Fostering Transfer From Open-Ended Exploration To Scientific Reasoning

这个项目将尝试把学生们在与开放式的、探索性的计算机模型互动时表现出的兴奋和兴趣，与许多人在语言导向的、纸笔测试中取得成功所需要的结构和明确的教学法结合起来。使用我们在NSF资助下开发的软件环境bi，我们将向学生展示一系列“网络实验室”，或基于计算机的指导调查，这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挑战，增加难度，监督他们的工作，提供反馈，并酌情征求回应。每个课程都将向学生提供与他们刚刚研究的情境或问题类似的信息和问题，并提供元认知提示，旨在促进从计算机活动向更广泛地理解潜在科学概念的转移

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