Collaborative Research: Promoting Children's Learning About Biological Variability by Leveraging Simple Card Games

合作研究：利用简单的纸牌游戏促进儿童了解生物变异性

• 批准号: 2300605
• 负责人: Benjamin Jee
• 金额: $ 14.69万
• 依托单位: Worcester State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-15 至 2027-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300605&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Promoting; Children; Learning; Collaborative; Research; Promoting; Children; Learning

Biodiversity is fundamental to understanding the way biologists study nature. There is much more variability within species than people recognize, and it is this variability that fuels development and change of species in contexts of survival and reproduction. It is important that young children understand this foundational idea. This project will test an innovative approach to promoting comparisons relevant to understanding biological variability. This approach involves modifying two popular games, War and Uno, by incorporating cards that depict organisms at different stages of development (e.g., insect egg, larva, pupa, and adult). In playing these games, players engage in comparisons relevant to understanding biodiversity, such as comparing different life stages for a single species, or comparing similar stages for different species. The research investigates caregiver-child interactions and comparisons during game play and examines how game play affects children's learning about biological variability. The research involves lab-based studies with 2nd- and 5th-grade children playing LifeCycles (modified War) and CyClo (modified Uno) and is conducting parallel studies in museums, in order to examine caregiver-child interaction and learning in both controlled and authentic settings. The team will design and pilot a museum exhibit prototype that incorporates the games and the lessons learned through the research. The results will build understanding about how foundational knowledge about diversity in biology can help young students be ready for subsequent biology education. In the elementary grades, children are expected to learn about biodiversity, including within-species variability. Understanding biodiversity involves relational reasoning: discerning relevant relationships within and among biological kinds. These relationships are salient when children compare examples within or between biological categories. However, comparison is cognitively demanding, and educational materials often lack adequate support for comparison. This project tests an innovative approach to promoting relational reasoning by incorporating cards in modified versions of Uno and War that depict organisms at different stages of development (e.g., insect egg, larva, pupa, and adult). This research is conducting lab-based studies with 2nd- and 5th-grade children playing these two card games (n=150) and is testing the effects of systematically varying the number and similarity of the exemplars in the games. The research also is testing the effectiveness of providing caregivers with support for scaffolding children's relational thinking. Parallel studies in museums are examining caregiver-child interaction in game play in authentic settings. Finally, the team will design and pilot test a museum exhibit prototype that incorporates the games and the lessons learned through the research.This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.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.

生物多样性是了解生物学家研究自然的方式的基础。物种内部的可变性比人们所认识的要多得多，正是这种可变性使物种在生存和繁殖的背景下的发展和变化。重要的是要了解这一基本思想，这一点很重要。该项目将测试一种创新的方法，以促进与了解生物学变异性相关的比较。这种方法涉及通过在不同开发阶段描绘有机体（例如昆虫鸡蛋，幼虫，pupa和成人）来修改两个流行游戏，即战争和UNO。在玩这些游戏时，玩家进行了与了解生物多样性有关的比较，例如比较单个物种的不同生活阶段，或比较不同物种的相似阶段。该研究调查了在游戏过程中调查护理人员 - 孩子的互动和比较，并研究游戏如何影响儿童对生物学变异性的学习。这项研究涉及基于实验室的研究，与二年级和5年级儿童一起玩生命周期（修改后的战争）和Cyclo（修改后的UNO），并正在博物馆进行平行研究，以便检查受控和真实环境中的护理人员 - 孩子的互动和学习。该团队将设计和试行博物馆展览的原型，其中结合了游戏和通过研究中学到的教训。结果将建立人们对生物学多样性的基础知识如何帮助年轻学生为后续生物学教育做准备的理解。在小学中，期望儿童了解生物多样性，包括种植内部的变异性。理解生物多样性涉及关系推理：辨别生物内部和生物学之间的相关关系。当孩子比较生物学类别之间或之间的例子时，这些关系是显着的。但是，比较是认知要求的，并且教育材料通常缺乏足够的比较支持。该项目通过将卡片纳入UNO和WAR的修改版本中，以促进关系推理的创新方法来促进关系推理，该版本描绘了不同开发阶段的生物（例如，昆虫鸡蛋，幼虫，pupa和成人）。这项研究是针对二年级和5年级的孩子进行这两张纸牌游戏（n = 150）的基于实验室的研究，并正在测试游戏中示例的数量和相似性的效果。该研究还在测试为护理人员提供支持儿童关系思维的有效性。博物馆中的并行研究正在研究真正的环境中的游戏玩法中的照顾者与孩子的互动。最后，团队将设计和试点测试博物馆展出的原型，该原型结合了游戏和通过研究中学到的教训。该项目得到了NSF的EDU Core Research（ECR）计划的支持。 ECR计划强调了基本的STEM教育研究，该研究在该领域产生了基础知识。投资是在重要的，广泛和持久的关键领域进行的：STEM学习和STEM学习环境，扩大了STEM的参与以及STEM劳动力的发展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响来通过评估来支持的。