Collaborative Research: Developing Metacognitive Activities and Assessments for Introductory and Upper-Division Physics

合作研究：开发初级和高级物理的元认知活动和评估

• 批准号: 1245993
• 负责人: Andrew Boudreaux
• 金额: $ 5.42万
• 依托单位: Western Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-07-01 至 2016-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1245993&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Developing; Metacognitive; Activities

This project develops methods to assess and promote student metacognition in physics. In particular, the project is: (1) developing and validating a suite of assessment tasks to probe the ability of students to monitor their own learning during physics instruction, (2) developing and testing a suite of activities to foster this self - monitoring, and (3) documenting specific strategies, practices, and deficits that students exhibit as they review and direct the development of their own physics understanding. The project is motivated by a variety of common student behaviors, many of which have been documented through research and are familiar to experienced instructors. These include the tendency of students to: (1) focus on memorized algorithms without developing an awareness of how they know what they know, (2) apply concepts inconsistently in different but related contexts, and (3) struggle in identifying appropriate reasoning approaches when confronted with novel situations. These findings and others suggest that student learning of the content and practice of physics may be improved through systematic efforts to enhance the ability of students to think methodically and productively about their own thinking (i.e., metacognition). The activities and assessments are being developed concurrently and tested at four different institutions, in labs (both introductory and upper - division) and interactive lecture environments. Intellectual merit: The project is developing a suite of research - validated activities to evoke and improve students' metacognitive skills and investigate the resources that students utilize and the specific difficulties they face when engaged in metacognition. Furthermore, the project is examining the connections between specific lines of metacognitive thinking and gains in conceptual understanding and reasoning ability in physics. Despite substantial prior research and widespread agreement on its crucial role in learning, metacognition remains a "fuzzy" concept that is difficult to integrate into instruction. A major contribution of this project is to develop instructional strategies to support different forms of student metacognition; from "backward - looking" reflection, in which the learner articulates what she knows about a concept and how she came to know it, to "forward - looking" strategies that support the learner in selecting approaches best suited to new situations. A novel aspect of the activities is systematic student reflection on and evaluation of the role of specific instructional tasks and exercises in promoting learning. Broader impact: The metacognitive activities differ substantively from existing materials. They do not require the wholesale adoption of entirely new curricula or pedagogies, and may therefore be flexibly incorporated into physics courses as a supplement to existing instruction. The flexibility of the approach allows instructors to adopt teaching innovations incrementally. In addition, as the quality of student metacognition is linked to academic success, the activities may not only increase student learning in physics courses, but may also strengthen ongoing efforts to: (1) promote equity in the classroom by closing the gap between higher - and lower - achieving students, and (2) retain at risk students in STEM disciplines.

该项目开发了评估和促进学生物理元认知的方法。具体来说，该项目是：(1) 开发和验证一套评估任务，以探究学生在物理教学期间监控自己学习的能力，(2) 开发和测试一套活动，以促进这种自我监控，以及 (3) 记录学生在回顾和指导自己的物理理解发展时表现出的具体策略、实践和缺陷。该项目的动机是各种常见的学生行为，其中许多行为已通过研究记录下来，并且为经验丰富的教师所熟悉。其中包括学生倾向于：（1）专注于记忆的算法，而不了解他们如何知道自己所知道的内容，（2）在不同但相关的上下文中不一致地应用概念，以及（3）在面对新情况时难以确定适当的推理方法。这些发现和其他发现表明，学生对物理内容和实践的学习可以通过系统性的努力来提高学生系统地、富有成效地思考自己的思维（即元认知）的能力。这些活动和评估正在四个不同机构的实验室（入门级和高年级）和交互式讲座环境中同时开发和测试。 智力优势：该项目正在开发一套经过研究验证的活动，以唤起和提高学生的元认知技能，并调查学生利用的资源以及他们在进行元认知时面临的具体困难。此外，该项目正在研究元认知思维的特定路线与物理概念理解和推理能力的提高之间的联系。尽管之前有大量研究表明元认知在学习中的关键作用并得到广泛认可，但元认知仍然是一个“模糊”的概念，很难融入教学中。该项目的一个主要贡献是制定教学策略来支持不同形式的学生元认知；从“向后看”反思（其中学习者阐明她对某个概念的了解以及她如何了解该概念）到“前瞻性”策略，支持学习者选择最适合新情况的方法。这些活动的一个新颖之处是学生系统地反思和评估特定教学任务和练习在促进学习中的作用。 更广泛的影响：元认知活动与现有材料有很大不同。它们不需要大规模采用全新的课程或教学法，因此可以灵活地纳入物理课程，作为现有教学的补充。 该方法的灵活性使教师能够逐步采用教学创新。此外，由于学生元认知的质量与学业成功相关，这些活动不仅可以增加学生在物理课程中的学习，还可以加强以下方面的持续努力：（1）通过缩小成绩较高和成绩较差的学生之间的差距来促进课堂公平，以及（2）保留处于 STEM 学科中的风险学生。