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Part III - Supporting Science Learning: 8 Learning Progressions
Pages 211-250

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From page 211...
... These results are products of a sustained dialogue among developmental and education researchers. However, this research dialogue and its results have not significantly influenced science education policy and practice.
From page 212...
... We begin in Chapter 8 with a proposal for reorganizing the K-8 science curriculum in a way that is more aligned with current understanding of children's learning in science. The hallmark of this approach is the investigation of a smaller set of core ideas and practices in science over an extended period of time.
From page 213...
... Reaching the hypo thetical steps described in the progressions is also dependent on teach ers' knowledge and the effectiveness of their instructional practices. • Learning progressions are a promising direction for organizing sci ence instruction and curricula across grades K-8.
From page 214...
... at the K-8 level: What might be the most important "core ideas" that both empower students to understand the distinctive value of science and prepare them for further learning in science? Another challenge is to understand the pathways -- or learning progressions -- by which children can bridge their starting point and the desired end point.
From page 215...
... were practiced in the early elementary grades, with more advanced skills (e.g., formulating hypotheses, controlling variables, interpreting data) introduced only in the upper elementary and middle school grades, and many other important sensemaking practices of science (practices involving modeling, representation, discourse, and argumentation)
From page 216...
... First, they con tain too many topics without providing guidance about which topics may be most central or important. National standards such as the National Science Education Standards (NSES)
From page 217...
... comparison of U.S. science curriculum with the 10 countries performing best on the tests of science achievement in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study provide further support for the AAAS conclusions, as well as the results of these curricular
From page 218...
... science curriculum to build connec tions between the abundant knowledge pieces presented in the curriculum and the resultant epistemic messages this conveys about the structure of the discipline (pp.
From page 219...
... . Thus, our ideas about longer term learning progressions are conjectural -- ideas about how understanding could be developed given sustained and appropriate instructional practices -- while at the same time based on research syntheses and open to empirical investigation in future research.
From page 220...
... Ultimately, well tested ideas about learning progressions could provide much needed guid ance for both the design of instructional sequences and large-scale and classroom-based assessments. Key Characteristics The learning progression approach has four characteristics that are mostly absent from accounts of domain-general developmental sequences and cur rent standards documents.
From page 221...
... and always involve students with meaningful questions and investigations of the natural world. • Organization of conceptual knowledge around core ideas: Learning progressions recognize that the first strand of scientific proficiency (understanding and using scientific explanations)
From page 222...
... The various approaches to describ ing core ideas and strands in children's reasoning discussed in this book represent various compromises that emphasize some aspects of the organi zation of their reasoning while obscuring others. In addition to describing children's knowledge and practice at a given age, learning progressions aspire to describe how that knowledge and prac tice could change over time, with successive understandings representing an achievable advance from earlier ones.
From page 223...
... design efforts. First, the learning progressions were organized around big ideas of disciplinary importance -- major theoretical frameworks in modern science -- rather than very abstract or domain-general core ideas, such as systems, interactions, model, and measurement, that are considered important cross-cutting themes in the science standards documents.
From page 224...
... . In the case of the atomic-molecular theory, although the very notions of atoms, molecules, chemical substance, and chemical and physical change are complex emergent ideas, even children entering school make a distinc tion between objects and the materials they are made of, are elaborating on their knowledge of the properties of objects and materials, and thus have resources for beginning to explain why objects have the characteristics they do and for beginning to track some underlying constancies and changes in objects and materials across various transformations (e.g., dividing into pieces, reshaping)
From page 225...
... We present one example in greater detail here -- work on a learning progression for matter and atomic-molecular theory -- because of the somewhat larger research base in this area for K-8 students and to illustrate what such an approach might look like and how it is different from current practice. Also, this example shows how core ideas permit crossdomain integration (in this case, spanning domains as different as the physi
From page 226...
... . Currently, other design teams are working on learning progressions for other core ideas (genetics, matter cycling)
From page 227...
... . At the same time, the proposed learning progression acknowledges the extensive research that shows young children's initial conceptual knowledge of materials, of physical quantities such as weight and volume, and of the knowledge construction practices of science are still quite limited.
From page 228...
... . Related to this, their knowledge construction and evaluation practices are based on casual everyday observations using their commonsense impressions, not on careful measurement, modeling, and extended argument.
From page 229...
... goal identified for this period is to extend children's descriptions beyond commonsense perceptions -- especially for important physical magnitudes like weight and volume -- by engaging them with the problem of constructing measures for a variety of quantities so that they can develop an explicit theory of measure that underlies the practice of measurement. Measurement is an important scientific practice that contrasts with everyday practice and grows out of concern with having data that can be described in precise objectively reproducible (or verifiable)
From page 230...
