Stakeholder responses to core aspects of integrated STEM education: Instrument development and pilot study

The present paper reports on work undertaken within the frame of the STE(A)M IT project on integrated STEM education (Erasmus + program; Grant agreement 612845-EPP-1-2019-1- BE-EPPKA3-PI-FORWARD). We will focus on a comprehensive review of grey and scientific literature published on integrated STEM and how this background desk research informed the development of an instrument designed to elicit stakeholder responses to core aspects of integrated STEM education. We have pilot tested the instrument to assess the validity and reliability of the scales it includes and we present the results of this pilot study together with some implications for educational policy and stakeholder involvement

Examining the added value of the use of an experiment design tool among secondary students when experimenting with a virtual lab

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How many words are enough? Investigating the effect of different configurations of a software scaffold for formulating scientific hypotheses in inquiry-oriented contexts

We extended research on scaffolds for formulating scientific hypotheses, namely the Hypothesis Scratchpad (HS), in the domain of relative density. The sample comprised of secondary school students who used three different configurations of the HS: Fully structured, containing all words needed to formulate a hypothesis in the domain of the study; partially structured, containing some words; unstructured, containing no words. We used a design with two different measures of student ability to formulate hypotheses (targeted skill): A global, domain-independent measure, and a domain-specific measure. Students used the HS in an intervention context, and then, in a novel context, addressing a transfer task. The fully and partially structured versions of the HS improved the global measure of the targeted skill, while the unstructured version, and to a lesser extent, the partially structured version, favored student performance as assessed by the domain-specific measure. The partially structured solution revealed strengths for both measures of the targeted skill (global and domain-specific), which may be attributed to its resemblance to completion problems (partially worked examples). The unstructured version of the HS seems to have promoted schema construction for students who revealed an improvement of advanced cognitive processes (thinking critically and creatively). We suggest that a comprehensive assessment of scaffolding student work when formulating hypotheses should incorporate both global and domain-specific measures and it should also involve transfer tasks

Inquiry-based learning and retrospective action: Problematizing student work in a computer-supported learning environment

We examined student performance in a computer-supported learning environment after students undertook, among others, a graphing task within an inquiry context. Students were assigned in two conditions: (a) Students were given one variable, and they had to select the second one to construct their graph; (b) students were given four variables, and they had to select two to construct their graph. Both conditions problematized student work by triggering retrospective action, where students returned to previous stages of the learning activity sequence. Retrospective action correlated positively to knowledge gains in Condition 2, where students were more likely to revisit earlier stages of their inquiry. Time-on-task, when students passed through learning tasks for the first time, correlated negatively with retrospective action (second pass), which indicated that there was a minimum amount of time needed to effectively execute tasks. Trade-offs between time-on-task (first pass) and retrospective action demarcate a novel field of research

Providing guidance in virtual lab experimentation: the case of an experiment design tool

The present study employed a quasi-experimental design to assess a computer-based tool, which was intended to scaffold the task of designing experiments when using a virtual lab for the process of experimentation. In particular, we assessed the impact of this tool on primary school students’ cognitive processes and inquiry skills before and after the study’s treatment, using pre- and post-tests. Our research design involved a group of students who used the computer-based tool/scaffold to design the study’s experiments (experimental condition) and a group of students who used a paper-and-pencil worksheet as a scaffold to design the same experiments (control condition). The primary finding of the study was that the use of the computer-based experiment design tool had a more positive effect on students’ inquiry skills related to identifying variables and designing investigations than the paper-and-pencil one. This might be attributed to the functionalities provided only by the computer-based experiment design tool, which enabled students to focus their attention on crucial aspects of the task of designing experiments through (1) maintaining values for constant variables when planning experimental trials and (2) the provision of instant feedback when classifying variables into independent, dependent and controlled variables. Moreover, students in the two conditions displayed differing patterns of interactions among cognitive process and inquiry skills. Implications for designing and assessing similar computer-based scaffolds are discussed

Differenzierung beim Inquiry-based Learning im naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht : Ein Differenzierungstool für das Experimentieren im Sinne des Forschenden Lernens

