Learning and Instruction A SERP Research Agenda (2004) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
4 Science
4 Science
Pages 102-141
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 102... ...
When serious science instruction begins, typically in middle school or even later, the advantages of informal learning resources begin to be overtaken by the disadvantages of unfocused curricula and weak teacher knowledge of both science content and pedagogy. At this stage the international comparisons become much less favorable.
|
From page 103... ...
· ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TH E TEACH I NG AN D LEARN I NG OF PHYSICS The number of students who take courses in physics is relatively small in comparison to the number who take biology or chemistry, as is the number of credentialed high school physics teachers in comparison to other science teachers. Perhaps because the community of educators working on physics is small, it has been possible to pursue a cumulative research agenda on major issues in physics teaching and learning.
|
From page 104... ...
However, over the past several decades, research on student understanding has called into question whether the goals of instruction were being achieved. The Route: Progression of Unclerstancling Historically, the implicit assumption in physics instruction has been that novice students could come to understand physics by receiving classroom presentations of what physics experts know.
|
From page 105... ...
Researchers have focused considerable effort on mapping out what students do understand about a variety of physical phenomena and how that understanding progresses as a consequence of instruction. This work has probed the conceptual understandings of learners from preschool onward.
|
From page 106... ...
, studies pursued by the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington with college students, and the research of many other investigators provide a wealth of information about how students typically think about a range of physical situations and concepts. The question in Box 4.2 regarding the relative weight of an '06 LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION
|
From page 107... ...
· ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ object when it is surrounded by air and submerged at two different depths of water produces a predictable range of responses from students when asked before, during, and even after instruction. Those responses can be evaluated for consistency with the various forms of student understanding shown in the box.
|
From page 108... ...
They range from acceptable understandings in introductory physics (310) to those representing partial understanding (e.g., 315)
|
From page 109... ...
It is important for both the instructor and the student to become aware of the form of the student's conceptual understanding when instruction beS C I E N C E '09
|
From page 110... ...
J tJ The Vehicle: Pedagogy and Curriculum Along with the research on student understanding have come new approaches to teaching physics that clearly demonstrate the accessibility of the subject for all students, if it is taught in ways that acknowledge what is known about student understanding. First, instruction needs to be based on the acknowledgment that students are being asked to reformulate category systems that have served them quite well in the past.
|
From page 111... ...
Two programs designed specifically for students in middle school and high school have demonstrated improvements in student achievement, particularly with respect to conceptual understanding. In the first of these, the "modeling method" of instruction, students work to develop, evaluate, and apply their own models of the physical behavior of objects (see Box 4.3~.
|
From page 112... ...
Instructional activities give students experience in constructing and using models to make sense of a variety of physical problems. A critical feature of the program is the role played by the teacher: "The teacher cultivates student understanding of models and modeling in science by engaging students continually in 'model-centered discourse' and presentations." The program developers argue that "the most important factor in student learning by the modeling method (partly measured by Force Concept Inventory scores)
|
From page 113... ...
Like the modeling method, the emphasis is on constructing and revising models and explanations, and modeling ability is acquired in the service of building a conceptual understanding of motion, gravity, friction, and the like. What is distinctive in the ThinkerTools curriculum is the addition of a "reflective assessment" component.
|
From page 114... ...
With respect to the first challenge, physics teachers and researchers alike are increasingly adopting the Force Concept Inventory (see Box 4.5) developed initially by Halloun and Hestenes (1985)
|
From page 115... ...
TEACHER KNOWLEDGE Teacher knowledge of physics is typically not a serious concern, since most physics teachers have undergraduate or adS C I E N C E ~ ~ 5
|
From page 116... ...
Presented below are the gain scores on this challenging assessment for both low- and high-achieving students and for students in the reflective assessment and control classes. Note first that students in the reflective assessment classes gained more on this inquiry assessment.
|
From page 117... ...
· ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ GURE 4.4a CTBS achievement levels. SOURCE: White and Frederickson, 2000.
|
From page 118... ...
Yet students do poorly on the inventory as a pretest, and a full semester of careful traditional instruction produces little change in student performance: this result has been a major wakeup call to many physics teachers. Such results, which teachers can often replicate with their own classes, have significantly increased the audience for the results of physics education research.
|
From page 119... ...
As the above discussion suggests, the knowledge and tools are now available to support the latter, including the research base concerning students' conceptual understanding, assessment tools such as the Force Concept Inventory, and alternative forms of instruction, such as the emphasis on modeling described earlier. It is uncertain what proportion of the 19,000 physics teachers in the United States engage in instructional practices that are aligned with what is known about learning and instruction in physics, or how many make use of research-based curricular materials, assessments, and approaches.
|
From page 120... ...
Finally, little is known about the range of teacher characteristics and organizational circumstances that are conducive to adopting the instructional approaches derived from physics education research (like the modeling method or facets-based instruction)
|
From page 121... ...
initiative 7: Differentiating instructional Programs anc' Outcomes The initiative should begin by developing a better characterization of existing programs, as well as the range and scope of their use, for purposes of informing education decision makers. One set of questions concerns what conditions usually accompany success: participation from university or other research partners; electronic or physical proximity to a network of more expert reform teachers; administrative support and resources; aligned policies about assessment, grading, and student promotion.
|
From page 122... ...
The very notion that research can improve practice is undermined by the outcome. If research is to have a positive, widespread impact on student learning, following curriculum use as it spreads into school districts and is adapted by teachers will be critical.
|
From page 123... ...
