CAREER: Developing Critical STEM Thinkers: Optimizing Explanations in Inquiry-based Learning

美国每年在公立K-12教育上的投资超过6000亿美元，以促进国家的繁荣和福利。国家科学基金会的职业生涯计划支持初级教师，他们通过杰出的研究、出色的教育以及教育和研究的整合来示范教师-学者的作用。这个职业项目剖析和描述了正式和非正式学习环境中的科学解释，以揭示优化解释的最佳实践。制定成年人在科学学习中如何使用解释的最佳做法，有可能提高向下一代科学学习者传授知识的效率。例如，在科学学习中，人们通常认为，孩子们从第一手经验中获得信息时，他们学习得最好。然而，很多时候，无论是在家里还是在学校，都无法获得第一手资料。在这种情况下，学生依赖于照顾者或老师给他们的解释。成年人选择提供解释的方式可能会有很大的差异，解释本身的各个方面可能会在未来的学习中驱动变异性。然而，目前还不清楚如何优化解释的各个方面，以加强科学学习。该项目采用了三管齐下的方法，包括(1)在以探究为基础的学前班中观察成人与儿童互动中的问题和解释，(2)在实验室和博物馆环境中进行系统的实验，以探索解释的各个方面如何影响儿童的学习，以及(3)在博物馆环境中旨在促进亲子二元组的科学思维的干预措施。这个项目的结果将为儿童如何在科学探究中使用成人解释提供洞察力。这项工作还将产生普遍的见解，广泛传播，关于如何利用成人解释来鼓励STEM学习。通过这样做，该项目解决了在儿童进入正规学校之前，需要制定创新战略来激发STEM调查的必要性。更广泛地说，深入了解如何在基于探究的学习中使用解释，将对如何在正式和非正式学习环境中教授科学的指导方针产生广泛影响。与这项研究相结合的是几项旨在提高公众对儿童STEM学习中社会互动的认识的教育活动。该项目由EHR核心研究(ECR)计划资助，该计划资助寻求理解、构建理论以解释并提出干预措施(和创新)的基础研究，以解决STEM兴趣、教育、学习和参与方面的持续挑战。

The United States invests over $600 billion on public K-12 education every year to further the Nation's prosperity and welfare. The National Science Foundation's CAREER program supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research. This CAREER project dissects and characterizes science explanations in formal and informal learning settings to uncover best practices for optimizing explanations. Developing optimal practices for how adults use explanations in science learning has potential to improve the efficiency of knowledge transfer to the next generation of science learners. For example, in science learning it is often accepted that children learn best when they acquire information from first-hand experience. However, many times, at both home and school, first-hand information is not available. In these cases, students rely on an explanation given to them by a caregiver or teacher. How adults choose to provide explanations can vary dramatically, and aspects of the explanation itself can drive variability in future learning. Yet, it is unclear how various aspects of an explanation can be optimized to enhance science learning. The project employs a three-pronged approach that includes (1) observations of questions and explanations in adult-child interaction in an inquiry-based preschool, (2) systematic experiments in both laboratory and museum settings to explore how various aspects of an explanation impact children's learning, and (3) an intervention designed to promote scientific thinking in parent-child dyads in a museum setting. The results from this project will provide insight into how children use adult explanations in science inquiry. The work will also produce generalizable insights, distributed widely, into how to leverage adult explanations to encourage STEM learning. In doing so, the project addresses the need to develop innovative strategies for inspiring STEM inquiry before children enter formal schooling. More generally, insight into how explanations are used in inquiry-based learning will have broad impact for guidelines on how to teach science in formal and informal learning environments. Integrated with this research are several educational activities designed to promote broader public awareness of social interaction in children's STEM learning. The project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program which funds basic research that seeks to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest interventions (and innovations) to address persistent challenges in STEM interest, education, learning, and participation.