The mediation of effects of family socio-economic status on fourth- and sixth-graders' science achievement by individual cognitive and motivational propensities

Im internationalen Vergleich ist die Kopplung zwischen sozialer Herkunft und Kompetenzerwerb in den Naturwissenschaften in Deutschland stark ausgeprägt. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurde anhand einer Stichprobe von 60 Grundschul-, 28 Hauptschul- und 26 Gymnasialklassen der vierten und sechsten Jahrgangstufe mit insgesamt 2680 Schüler/innen überprüft, inwieweit die potentiellen Mediatoren Intelligenz, Vorwissen, Selbstkonzept und Interesse den Einfluss der sozialen Herkunft auf post-instruktionales naturwissenschaftliches Wissen vermitteln. In den Klassen wurde hierfür eine Unterrichtsreihe zum Thema Verdunstung und Kondensation durchgeführt. Der größte Teil des Effektes der sozialen Herkunft wurde über das themenspezifische Vorwissen vermittelt. In geringen Maß fungierte darüber hinaus in der Grundschule das Selbstkonzept als Mediator. Das Interesse an Naturwissenschaften und die fluide Intelligenz trugen nicht eigenständig zur Mediation von Effekten der sozialen Herkunft auf post-instruktionales Wissen bei.In international comparison, in Germany the association between social background and acquisition of competence in science is strong. In this context, a sample of 60 elementary, 28 vocational track, and 26 academic track school classrooms of fourth and sixth grade with a total of 2680 students was inspected to explore to what extent the propensities of intelligence, prior knowledge, self-concept, and interest mediate the effect of social background on post-instructional science achievement. For this purpose, the classrooms were presented with an instructional sequence on the topic of evaporation and condensation. The major portion of the effect of social background was mediated by topic-specific prior knowledge. Additionally, self-concept functioned to a small degree as mediator within elementary school classrooms. Interest in science and fluid intelligence did not contribute in their own right to the mediation of the effect of social background on post-instructional science achievement

Biologie lernen durch Concept Mapping: Bedeutung eines Lernstrategietrainings für kognitive Belastung, kognitive Prozesse und Lernleistung – Kurzdarstellung des DFG–Projekts

ZUSAMMENFASSUNGDie Beschäftigung mit Biologie erfordert ein Denken in Zusammenhängen. Concept Maps veranschaulichen Zusammenhänge durch Begriffe, die durch beschriftete Pfeile semantisch sinnvoll verbunden sind. Traditionell wird davon ausgegangen, dass die Anfertigung von Concept Maps (sog. Concept Mapping) deshalb lernwirksam ist, weil mit ihr anspruchsvolle kognitive Prozesse der Organisation und Elaboration einhergehen. In jüngster Zeit wurde diese etablierte Vorstellung erschüttert, indem vor allem der Abruf von Informationen aus dem Langzeitgedächtnis für die Lernwirksamkeit des Concept Mapping verantwortlich gemacht wurde. Moniert werden kann, dass in den zugrundeliegenden Studien ausschließlich Lernmaterialien geringen Umfangs verwendet und Concept Mapping nicht trainiert wurde. Das geplante Projekt zielt darauf ab, die berichteten Befunde vor dem Hintergrund dieser beiden Monita kritisch zu prüfen. Aus einer biologiedidaktischen Perspektive dient es der evidenzbasierten Entwicklung eines wirksamen Concept Mapping-Trainings. Aus Perspektive der psychologischen Grundlagenforschung gewährt es Einblick in die kognitiven Prozesse, die die Lernwirksamkeit des Concept Mapping bedingen.ABSTRACTLearning biology is characterized by thinking about interrelationships. Concept maps represent interrelationships through concepts connected to each other with labelledarrows. Traditionally, researchers assume that the construction of concept maps (so-called concept mapping) fosters learning by initiating organization and elaboration as complex cognitive processes. Recently, the cognitive basis of the learning efficacy of concept mapping has been questioned as some researchers reasoned that retrieval of information from long-term memory underlies the efficacy of concept mapping. We criticize that the texts to be learned in these studies were comparatively short. Moreover, participants had not been specifically trained in using concept mapping. Our project aims at examining the robustness of the findings reported above. With regard to biology education, we will devise an effective and evidence-based training in concept mapping. From a psychological perspective, the findings will give insight into the cognitive processes that underlie the efficacy of concept mapping as a learning strategy

Die forschungsgeleitete Entwicklung von Unterrichtsmaterialien für die frühe naturwissenschaftliche Bildung

