Making the Invisible Visible: Children and Teachers Learning about Physical States and State Changes

该项目将研究儿童和他们的老师如何理解水循环中状态和状态变化背后的无形过程和机制。这些研究旨在测试概念形成和基于解释的学习和教学方法的有效性。他们还测试了视觉图形和纠正反馈在学习具有多个过程同时发生的困难物理概念方面的有效性。我们知道，以解释为基础的教学可以提高对信息的理解、学习和记忆。以清晰、明确、因果关系和解释性的方式构建文本材料，对于立即和长期实现理解和记忆非常有效。然而，在讲授无形的物理过程时，视觉图形的使用可能是确保准确理解的关键变量，而不仅仅是文本的连贯性。接收将正确答案与不正确或不完整答案进行比较的纠正性反馈也很重要。对小学科学课程中使用的关于这一主题的课程材料的回顾指出，明显缺乏明确的概念定义，也没有明确的因果联系来解释许多核心概念之间的关系。此外，从未提及明确承认正在进行的并行进程。相比之下，我们当前研究的课程提供了所有概念的明确定义，所有过程的解释，并重点关注并行过程的展开。课程的设计使用了一个理想的最终状态模型，即学生对水循环有一个正确和完整的理解意味着什么。这个模型被用作评估和指导的基础。该模型还用于建议何时以及如何将图形最有效地纳入教学，作为重要但无形过程的视觉解释。这项研究将包括芝加哥公立学校的学生和教师。在前两年的学习中，三年级和四年级的教师、三年级和四年级的学生以及七年级和十二年级的学生将被拉出来接受这些科学单元的特殊指导。教学将根据学生的反馈数量和类型而有所不同，以解决误解，无论学生是否大声解释材料，以及是否存在静态或动画视觉图形。在第三年，首先作为学习者的三年级和四年级教师将在他们自己的课堂上实施和教授这些单元。新课程的有效性将通过两种方式来检验。在这三年中，学习情况将通过前后面试和对接受不同版本单元的学生和教师的测试来评估。我们也会将我们的学生的表现与那些没有接受我们的课程，但使用了其他课程材料（如自由/开源软件系统）的学生的表现进行比较。学生们将比较他们对水循环的知识和对一般科学概念的知识

This project will study how children and their teachers come to understand the invisible processes and mechanisms that underlie states and state changes in the water cycle. These studies are designed to test the effectiveness of a concept formation and explanation-based approach to learning and instruction. They also test the effectiveness of visual graphics and corrective feedback in learning difficult physical concepts that have multiple processes occurring simultaneously. We know that explanation-based instruction increases understanding, learning, and retention of information. The structuring of text material in clear, explicit, causal, and explanatory ways is highly effective in achieving understanding and retention immediately and over the long term. The use of visual graphics in teaching about invisible physical processes, however, may be a critical variable for ensuring accurate understanding, above and beyond the coherence of a text. Receiving corrective feedback that compares the correct answer to an incorrect or incomplete answer may also be critical. The review of curricular materials used in elementary school science classes on this topic noted the clear absence of explicit concept definitions as well as explicit causal links that explained the relationships among many core concepts. Further, the explicit acknowledgement of ongoing parallel processes was never mentioned. In contrast, our curriculum for the current studies provides explicit definitions of all the concepts, explanations of all the processes, and a focus on the unfolding of parallel processes. The curriculum was designed using an ideal end-state model of what it would mean for a student to have a correct and complete understanding of the water cycle. This model is used as a basis for assessments as well as instruction. The model is also used to suggest when and how graphics may be incorporated most effectively into instruction, as visual explanations of important, but invisible processes. The study will include students and teachers in Chicago public schools. In the first two years of studies, 3rd and 4th grade teachers, 3rd and 4th grade students, and students from 7th and 12th grades will be pulled out for special instruction on these science units. Instruction will vary in terms of the amount and kind of feedback given to students to address misconceptions, whether students self-explain the materials out loud or not, and the presence or absence of static or animated visual graphics. In the third year, 3rd and 4th grade teachers who have first served as learners in our studies will then implement and teach the units in their own classrooms. The effectiveness of the new curriculum will be tested in two ways. In all three years, learning will be assessed via pre-post interviews and tests with students and teachers who receive different versions of the unit. We will also compare our students' performance to the performance of students who have not received our curriculum, but who have used other curricular materials like the FOSS system. Students will be compared on their knowledge of the water cycle and on their knowledge of general science concepts