The Development of Scientific Thinking and Conceptions of Science in College Science Students

大学理科学生科学思维和科学概念的发展该项目是一项为期三年的比较研究，对大学科学入门教学的一般(相对于特定领域)学生的结果进行比较，并将其与更传统的教学结果进行比较。评估将在一所大型州立大学、几所私立学院和几所专科学校进行。将采用丰富的多模式评估方法，包括以下部分：1.访谈学生以评估他们的科学认识论。将采用修改后的《科学的本质》访谈。对学生更高层次的科学探究和基本量化技能的在线作文式评估。在之前的研究中开发的两个新仪器将为这个项目进行组合和改进。在线学生调查，涵盖学生的人口统计、态度和动机。课堂观察，包括对教学方法和内容的详细编码。将采用先前研究中开发的观察性方案。5.教师面谈。这一方法将部署在三个相互关联的次级项目中。首先，将评估学生的结果，并将其与12门课程的教学实践和人口统计变量相关联，这些课程按事实分布在三种类型的机构、两个创新水平和两个学科领域(生物学和地球/环境科学)。该项目将为当今大学生的高级认知以及与各种教学实践相关的认知获得提供一幅丰富的图景。其次，在项目期间，将对12门课程的学生样本进行纵向跟踪。将评估在认知技能和认识论方面的早期成果的持久性和进一步发展。学生对专业领域的选择将被添加到该数据的人口统计分析中。该项目将提供关于当代大学生科学认识论和认知技能发展的丰富数据，并将对早期探索探究式教学会引发持续的认知和动机变化的假设进行评估。第三，将进行三项干预研究，研究人员与教职员工合作，在第一年对课程进行评估，以重新设计课程，以改善学生的总体成绩。然后将对课程进行重新评估。干预项目涉及一所大型大学的化学入门课程，一所小型学院的跨学科普通科学课程，以及一所小型学院的地球科学课程。本项目将试图利用评估研究的早期发现和教学设计的认知知情原则来提高学生在一般探究和量化技能以及认识论复杂性方面的收获。总体而言，该项目将产生研究成果和新的评估技术，将对改变大学科学教育产生影响，以满足提高学生对科学本质的理解和科学推理技能的国家标准。

The Development of Scientific Thinking and Conceptions of Science in College Science StudentsThe project is a three-year comparative study of general (as opposed to field-specific) student outcomes of introductory college science instruction will be compared with those resulting from more traditional instruction. Assessments will be conducted in a large state university, several private colleges, and several junior colleges. A rich, mutimodal assessment methodology will be employed, including the following components: 1. Interviews of students to assess their scientific epistemologies. A modified version of the Nature of Science Interview will be employed.2. On-line essay-style assessments of students' higher-order scientific inquiry and basic quantitative skills. Two new instruments developed in previous research will be combined and refined for this project.3. On-line student surveys covering student demographics, attitudes, and motivation.4. Classroom observation, including detailed coding of teaching method and content. An observational protocol developed in previous research will be employed. 5. Faculty interviews. The methodology will be deployed in three interrelated subprojects. First, student outcomes will be assessed and correlated with instructional practices and demographic variables in 12 courses distributed factorially across the three types of institution, two levels of innovation, and two disciplinary areas (biology and earth/environmental science). This project will produce a rich picture of higher-order cognition in today's college student and of the cognitive gains associated with various instructional practices. Second, a sample of students from the 12 courses will be followed longitudinally for the duration of the project. The persistence and further development of early gains in cognitive skills and epistemology will be assessed. Students' choices of major field of study will be added to the demographic analyses of this data. This project will produce rich data on the development of scientific epistemology and cognitive skills in contemporary college students, and it will allow the assessment of the hypothesis that early explosure to inquiry-oriented instruction triggers persistent cognitive and motivational change. Third, three intervention studies will be undertaken in which the researchers work with faculty members for courses that were assessed in the first year to redesign their courses to improve general student outcomes. The course will then be reassessed. The intervention projects concern the introductory chemistry curriculum at a large university, an interdisciplinary general science course at a small college, and geoscience course at a small collge. This project will attempt to use early findings of the assessment research and cognitive-informed principles of instructional design to improve student gains in general inquiry and quantitative skills and in epistemological sophistication. Overall the project will produce research findings and new assessment techniques that will have an impact on changing college science education to meet national standards for improving students' understanding of the nature of science and skills in scientific reasoning.