理教学是培养学生能力的有效途径。搞好物理规律教学,能使学生全面、灵活、牢固地掌握知识,能提高学生运用物理知识分析解决问题的能力和创新学习的能力。根据物理规律教学特点,在中学物理教学中进行了大量地实践并取得了良好的效果。     

Impact of simulator-based instruction on diagramming in geometrical optics by introductory physics students

We examine the conceptual development resulting from an instructional experiment with an interactive learning environment in geometrical optics for introductory high school physics. How did teaching-learning processes come to change the ways in which students depicted various everyday optical situations in paper and pencil graphical representations? We view conceptual development as a process resulting in part from increasingly aligning one's practices to a target community by means of participating in a community of practice that uses the target concepts. For formal science learning, this participation requires changes in concepts, epistemological attitude, and in the development and use of representational tools, including diagrams and technical language, as a means of communication. Results of our instructional experiment indicated that students went through major conceptual developments as reflected in the diagrams they constructed and supported by other representational tools and as judged in terms of several perspectives: in identifying the formation of shadows and images, in recognizing the eye as a participating factpr in the optical system, and in changing the types of justifications they provided in their optical reasoning from presuppositional to causal.     

物理实验预习导学系统CAI课件的研制方法与技巧

本文介绍了计算机辅助物理实验预习导学系统CAI课件的研制方法及遵循的原则和技巧。     

Stereotype Threat and Women's Performance in Physics

Stereotype threat (ST), which involves confirming a negative stereotype about one's group, is a factor thought to contribute to the gender gap in science achievement and participation. This study involved a quasi-experiment in which 312 US high school physics students were randomly assigned, via their classroom cluster, to one of three ST conditions. The conditions included an explicit ST condition, an implicit ST condition, and a nullified condition. Results indicated that males in all three conditions performed similarly on a set of physics problems. Females in the nullified condition outperformed females in the explicit ST condition and females in the implicit and explicit conditions performed similarly. Males performed better than females in the implicit and explicit ST conditions, but male and female performance on the physics problems was not significantly different in the nullified condition. The implications of these findings for physics instruction and future research on gender differences in physics and ST in science are discussed.     

双语与双语教学

本文阐述了双语现象的产生原因及其分类情况，由此为基础对我们国家正在开展的双语教学活动提出了作者自己的看法。     

“实训教学”概念分析

"实训教学"是职业教育中的一个重要概念.概念分析是认识、理解教育实践,保障教育实践有序开展的需要.分析认为,从概念名称上看,使用"实训教学"比"实践教学"要更合理;在概念内容上,作为教学活动,实训教学的概念内容除了要包括认识和能力的目标之外,还应包含有情感、意志方面的要求;从概念框架来看,理论教学与实训教学的实际关系应该是实训教学--理论教学--实训教学.     

物理过程的阶段性分析

以 2 0 0 0年一道高考试题的物理过程分析为例 ,将一个复杂的物理过程按发生的先后分成几个阶段进行分析 ,使物理问题简化 ,体现了分析物理过程的重要性。     

Improving students’ proportional thinking using schema-based instruction

This study investigated the effectiveness of an instructional program (schema-based instruction, SBI) designed to teach 7th graders how to comprehend and solve proportion problems involving ratios/rates, scale drawings, and percents. The SBI program emphasized the underlying mathematical structure of problems via schematic diagrams, focused on a 4-step procedure to support and monitor problem solving, and addressed the flexible use of alternative solution strategies based on the problem situation. Blocking by teacher at three middle schools, the authors randomly assigned the 21 classrooms to one of two conditions: SBI and control. Classroom teachers provided the instruction. Results of multilevel modeling used to test for treatment effects after accounting for pretests and other characteristics (gender, ethnicity) revealed the direct effects of SBI on mathematical problem solving at posttest. However, the improved problem solving skills were not maintained a month later when SBI was no longer in effect nor did the skills transfer to solving problems in new domain-level content.     

信息技术与物理教学的整合

知识经济的挑战和信息化社会的到来，对人才的智能结构和培养模式提出新要求。将信息技术融入物理课程，从教学规律和耳标出发，恰当合理地应用网络教育技术重组教学内容，探索网络环境下的物理教学设计，使网络环境和资源走进学科教学。     

大学教学的学术性及其强化策略

学术是专门的系统性学问,大学是学术生成与传播的主要场所,大学教学与科研是内在统一的,都优先服务于专门人才培养。从大学教师专业发展与教学活动来说,大学教学应以研究为基础,使教学成果呈现出创新性、专门化与可交流性等特征,体现出学术性。目前需要通过更新观念,确立大学教学学术性地位;通过加强制度建设,促进教师潜心教学;通过深化大学教学研究,增强大学教学学术性。