Am Beispiel einer Lernumgebung zum Thema des Schwimmens und Sinkens von Festkörpern für die frühe naturwissenschaftliche Bildung wird im vorliegenden Beitrag das Potenzial einer forschungsgeleiteten Konstruktion von Unterrichtsmaterialien bezüglich einer nachhaltigen Unterrichtsentwicklung herausgearbeitet. Schrittweise, inspiriert durch unterschiedliche Forschungsarbeiten, wurden sowohl Experimentiermaterialien für Lernende als auch zugehörige Handreichungen für Lehrpersonen als komplementäre Teile dieser Lernumgebung erstellt. Empirische Befunde belegen die grundsätzliche Wirksamkeit der Unterrichtsmaterialien, weisen auf die Bedeutung begleitender Fortbildungen hin und zeigen die den Materialien quasi inhärente Eigenschaft zur Verbreitung in die Unterrichtspraxis.This contribution draws on the example of a learning environment based on the topic of the swimming and sinking of solids for early science education, to indicate the potential of the research-guided design of educational materials with regard to sustainable teaching development. In a gradual process, inspired by various forms of research, both experimental materials for students as well as related handouts for teachers, complementary to the learning environment, were created.. Empirical findings confirm the fundamental effectiveness of the teaching materials, pointing to the importance of Continual Professional Development (CPD) whilst indicating the quasi-inherent property of teaching materials for distribution in teaching practice

EvoSketch: Simple simulations for learning random and probabilistic processes in evolution, and effects of instructional support on learners’ conceptual knowledge

BACKGROUND: Students’ knowledge of scientific principles of evolution is often inadequate, despite its recognized importance for understanding biology. Moreover, difficulties associated with underlying abstract concepts such as randomness and probability can hinder successful learning of evolutionary concepts. Studies show that visualizations, particularly simulations together with appropriate instructional support, facilitate the learning of abstract concepts. Therefore, we have developed interactive, web-based simulation software called EvoSketch in efforts to help learners grasp the nature and importance of random and probabilistic processes in evolutionary contexts. We applied EvoSketch in an intervention study comparing four self-directed study conditions: learning with EvoSketch (1) alone, (2) combined with interpretative support, (3) combined with reflective support, and (4) using texts about randomness and probability instead of EvoSketch. All conditions received no support from any instructors. Knowledge about evolution as well as randomness and probability in the context of evolution, time-on-task, and perceived cognitive load were measured. A sample of 269 German secondary school students (Mage = 15.6 years, SD = 0.6 years) participated in the study. RESULTS: Learners using EvoSketch without additional support obtained higher follow-up test scores regarding their knowledge of randomness and probability than those using the text-based approach. However, use of the simulations together with given instructional support (interpretative or reflective) did not increase students’ performance, relative to the text-based approach. In addition, no significant between-intervention differences were found concerning the knowledge of evolution, while significant differences between the groups were detected concerning students’ perceived cognitive load and time-on-task. CONCLUSIONS: From our findings, we conclude that EvoSketch seems to have a very small positive effect on students’ understanding of randomness and probability. Contrary to our expectations, additional self-directed instructional support did not improve students’ understanding, probably because it was not necessary to understand EvoSketch simulations. When using EvoSketch in the classroom, we recommend increasing the intervention timeframe to several sessions and a variety of evolutionary examples for which EvoSketch serves as an underlying framework

Effects of instruction on pedagogical content knowledge about fractions in sixth-grade mathematics on content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge

German pre-service teacher education aims to foster the concurrent formation of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge. Accordingly, the coordination, sequencing, and prioritization of learning opportunities for the three areas of professional knowledge represent vital issues of the organization of teacher education at German universities. In this context, reanalyzing selected data of a previous experiment, we examined effects of instruction on pedagogical content knowledge about fractions in sixth-grade mathematics on the formation of corresponding content knowledge and generic pedagogical knowledge. Totaling 59 pre-service elementary school teachers, three groups had received seven hours of intervention on either content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, or pedagogical content knowledge. Analyses of video recordings, ratings of treatment quality, and tests of professional knowledge revealed strong internal validity of the data. We found small effects of instruction on pedagogical content knowledge on the formation of both content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. However, contrary to our expectations, effects on pedagogical knowledge were more consistent and statistically robust than effects on content knowledge. For the development of pedagogical knowledge in teacher education, this finding highlights the potential of parallel or integrated coursework, in which pre-service teachers use specific instructional strategies and student conceptions as examples to derive generic principles of teaching and learning.status: Published onlin

Instruction and students' declining interest in science: an analysis of German fourth- and sixth-grade classrooms

Students’ interest in science declines substantially in the transition from elementary to secondary education. Using students’ ratings of their instruction on the topic of evaporation and condensation, we examined if changes in instructional practices accounted for differences in situational interest in science instruction and enduring individual interest in science between elementary and secondary school classrooms. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted for a sample of 60 fourth- and 54 sixth-grade classrooms. The use of student experiments, the elicitation of student explanations, and lack of clarity accounted to varying degrees for disparities in science interest between grade levels. The impact of instructional practices on individual interest was mediated by situational interest. This corroborated predictions of the person-object theory of interest. </jats:p