As yet, we know very little about how effective physics teachers use their knowledge of student thinking to make decisions about which move in their instructional repertoire to deploy in a situation. Some clues do exist.
|
From page 124... ...
· ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SCIENCE EDUCATION ACROSS THE SCHOOL YEARS It would surely be disturbing if the mathematics instruction in schools followed no plan for increasing students' knowledge cumulatively across grades of study but instead meandered from topic to topic in an unprincipled way. Yet this is an accurate description of science instruction in elementary schools and in many middle schools.
|
From page 125... ...
165~. However, there are few illustrations in practice of what it means to understand these ideas deeply, and few guideposts to help teachers navigate the very extensive list of topics that the standards include so that students will arrive at deep understanding of these themes or organizing big ideas.
|
From page 126... ...
What science are children capable of learning at different grade levels? Elementary school children studying marine mammals may be quite capable of understanding that the ancestors '26 LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION
|
From page 127... ...
Some evidence suggests that even elementary and middle school students can begin to develop an understanding of these ideas (see, for example, Cobb et al., 2003; Lehrer and Schauble, 2001, 2002; Petrosino et al., 2003~. But little systematic research has been done to discern what the majority of children are able to grasp with reasonable instructional effort at different grade levels.
|
From page 128... ...
Analyses of TIMSS science achievement results (Schmidt, 2001; Valverde and Schmidt, 1997) as well as research conducted by other investigators show that in contrast to other countries, elementary and middle school science in the United States emphasizes broad coverage of diverse topics over conceptual development and depth of understanding.
|
From page 129... ...
While the program developers have been collecting data on learning outcomes that show promise, these programs have not undergone rigorous, independent testing. Their value to a SERP research agenda lies not in the definitive answers to instructional questions provided by the programs, but in the opportunity they provide to further develop and rigorously test hypotheses about alternative approaches to teaching science to young children.
|
From page 130... ...
Metz's instructional model uses a combination of empirical investigations, text, video, and case studies to develop content knowledge of the domain, and to introduce students to the big ideas of biology, process knowledge of tools and decision making involved in scientific inquiry, and science as a way of knowing. She has instantiated this instructional model in curriculum prototypes in animal behavior and botany.
|
From page 131... ...
Modeling A number of investigators are examining the potential of organizing science instruction around the practice of modeling. This kind of instruction emphasizes developing models of phenomena in the world, testing and revising models to bring them into better accord with observations and data, and, over time, developing a repertoire of powerful models that can · ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ BOX 4.7 Science as Theory Building Until recently, Sister Mary Gertrude Hennessey, who has Ph.D.s in both science and science education, served as the sole science teacher for students in Grades 1-6 at St.
|
From page 132... ...
, for example, who focus on classroom discourse organized around argumentation in science (see Box 4.9~. Once again, researchers are supplementing their reports of teachers' professional development with careful measures of student learning.
|
From page 133... ...
The primary form of professional development in this program is teachers' collective investigation of the development of student thinking and study of the implications of those findings for teaching. The research also tracks the professional development of participating teachers and documents the institutional conditions required to support these forms of teaching and learning.
|
From page 134... ...
The diagnosis of student understanding that would render an assessment of greater use for instruction would be difficult to achieve without narrowing the range of topics. In-depth assessment, like that done in the Force Concept Inventory (discussed above)
|
From page 135... ...
There is little in teacher preparation programs that provides the foundations of pedagogical content knowledge for teaching science. Elementary school teachers are less likely than middle or high school teachers to indicate that they are prepared to support the development of students' conceptual understanding of science, provide deep coverage of fewer science concepts, or manage a class of students engaged in an extended inquiry project (Weiss et al., 2001~.
|
From page 136... ...
Some of the programs we have mentioned are already yielding longitudinal findings about student learning. Some are investigating the forms of professional development and institutional support that are required to help similar programs flourish more widely.
|
From page 137... ...
Learning-7nstruction Moclels Identifying a productive organizing core for school science across the grades is an important element in providing science education that builds from one year to the next. This does not suggest that there is a single, right vision about what is worth teaching and learning.
|
From page 138... ...
For this reason, we cannot understand the potential payoff of the varying approaches to science education unless the contexts permit sober estimation of what they deliver over the long term. Initiative 2: Assessment An essential limitation on the new experiments in science education is that they lack a widely shared set of assessment instruments (like the Force Concept Inventory in physics)
|
From page 139... ...
The idea would be not to identify a set of assessments that would serve once and for all to measure learning in science, but to serve as a test case for the possibility of developing and refining at least one powerful science assessment that takes a developmental approach to measuring the evolution of student knowledge and understanding. Moreover, such assessments would be fundamentally important in pursuing the study of trade-offs of different commitments to an organizing core for science education.
|
From page 140... ...
It would be important to understand the relative advantages of working with a selective, presumably very committed group versus the potential synergies to be gained from working with an intact school staff. A variety of other professional development strategies are being used and studied in these programs, including teacher authoring, science learning workshops, study of student work, reading of articles and texts about science and science education, and analysis of discourse on classroom videotapes.
|
From page 141... ...
One strand of the SERP science work we propose is the consistent attention to, and articulation of, what is possible and with what commitments (investment in teacher education, instructional time, etch. This should be done through careful data collection and regular stock-taking of results across studies.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.