... Thus, the proposed learning progression builds on the research of Lehrer, Schauble, and their colleagues who have investigated instructional sequences for building an understanding of the measurement of important physical quantities. In their work, learning to measure length and area provides an important foundation that aids in children's later construction of measures of volume and weight.
From page 231...
... reasons, engaging K-2 children with these epistemological issues is made central to the proposed learning progression. Because the measurement of weight and volume is more complex, students should not work on measuring those quantities (quantitatively)
From page 232...
... Finally, students are often simply introduced to stan dard measurement procedures, without engaging them in trying to under stand the underlying logic of those procedures. In contrast, the proposed learning progression outlines a set of concep tual goals that can be investigated in a more sustained, mutually reinforcing manner, based on a principled interpretation of research on children's inter pretations of matter and materials.
From page 233...
... . Some core ideas important to develop at this age band include understanding that: • Objects are made of matter that takes up space and has weight.
From page 234...
... In fact, elementary schoolchildren often fail to include many instances as matter that clearly have weight (e.g., liquids or biological entities such as a flower, dog, or meat) as well as overextend to include entities that are associated with matter but are not matter itself (e.g., fire, electricity)
From page 235...
... Given the importance of these understandings for further scientific investigations, as well as the evidence that elementary schoolchildren are very capable of developing them with appropriate instruction, it seems critical to make it a goal for curricula at this time. One set of practices that will support their reconceptualization of weight and taking up space is learning to measure weight and volume, especially if children engage with learning to measure as a form of modeling and explicitly confront key epistemological issues.
From page 236...
... (2001) had fifth grade students construct graphical repre sentations of measured weights and volumes of objects made of different materials, interpolate a "best fit" line, and interpret the slope of the line; these investigations built on prior mathematical investigations in which stu dents investigated similarity of form in families of rectangles of different
From page 237...
... Indeed, their work has documented sophisticated model-based reasoning in a variety of domains (e.g., modeling the growth of plants, the workings of an elbow) among third to fifth grade elementary school students who have had prior experience with modeling (Lehrer and Schauble, 2000)
From page 238...
... , rather than pursue topics or investigations that mutually reinforce each other. In contrast, the proposed learning progression suggests ways that chil dren can continue to develop the conceptual and procedural knowledge that will enable them to reason flexibly about matter.
From page 239...
... Thus the strands of scientific proficiency can be used in conjunction with the research to develop understandings in upper elementary school students that build on their learning in grades K-2 and that lay the foundations for reasoning about matter using atomic-molecular models in middle school. Grades 6-8 Developing an Initial Understanding of the Atomic-Molecular Theory Children's macroscopic understandings of matter (now grounded in a well-articulated set of measurable quantities)
From page 240...
... For starters, however, consider one phenomenon that research has shown to be especially intriguing and puzzling for middle school students and how it can be used to invite initial debate and discussion about whether matter is fundamentally particulate or continuous (Snir, Smith, and Raz, 2003)
From page 241...
... . Of course, these investigations bear on students' emerging ideas about the nature of matter only if they understand that gases are material, something the proposed learning progression recommends that students begin to investigate at the previous age band.
From page 242...
... . Still other phenomena that have been effectively used to initiate discus sions of the particulate nature of matter with middle school students concern
From page 243...
... . Based on the findings of this research, the learning progression proposes that during this age band, students can be meaningfully introduced to the following core tenets of atomic molecular theory: (a)
From page 244...
... In an important sense, without constructing an understanding of those epis temological standards, students will not know the grounds on which they should believe important scientific theories. In contrast, the proposed learning progression outlines a set of concep tual goals that can be investigated in a more sustained, mutually reinforcing manner, based on a principled interpretation of research on children's inter pretations of matter and materials.
From page 245...
... is not because of simple, direct percep tual evidence for such a theoretical analysis; rather it is because of the theory's tremendous explanatory power and scope and detailed experimental support. Thus the strands of scientific proficiency can be used in conjunction with the research to develop understandings in middle school students that build on their learning in elementary school and that lay the foundations for reasoning about matter using atomic-molecular models in many different contexts in the life, earth, and physical sciences.
From page 246...
... This learning progression suggests sev eral ways in which current curricula and standards are problematic and
From page 247...
... Undertaking the intellectual task of thinking through detailed learning progressions for different end-state core ideas, however, might be one step in thinking through possible advantages and disadvantages of different approaches. In addition, even if we agree on focal core ideas that are the target of instruction and a learning progression that connects the two end points, it would not fully prescribe the instructional sequence.
From page 248...
... . How well do middle school science programs measure up?
From page 249...
... National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
From page 250...
... . Implications of research on children's learning for standards and assessment: A proposed learning pro gression for matter and atomic molecular theory.


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