Collaborative Proposal: Students' Attempts at Understanding the Unobservable: A Multi-Method Approach to Visualization Analysis and Design (Empirical Contextual Research Strand)

合作提案：学生尝试理解不可观察的事物：可视化分析和设计的多方法方法（经验背景研究方向）

• 批准号: 0907780
• 负责人: Mary Jane Shultz
• 金额: $ 27.74万
• 依托单位: Tufts University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0907780&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Proposal; Students; Attempts; Understanding

Student comprehension of scientific concepts and principles presents a particular challenge when the phenomena are not directly observable. This issue has emerged as core to effective teaching and successful student learning in chemistry. The goal is to identify whether students' individual differences influence the effectiveness of visualizations for learning scientific concepts as measured with process and product-based metrics of evaluation. The investigators will also develop design principles for the use of visualizations as instructional tools in chemistry and STEM fields more broadly.The central issues are: When and how students rely on visualizations while trying to comprehend unobservable chemistry content; whether reliance on visualizations varies as a function of student characteristics; and whether usage patterns inform instructional interventions. In a series of randomized, controlled experiments involving undergraduates at four institutions, investigators will: (a) determine baseline chemical knowledge, spatial ability, reasoning ability, and interest in learning; (b) use eye tracking to characterize the moment-by-moment scan and fixation processes that students rely on while viewing visualizations; (c) utilize concurrent interview protocols to assess learning strategies and knowledge acquisition; and (d) implement post-visualization tests to examine student memory for the visualization content and application of knowledge.

当现象无法直接观察时，学生对科学概念和原理的理解就会面临特殊的挑战。这个问题已成为化学领域有效教学和学生成功学习的核心。目标是确定学生的个体差异是否影响可视化学习科学概念的有效性（通过基于过程和产品的评估指标来衡量）。研究人员还将制定设计原则，将可视化用作更广泛的化学和 STEM 领域的教学工具。核心问题是：学生何时以及如何依赖可视化来尝试理解不可观察的化学内容；对可视化的依赖是否随着学生特征的变化而变化；以及使用模式是否影响教学干预。在涉及四个机构的本科生的一系列随机对照实验中，研究人员将： (a) 确定基线化学知识、空间能力、推理能力和学习兴趣； (b) 使用眼动追踪来表征学生在观看可视化时所依赖的即时扫描和注视过程； (c) 利用并行访谈协议来评估学习策略和知识获取； (d) 进行可视化后测试，以检查学生对可视化内容的记忆和知识的应用。