Problem Solving in Quantitative Science: Practical Instruction and Cognitive Models

首席调查员将进行一项研发项目，将过去的实验室研究转化为实际相关的指导。他们的目标是：(1)开发基于理论但实用的方法和材料，用于在基础物理原型领域教授有效的问题解决；(2)增加对学习此类问题解决所需的认知过程的理解；以及(3)为其他定量科学的问题解决教学设计制定基于研究的指导方针。这项工作将使用交互式教学方法来明确地教授解决问题的一般策略、组织良好的知识库以及应用该策略所需的决策和检查过程。教学方法、材料和基本的理论模型将通过一系列的教学实验不断改进，从小规模的研究延伸到课堂环境。在这些课程中，学生将被详细观察，数据分析(部分通过计算机模拟)以阐明潜在的学习困难，结果将被系统地用于修改教学方法。将制作原型教学材料，并向教师和其他研究人员提供。

The Principal Investigators will conduct an R and D project that will translate past laboratory studies into practically relevant instruction. Their goals are: (1) to develop theoretically based, but practically useful methods and materials for teaching effective problem solving in the prototype domain of basic physics; (2) to increase understanding of the cognitive processes needed to learn such problem solving; and (3) thus to develop research-based guidelines for designing problem-solving instruction in other quantitative sciences. The effort will use interactive instructional methods to teach explicitly a general problem-solving strategy, a well-organized knowledge base, and the decision and checking processes needed to apply the strategy. The instructional methods, materials, and underlying theoretical models will be cumulatively improved by a sequence of instructional experiments, extending from small-scale studies to classroom contexts. In these the students will be observed in detail, the data analyzed (partially by computer modeling) to elucidate underlying learning difficulties, and the results systematically used to revise the instructional approach. Prototype instructional materials will be produced and made available to teachers and other researchers.