Is Hands-On Inquiry Science Any Good? A Comparison of Student Learning in Hands-On and Textbook-Based Elementary Science Classes

实践探究科学有好处吗？

• 批准号: 9980494
• 负责人: Pamela Aschbacher
• 金额: $ 99.65万
• 依托单位: California Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-01-01 至 2004-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9980494&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Hands; Inquiry; Science; Any; Good

This study is a three year effort to examine what students learn in two different kinds of elementary science classrooms: traditional expository, text-oriented instruction compared with hands-on, inquiry-oriented instruction. The latter describes an approach to learning in which students acquire knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas as well as first hand experiential understanding of how scientists study the natural world. The emphasis is on learning by doing and discussing, and the priority is on scientific thinking skills and conceptual understanding. In a second phase, the study examines the teaching associated with high- and low-achieving classrooms for each of the two instructional conditions. Millions of dollars have gone into supporting hands-on inquiry science reforms over the past several decades. These large-scale efforts, particularly important for less affluent students across the country, are vulnerable however, for they are viewed by some as too expensive or too demanding of teachers. Furthermore, there is little evidence of the relative merits of the two approaches. The nationwide emphasis on accountability, with an intense focus on literacy and math and a bias towards easily tested factual knowledge, pressures schools away from hands-on inquiry science. This study will contribute substantially to our knowledge base on the relationship between elemetary science instruction and student learning, with important implications for practitioners, policy makers and the public.This study compares 5th grade students' learning in two instructional conditions, with 20 classes in each condition matched for key characteristics. In addition, the study explores connections between student performance and instruction, utilizing data from teacher surveys, interviews, assignments, and classroom observations. Student achievement is assessed with an array of measures, including standardized tests of language arts and math; standardized science knowledge items and a performance task from NAEP or TIMSS; other short science performance tasks; and extended science investigation tasks developed and validated for this research. The study will address long-term, important outcomes such as those called for in Project 2061: deep conceptual understanding, persistence at difficult problems, retention of important knowledge over time, and transfer of investigation strategies to challenging novel situations.

本研究是一项为期三年的研究，旨在考察学生在两种不同类型的小学科学课堂中学习的情况：传统的以文本为导向的教学与动手探究为导向的教学。后者描述了一种学习方法，让学生获得科学思想的知识和理解，以及科学家如何研究自然世界的第一手经验。重点是在做和讨论中学习，优先考虑科学思维能力和概念理解。在第二阶段，研究探讨了教学与高，低实现教室的两个教学条件。 在过去的几十年里，数百万美元已经投入到支持动手调查科学改革中。然而，这些大规模的努力，对全国各地不太富裕的学生特别重要，是脆弱的，因为它们被一些人认为过于昂贵或对教师要求过高。此外，几乎没有证据表明这两种方法的相对优点。全国范围内对问责制的强调，对识字和数学的强烈关注以及对容易测试的事实知识的偏见，迫使学校远离动手探究科学。本研究将大大有助于我们的知识基础之间的关系，小学科学教学和学生的学习，具有重要意义的从业者，政策制定者和公众。本研究比较了五年级学生的学习在两种教学条件下，在每个条件下匹配的关键特征20班。此外，本研究利用教师调查、访谈、作业和课堂观察的数据，探讨了学生表现与教学之间的联系。学生成绩评估与一系列的措施，包括语言艺术和数学的标准化测试;标准化的科学知识项目和NAEP或TIMSS的性能任务;其他短期的科学性能任务;和扩展的科学调查任务开发和验证本研究。该研究将解决长期的，重要的成果，如项目2061中所要求的：深入的概念理解，在困难的问题上的持久性，随着时间的推移保留重要的知识，并将调查策略转移到具有挑战性的新情况。