New measurement paradigms

This collection of New Measurement Paradigms papers represents a snapshot of the variety of measurement methods in use at the time of writing across several projects funded by the National Science Foundation (US) through its REESE and DR K–12 programs. All of the projects are developing and testing intelligent learning environments that seek to carefully measure and promote student learning, and the purpose of this collection of papers is to describe and illustrate the use of several measurement methods employed to achieve this. The papers are deliberately short because they are designed to introduce the methods in use and not to be a textbook chapter on each method. The New Measurement Paradigms collection is designed to serve as a reference point for researchers who are working in projects that are creating e-learning environments in which there is a need to make judgments about students’ levels of knowledge and skills, or for those interested in this but who have not yet delved into these methods

Progression in Multiple Representations:Supporting students' learning with multiple representations in a dynamic simulation-based learning environment

Relating multiple representations and translating between them is important to acquire deeper knowledge about a domain. To relate representations, learners have to mentally search for similarities and differences. To translate between representations, learners need to interpret the effects that changes in one representation have on corresponding representations. The question is how presenting representations may improve or hinder the processes of relation and translation. In this study we examined the effect of sequencing dynamic representations on learning outcomes. Two versions of the same simulation-based learning environment, that of the physics topic of moments, were compared: a learning environment providing the representations step-by-step (experimental condition) and a learning environment providing All representations at once (control condition). The subjects were 120 students from secondary vocational education (aged 15 to 21). Overall, we found the subjects learned from working in the learning environment; the post-test scores on the domain and understanding items were significantly better than the pre-test scores. This was true for both the subjects with and without prior knowledge on the domain. Moreover, the subjects with prior knowledge scored significantly better on both the pre-test and the post-test compared to the subjects without prior knowledge. Despite our expectations, no differences were found between the two experimental conditions. The subjects learned equally well regardless of the way in which the representations were presented. Also, the extent to which the subjects' experienced complexity of both the topic and the learning environment did not differ between the experimental conditions

The Impact of the Use of Science Notebooks in Conjunction with a Learning Progression-based Science Unit in an Urban Middle School

Learning progressions are the latest tool to understand the ways science learning occurs and they underlie the structure and framework of the Next Generation Science Standards.Prior research indicated a variety of ways to develop and validate learning progressions and learning progression’s general positive impact on students’ science learning. However, no study has explicitly employed science notebooks as the cornerstone to the development and/or validation processes. Therefore, the research question is: what is the impact on students’ science learning outcomes when a middle school science learning progression is developed and validated using science notebooks as part of an inquiry-based instructional intervention? A rock cycle learning progression based on the systems thinking hierarchy model was developed. Using a causal-comparative case study, the study validated the rock cycle learning progression by implementing a three-week instructional intervention with 22 rising 8thgrade students in an urban charter school. Data were Rock Cycle Assessment pretest and posttest scores, symbolic media, and reflective conclusions. Three important results emerged: a) a statistically non-significant relationship existed between posttest scores of the On-campus and Learning Progression groups, but there was a statistically significant relationship between posttest scores of the Off-campus and Learning Progression groups; b) intervention participants were partially able or unable to describe their science learning; and c) there was moderate to strong association between each symbolic media categorical descriptor and the inquiry phase in which it was produced. The results suggest that the phase-placement of symbolic media in science notebooks influences science learning outcomes

The relation between prior knowledge and students' collaborative discovery learning processes

In this study we investigate how prior knowledge influences knowledge development during collaborative discovery learning. Fifteen dyads of students (pre-university education, 15-16 years old) worked on a discovery learning task in the physics field of kinematics. The (face-to-face) communication between students was recorded and the interaction with the environment was logged. Based on students' individual judgments of the truth-value and testability of a series of domain-specific propositions, a detailed description of the knowledge configuration for each dyad was created before they entered the learning environment. Qualitative analyses of two dialogues illustrated that prior knowledge influences the discovery learning processes, and knowledge development in a pair of students. Assessments of student and dyad definitional (domain-specific) knowledge, generic (mathematical and graph) knowledge, and generic (discovery) skills were related to the students' dialogue in different discovery learning processes. Results show that a high level of definitional prior knowledge is positively related to the proportion of communication regarding the interpretation of results. Heterogeneity with respect to generic prior knowledge was positively related to the number of utterances made in the discovery process categories hypotheses generation and experimentation. Results of the qualitative analyses indicated that collaboration between extremely heterogeneous dyads is difficult when the high achiever is not willing to scaffold information and work in the low achiever's zone of proximal development

The nature of science as a foundation for fostering a better understanding of evolution

Misunderstandings of the nature of science (NOS) contribute greatly to resistance to evolutionary theory especially among non-scientific audiences. Here we delineate three extended instructional examples that make extensive use of NOS to establish a foundation upon which to more successfully introduce evolution. Specifically, these instructional examples enable students to consider evolutionary biology using NOS as a lens for interpretation of evolutionary concepts. We have further found, through our respective research efforts and instructional experiences, that a deep understanding of NOS helps students understand and accept the scientific validity of evolution and, conversely, that evolution provides an especially effective context for helping students and teachers to develop a deep understanding of the nature of science. Based on our research and instructional experiences, we introduce six key factors necessary for enhanced instructional success in teaching evolution. These factors are: (1) foster a deep understanding of NOS; (2) use NOS as a lens for evolution instruction; (3) explicitly compare evolution to alternative explanations; (4) focus on human evolution (where possible); (5) explicitly recognize the power of historical inference and (6) use active, social learning. Finally, we elaborate and ground these key factors in supporting literature