Differenzierung ist ein wichtiges Unterrichtsprinzip. Konzepte zur Leistungsdifferenzierung existieren jedoch hauptsächlich für inhaltliche Kompetenzen, Lesen, Schreiben und mathematische Kompetenzen. Differenzierung in Bezug auf prozedurale Kompetenzen wie Hypothesen aufstellen, Experimente planen, Experimente durchführen und Schlussfolgerungen ziehen wurden bisher kaum entwickelt. Dabei kann eine Kombination von Diagnostik und Scaffolding die Differenzierung beim Vermitteln prozeduraler Kompetenzen sehr gut unterstützen. Im Buch wird für diesen Zweck ein Differenzierungstool für die Sekundarstufe zum Experimentieren im Sinne von Inquiry-based Learning (Forschendes Lernen) für die Fächer Biologie, Chemie und Physik vorgestellt und mit Beispielen und Unterrichtsmaterial veranschaulicht.nonPeerReviewe

Identifying potential types of guidance for supporting student inquiry when using virtual and remote labs in science: a literature review

The aim of this review is to identify specific types of guidance for supporting student use of online labs, that is, virtual and remote labs, in an inquiry context. To do so, we reviewed the literature on providing guidance within computer supported inquiry learning (CoSIL) environments in science education and classified all identified guidance according to a recent taxonomy of types of guidance. In addition, we classified the types of guidance in phases of inquiry. Moreover, we examined whether the types of guidance identified for each inquiry phase were found to be effective in promoting student learning, as documented in the CoSIL research. This review identifies what types of effective guidance currently exist and can be applied in developing future CoSIL environments, especially CoSIL environments with online labs. It also highlights the needs/shortcomings of these available types of guidance. Such information is crucial for the design and development of future CoSIL environments with online lab

Preliminary Go-Lab requirements specifications, needs analysis, and creative options

This deliverable D3.1 consists of two major parts: Part 1 reports on the design, implementation and findings of the Go-Lab Teacher and Student surveys that aimed to understand the current IT usage habit of the teachers and students as well as their experiences with online labs. Each of these two multilingual web-based surveys had more than 300 responses. Overall, the participating teachers and students had positive attitudes towards online labs. Nevertheless, efforts are needed to address the difficulties identified by the respondents, especially the availability and accessibility of online labs. Part 2 covers two major types of participatory activity conducted in Go-Lab: Visionary Workshop (VW) and Participatory Design (PD) workshop. VWs aim to collect from a broad spectrum of stakeholders their future visions of using online labs in general and the Go-Lab Portal in particular for science education. PD workshops enable teachers and students with hands-on activities to share their feedback on the current design of the Go-Lab Portal. Methodologically, both VW and PD workshop are started off with an introduction to the vision and key concepts, especially the inquiry-learning cycle of Go-Lab. This basic understanding is crucial for the participants to discuss the related questions and provide feedback. A VW is followed by discussions to explore the future of science education, to develop scenarios of an online lab application and to identify key issues for the development of Go-Lab, and is ended with a survey. A PD workshop consists of a set of activities including mockups evaluation (computer-based using myBalsamiq and paper-based using the Layered Elaboration technique), selecting design options, focus groups and writing postcards. Altogether 25 VWs and 9 PD workshops have been conducted in nine and five European countries, respectively, from May to August 2013. They involved in total 728 participants, consisting of 685 teachers and 43 students from secondary and primary schools. Comprehensive empirical data have been gathered and analysed. Results thereof enable us to answer a set of pedagogical research questions (RQs) and to derive a list of requirements; both types of input are highly relevant to the design of the Go-Lab Portal. Specifically, the requirements are prioritised in terms of obligation, namely “must have”, “should have” and “nice to have”. They are also categorised with regard to their implications: general pedagogical requirements, general technical requirements, design of the existing mockups, and creation of new tools for the use of online labs. These empirical findings can inform the future work of the pedagogical team (WP1) and technical team of Go-Lab (WP4/WP5)

Go-Lab learning spaces specification

The current deliverable presents a set of initial specifications of the Go-Lab learning spaces, which is the interface that students see and use when learning with a Go-Lab online lab. These specifications are based on an overview of the literature on the use of cycles in inquiry learning and of the guidance that can be given to students involved in an inquiry process with online labs. The current deliverable is organized as follows: We start with summarizing the main learning goals for learning with laboratories. Then we summarize different inquiry cycles and synthesize a cycle that best fits the Go-Lab project. Next, a literature review of guidance for inquiry learning with online labs is given. We organize this guidance according to the types of support given and the different phases of the selected inquiry cycle. These inventories and choices then result in a set of specifications for the Go-Lab learning spaces and are illustrated with the three anchor labs we chose for the current phase of the project: Aquarium, Faulkes Telescopes, and HYPATIA. These specifications should be read in relation to the full versions of the mock-ups of the Go-Lab learning environments