Fostering Transfer From Open-Ended Exploration To Scientific Reasoning

这个项目将试图结合联合收割机的兴奋和兴趣的学生表现出时，允许与开放式的，探索性的计算机模型，结构和明确的教学法，许多需要成功的语言为导向，纸和笔的测试。使用BioLogica，软件环境，我们已经开发了先前的NSF赠款，我们将呈现给学生一系列的“网络实验室”，或基于计算机的，引导调查，这将介绍他们在遗传学领域的多层次推理。网络实验室将为学生提供增加难度的挑战，监控他们的工作，提供反馈并酌情征求回应。每一个都将向学生提供与他们刚刚工作过的情况或问题类似的信息和问题，提供元认知提示，旨在促进从计算机活动转移到对基本科学概念的更广泛理解

This project will attempt to combine the excitement and interest students evince when allowed to interact with open-ended, exploratory computer models, with the structure and explicit pedagogy many require to succeed at linguistically oriented, paper-and-pencil tests. Using BioLogica, a software environment we have developed on a prior NSF grant, we will present students with a sequence of "web labs," or computer-based, guided investigations, that will introduce them to multi-level reasoning in the domain of genetics. The web labs will provide the students with challenges of increasing difficulty, monitoring their work, offering feedback and soliciting responses as appropriate. Each will present students with information and questions regarding situations or problems analogous to the ones they have just worked on, offering metacognitive prompts designed to promote transfer from the computer activities to a broader understanding of the underlying scientific concepts