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Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in Science with sInvestigator

通过 sInvestigator 教授科学批判性思维技能

基本信息

批准号：
1611742
负责人：
Gheorghe Tecuci
金额：
$ 30万
依托单位：
George Mason University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2016
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2016-10-01 至 2020-09-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1611742&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Teaching Critical Thinking Skills Science

项目摘要

A team of experts from computer science, artificial intelligence, science teaching and pedagogy, systems architecture, software engineering, knowledge engineering and human computer interaction at George Mason University (GMU) is developing a cognitive assistance tool, "sInvestigator," to help students acquire critical thinking skills in addressing scientific problems. The sInvestigator cognitive assistant is a significant technological innovation, based upon a computational theory of reasoning in science. It incorporates a substantial amount of general knowledge about scientific reasoning with evidence guiding and helping the student with the scientific inquiry process. The tool is novel and operates on multiple computer platforms. It is designed for students to use at home and in the lab and supports their acquisition of the core competency of evidence-based reasoning. The resulting theory is extendable to all STEM disciplines both undergraduate and K-12. Broadening participation is achieved through workshops having the capacity of 50-70 participants. Recruiting targets community colleges and minority serving institutions to attract women and underrepresented groups to the workshops organized in collaboration with the GMU Center for Teaching and Faculty Excellence. Evidence based reasoning is at the core of problem solving and decision making not only in STEM disciplines but also law, intelligence analysis, forensics, medicine, history, archeology and other domains. The developed educational materials together with sInvestigator exercises are widely distributed. Information on how teachers and researchers can freely obtain the sInvestigator are posted on GMU's Learning Agents Center website.The three-year project is first piloted in two Honors courses enrolling 30-40 students. Working in teams, students are guided to approach a scientific problem as ceaseless discovery of evidence, hypothesis and arguments. New knowledge is added by answering research questions that explore improvements in student perception of science process skills and gains in student content knowledge, as measured by course assessments. Students experience numerous opportunities to exercise imagination and creativity and acquire critical scientific practices, particularly: (1) Asking questions; (2) Constructing explanations; (3) Engaging in argument from evidence; and (4) Obtaining, evaluating and communicating explanations (NRC, 2012 p.3). The use of sInvestigator is explored in a sequence of courses to learn what works and what does not work and incrementally evolve the theory and the approach while developing and testing case studies. The mixed-methods evaluation is mostly formative with a focus on understanding students' collaborative experiences with sInvestigator through surveys and interviews. Modification of assessment tools is made based upon evaluation which allows for analysis of student intrinsic motivation, career motivation, self-determination, self-efficacy and grade motivation. In the final year a quasi-experimental research design will be used to evaluate the impact of sInvestigator in a general science course with 250-300 students in two course sections. The design allows for a comparison group on student achievement scores using course assessments, a Science Motivation Questionnaire and a Science Process skills inventory.

来自乔治梅森大学（GMU）的计算机科学、人工智能、科学教学和教育学、系统架构、软件工程、知识工程和人机交互的专家团队正在开发一种认知辅助工具“sInvestigator”，以帮助学生在解决科学问题时获得批判性思维技能。sInvestigator认知助手是一项重要的技术创新，基于科学推理的计算理论。它结合了大量的一般知识，科学推理与证据指导和帮助学生的科学探究过程。该工具是新颖的，并在多个计算机平台上运行。它是专为学生在家里和实验室使用，并支持他们的循证推理的核心竞争力收购。由此产生的理论可扩展到所有STEM学科，包括本科和K-12。通过举办可容纳50-70人参加的讲习班，扩大了参与。招聘目标是社区学院和少数民族服务机构，以吸引妇女和代表性不足的群体参加与GMU教学和教师卓越中心合作组织的讲习班。基于证据的推理是解决问题和决策的核心，不仅在STEM学科，而且在法律，情报分析，法医学，医学，历史，考古学和其他领域。编写的教育材料连同调查员练习广泛分发。关于教师和研究人员如何免费获得sInvestigator的信息发布在GMU的学习代理中心网站上。这个为期三年的项目首先在两个荣誉课程中进行试点，招收30-40名学生。在团队合作中，学生们被引导去解决一个科学问题，不断发现证据，假设和论点。通过回答研究问题来增加新的知识，这些问题探讨了学生对科学过程技能的看法的改善以及学生内容知识的获得，这些都是通过课程评估来衡量的。学生有许多机会锻炼想象力和创造力，并获得批判性的科学实践，特别是：（1）提出问题;（2）构建解释;（3）参与证据论证;（4）获得，评估和交流解释（NRC，2012年第3页）。sInvestigator的使用在一系列课程中进行了探索，以了解什么可行，什么不可行，并在开发和测试案例研究的同时逐步发展理论和方法。混合方法评估主要是形成性的，重点是通过调查和访谈了解学生与sInvestigator的合作经验。在评价的基础上对评价工具进行了修改，允许对学生的内在动机、职业动机、自我决定、自我效能和年级动机进行分析。在最后一年的准实验研究设计将用于评估sInvestigator在普通科学课程中的影响，两个课程部分有250-300名学生。该设计允许使用课程评估，科学动机问卷和科学过程技能清单的学生成绩进行比较。