Developing, Testing, and Disseminating Reasoning Chain Construction Tools for Introductory Physics and Chemistry Courses

开发、测试和传播物理和化学入门课程的推理链构建工具

• 批准号: 2142416
• 负责人: MacKenzie Stetzer
• 金额: $ 81.03万
• 依托单位: University of Maine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-11-01 至 2027-10-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2142416&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Developing; Testing; Disseminating; Reasoning; Chain

This project seeks to serve the national interest by developing tools to better understand and improve college students’ reasoning skills in the context of chemistry and physics courses. Despite decades of work aimed at improving students’ science learning by developing and implementing research-based instructional materials, emerging evidence suggests that students who demonstrate correct conceptual understanding and reasoning on one task often fail to reason productively on analogous tasks that require the same knowledge and skills. The persistence of such reasoning difficulties after instruction is concerning since the development of reasoning skills is possibly one of the most important outcomes of college instruction in the physical sciences. However, many existing research-based assessments for physics and chemistry do not provide sufficient insight into student reasoning approaches because they were not designed to disentangle reasoning from conceptual understanding. This project seeks to address this challenge by developing and disseminating online reasoning chain construction assessment (ORCCA) tools and instructor guides designed to be incorporated into college-level physics and chemistry courses. The project team will also use the assessment tools developed to conduct research to better understand student reasoning about chemistry and physics.In this project, a research team from four institutions (North Dakota State University, University of Maine, Penn State University - Greater Allegheny, and University of North Florida) will examine and seek to improve student reasoning by developing online reasoning chain construction assessment (ORCCA) tools for physics and chemistry courses. Drawing upon dual-process theories of reasoning, researchers have found that reasoning inconsistencies often stem from the interplay between human reasoning tendencies and relevant discipline-specific knowledge and skills. Online reasoning chain construction assessment tools present students with reasoning elements, i.e., statements about the physical situation as well as related concepts and mathematical relationships, and prompt the students to assemble them into an argument to answer a target question that often elicits incorrect intuitive responses. This project will focus on introductory physics, general chemistry, and organic chemistry courses, and will: (1) develop, refine, and disseminate ORCCA tools; (2) develop, refine, and disseminate screening-target question pairs that provide measures of both disciplinary knowledge and the reasoning skills necessary to apply that knowledge consistently; (3) generate cross-disciplinary knowledge about student reasoning; and (4) develop instructor guides for the use of ORCCA tools and screening-target pairs for both assessment and instruction. The project will employ a mixed-methods sequential exploratory design, leveraging both qualitative and quantitative analyses, and will draw upon a variety of experimental techniques and frameworks from cognitive science. Dissemination will include publications of results in scientific journals, workshops at national meetings, online access to assessment tools and instructor resources, and individualized support for pilot sites in implementing ORCCAs. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目旨在通过开发工具来更好地理解和提高大学生在化学和物理课程的背景下的工具来服务国家利益。尽管数十年的工作旨在通过开发和实施基于研究的教学材料来改善学生的科学学习，但新兴的证据表明，对一项任务表现出正确的概念理解和推理的学生通常无法在需要相同知识和技能的类似任务上有效地推理。涉及指导后这种推理困难的持久性，因为推理技能的发展可能是体育科学中大学教学最重要的结果之一。但是，许多现有的基于研究的物理和化学评估没有提供对学生推理方法的充分洞察力，因为它们并非旨在将推理与概念理解相关。该项目旨在通过开发和传播在线推理链构建评估（ORCCA）工具和讲师指南来应对这一挑战，旨在将其纳入大学水平的物理和化学课程。项目团队还将使用开发的评估工具来更好地了解有关化学和物理学的学生推理。在这个项目中，来自四个机构（北达科他州立大学，缅因州大学，宾夕法尼亚州立大学 - 大阿勒格尼和北佛罗里达大学）的研究团队将研究并寻求通过在线推理链构建评估（ORCCA）的工具来研究并寻求改善学生的推理。研究人员借鉴了推理的双重过程理论，发现推理不一致通常源于人类推理趋势与相关学科特定的知识和技能之间的相互作用。在线推理链构建评估工具为学生提供了推理元素，即有关身体状况以及相关概念和数学关系的陈述，并促使学生将他们组装成一个论点，以回答通常引起直觉反应不正确的目标问题。该项目将重点介绍物理，通用化学和有机化学课程，并将：（1）开发，完善和传播ORCCA工具； （2）开发，完善和传播筛选目标问题对，以始终应用这些知识的纪律知识和所必需的推理技能，以始终如一地应用这些知识； （3）产生有关学生推理的跨学科知识； （4）开发指导指南，用于使用ORCCA工具和筛选目标对，以进行评估和说明。该项目将采用混合方法的顺序探索设计，利用定性和定量分析，并利用认知科学的各种实验技术和框架。传播将包括科学期刊上的结果，在全国会议上的研讨会，在线访问评估工具和讲师资源的访问以及对实施ORCCA的试点网站的个性化支持。 NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习轨道，该计划支持了承诺实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估审查标准，被认为是珍贵的支持。