Collaborative Research: Engaging students in discourse about criteria for judging scientific models

合作研究：让学生参与讨论科学模型的判断标准

• 批准号: 2300831
• 负责人: Ravit Golan Duncan
• 金额: $ 72.52万
• 依托单位: Rutgers University New Brunswick
• 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: 2023-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300831&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Engaging; students; discourse

The goal of this project is to study how secondary students come to understand better an underlying logic of natural sciences--the relation between construction of new ideas and critique of them. Science education has traditionally focused mostly on how students construct models of natural phenomena. However, critique is crucial for iterative refinement of models because in professional science, peer critique of explanatory models motivates and guides progress toward better understanding. This project engages students in this process and helps them understand the relation of critique to better explanations, by focusing students on the criteria by which critique and understanding develop together through classroom discussions. The team is developing a suite of teaching tools expanding upon the previously developed open source software, Modeling and Evidence Mapping Environment, which structures how students connect evidence directly to models they construct. The products of this project, which include enhanced software, curriculum, and assessments, are intended to increase capacity to engage young learners in ambitious science educational experiences that are consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards.The project focuses on three interlinked practices critical for successful reasoning with evidence about scientific models in science: engaging in peer critique of models, describing and justifying key epistemic considerations to guide model critique, and iteratively revising models towards greater accuracy by attending to peer critique. This project advances the existing Model and Evidence Mapping Environment software by adding a scaffolding suite to support student engagement in, and valuing of, this epistemic meta-level of community critique for improving the veracity and utility of models. A set of design experiments provide insights regarding teachers' effective scaffolding of activities and software features, and inform iterative design of instructional materials. The entire ensemble is tested in small and larger scale heterogeneous classroom settings in Indiana and New Jersey. Measured outcomes include student learning, based on interviews and written student artifacts, as well as examinations of classroom collaborative discourse. The project is yielding critical theoretical insights about learners' growth along these dimensions of understanding science, and practical materials and professional development to support it. 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. The project is also supported by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12), which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.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.

该项目的目标是研究中学生如何更好地理解自然科学的基本逻辑——新思想的构建与批判之间的关系。 传统上，科学教育主要关注学生如何构建自然现象的模型。然而，批评对于模型的迭代完善至关重要，因为在专业科学中，对解释性模型的同行批评可以激励和引导更好理解的进展。该项目让学生参与这一过程，并通过让学生关注通过课堂讨论共同发展批评和理解的标准，帮助他们理解批评与更好的解释之间的关系。该团队正在开发一套教学工具，在之前开发的开源软件“建模和证据映射环境”的基础上进行扩展，该软件构建了学生如何将证据直接与他们构建的模型联系起来。该项目的产品包括增强的软件、课程和评估，旨在提高能力，让年轻学习者参与符合下一代科学标准的雄心勃勃的科学教育体验。该项目重点关注对成功至关重要的三个相互关联的实践用科学中的科学模型的证据进行推理：参与模型的同行批评，描述和论证关键的认知考虑因素以指导模型批评，并通过参与同行批评迭代地修改模型以获得更高的准确性。该项目通过添加脚手架套件来改进现有的模型和证据映射环境软件，以支持学生参与和评估这种认知元级别的社区批评，从而提高模型的准确性和实用性。一组设计实验提供了有关教师有效搭建活动和软件功能的见解，并为教学材料的迭代设计提供信息。整个组合在印第安纳州和新泽西州的小型和大规​​模异构教室环境中进行了测试。衡量的结果包括基于访谈和书面学生工件的学生学习，以及课堂协作话语的检查。该项目正在就学习者在理解科学的这些维度上的成长提供重要的理论见解，并提供实用材料和专业发展来支持它。该项目得到了 NSF 的 EDU 核心研究 (ECR) 计划的支持。 ECR 项目强调基础 STEM 教育研究，产生该领域的基础知识。投资针对重要、广泛和持久的关键领域：STEM 学习和 STEM 学习环境、扩大 STEM 参与以及 STEM 劳动力发展。该项目还得到 Discovery Research preK-12 计划 (DRK-12) 的支持，该计划旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具。 DRK-12 计划中的项目建立在 STEM 教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议项目提供理论和实证依据。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，被认为值得支持以及更广泛的影响审查标准。