Fostering Transfer From Open-Ended Exploration To Scientific Reasoning

这个项目将试图将学生在允许与开放的、探索性的计算机模型互动时表现出的兴奋和兴趣与许多人在面向语言的纸笔测试中取得成功所需的结构和明确的教学方法结合起来。使用Biologica，这是我们在之前的NSF拨款上开发的一个软件环境，我们将为学生提供一系列的“网络实验室”，即基于计算机的、有指导的调查，将向他们介绍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，监督他们的工作，提供反馈并酌情征求回应。每门课程都会向学生提供与他们刚做过的类似的情景或问题的信息和问题，提供元认知提示，旨在促进学生从计算机活动转移到对潜在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