Supporting Teacher Practice to Facilitate and Assess Oral Scientific Argumentation: Embedding a Real-Time Assessment of Speaking and Listening into an Argumentation-Rich Curriculum

这是一项早期设计和开发合作研究，提交给探索研究PreK-12(DRK-12)计划的评估链，以响应计划征集NSF 15-592。该项目的根本目的是支持教师围绕口头科学论证的实践和专业学习，以提高课堂实践的质量。为实现这一目的，该项目将审查一种新的以技术为基础的课堂辩论形成性评估工具--“小组辩论水平诊断”(DIALOG)的有效性，为此已在实验室环境中进行了心理测量验证工作。对话评估工具允许教师记录课堂话语并显示多个维度的分数--包括个人内部和人际关系--用于形成性评估目的。该项目将与6-8年级的科学教师合作，通过对话工具生成的实时形成性评估数据来监测和支持辩论。对话将与“放大科学”和一套新开发的响应性迷你课(RML)一起使用，后者是劳伦斯科学堂开发的课程，结合了从证据中进行辩论的科学实践，RML由20-30分钟的教学策略组成，旨在帮助教师向学生的思考提供反馈，并对对话工具确定需要进一步支持的辩论情节进行后续行动。这项研究将允许改进和扩展对话，并评估其对教师教学知识和形成性评估实践的影响。该项目将解决两个具体的研究问题：(1)如何改进对话，为中学课堂上可靠、实用和有用的口头辩论提供形成性评估工具？(2)当实施旨在支持口头辩论的科学单元时，对话的使用如何影响教师围绕循证辩论的形成性评估实践？为了回答这些问题，该项目将对100名教师进行随机对照试验：50名教师将在对话中教授以讨论为中心的课程，50名教师将在不对话的情况下教授相同的课程。对照和治疗教师都将收到教授三个Amplify科学课程单元所需的所有数字和物理材料。治疗教师还将获得最新版本的DIALOG，包括链接的RML，以及在Amplify课程中使用DIALOG的支持材料。重点教师小组(5名来自治疗组，5名来自控制组)将成为额外数据收集和分析的对象。将从三个放大科学课程单元的每个单元中选出三个焦点课程，其中学生进行小组或全班口头辩论。随机对照试验的教师措施将包括有效的工具，例如：(A)教师教学知识的前后评估；(B)课后和单元后调查，教师将在其中自我报告其形成性评估做法；(C)在重点教室中录制选定课程的录像带。为了观察治疗和对照在形成性评估实践方面的潜在差异，将使用协议分析重点教室的录像带，包括(A)改革的教学观察方案；(B)课堂内科学论证评估；(C)教师和学生形成性评估。这项工作的关键成果将是一个研究信息和实地测试的原型，以提高中学科学课堂中可用于不同学习环境的教与学论证的质量。

This is an early-stage design and development collaborative study submitted to the assessment strand of the Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) program, in response to Program Solicitation NSF 15-592. The fundamental purpose of this project is to support teacher practice and professional learning around oral scientific argumentation in order to improve the quality of this practice in classrooms. To achieve this purpose, the project will examine the validity of a new technology-based formative assessment tool for classroom argumentation--"Diagnosing the Argumentation Levels of Groups" (DiALoG)--for which psychometric validation work has been conducted in a laboratory setting. The DiALoG assessment tool allows teachers to document classroom talk and display scores across multiple dimensions--both intrapersonal and interpersonal--for formative assessment purposes. The project will work with 6th-8th grade science teachers to monitor and support argumentation through real-time formative assessment data generated by the DiALoG instrument. DiALoG will be used in conjunction with "Amplify Science", a Lawrence Hall of Science-developed curriculum that incorporates the science practice of engaging in argument from evidence, and a suite of newly developed Responsive Mini-Lessons (RMLs), which consist of 20-30 minute instructional strategies designed to assist teachers to provide feedback to students' thinking and follow-up to argumentation episodes that the DiALoG tool identifies in need of further support. The study will allow the refinement and expansion of DiALoG and evaluation of its impact on teacher pedagogical content knowledge and formative assessment practices in widespread classroom use.The project will address two specific research questions: (1) How can DiALoG be refined to provide a formative assessment tool for oral argumentation that is reliable, practical, and useful in middle school classrooms?; and (2) How does the use of DiALoG affect teacher formative assessment practices around evidence-based argumentation, when implementing science units designed to support oral argumentation? In order to answer these questions, the project will conduct a randomized control trial with 100 teachers: 50 will teach argumentation-focused curriculum with DiALoG, 50 will teach the same curriculum without DiALoG. Both control and treatment teachers will receive all digital and physical materials needed to teach three Amplify Science curriculum units. Treatment teachers will be provided also with the most recent version of DiALoG, including the linked RMLs, as well as support materials for using DiALoG with the Amplify curriculum. A subgroup of focus teachers (5 from the treatment group, and 5 from the control group) will be the subject of additional data collection and analysis. Three focus lessons, in which students are engaging in small-group or whole-class oral argumentation, will be selected from each of the three Amplify Science curricular units. Teacher measures for the randomized control trial will include validated instruments, such as (a) a pre- and post-assessment of teacher pedagogical content knowledge; (b) post-lesson and post-unit surveys in which teachers will self-report on their formative assessment practices; and (c) video recordings of selected lessons in the focus classrooms. In order to observe potential differences in formative assessment practices between treatment and control, protocols will be used to analyze the video recordings of focus classrooms, including (a) Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol; (b) Assessment of Scientific Argumentation inside the Classroom; and (c) Formative Assessment for Teachers and Students. The key outcome of this work will be a research-informed and field-tested prototype to improve the quality of teaching and learning argumentation in middle school science classrooms usable in different learning environments.