Assessing Students' Integration of Knowledge for Deep Learning in Physics

该项目旨在通过分析和改进学生在物理入门课程中关键概念的学习来服务于国家利益。要在全国范围内推进STEM教育，需要培养对各个STEM学科的核心知识以及跨学科概念的深入理解。促进知识整合的教学方法已被证明在创造深度概念学习方面是有效的，然而，关于如何衡量这种深度学习的研究有限。在这个项目中，项目团队计划开发评估方法，为评估个别学生的知识整合和深度学习水平提供新的特征。通过探索学生在解决问题时遵循的具体路径，这些评估可以为教学提供指导，有效地帮助学生实现深刻的概念理解。由于许多物理概念背后的核心思想对许多STEM学科都是必不可少的，本项目中开发的评估应该为促进相关STEM领域的知识整合提供有用的工具。尽管有大量文献表明第一次学习物理的学生普遍存在误解，但需要更多的研究来研究学生在知识整合和深入概念理解方面的知识结构。作为这个项目的中心部分，项目团队计划为物理入门课程中通常教授的概念开发概念框架和相关评估。概念框架由概念的中心思想、语境特征、中间过程以及这些组成部分之间的联系组成，用来代表学生在解决问题时的思维路径。该项目的主要活动将包括(1)为入门物理的选定主题开发概念框架，以模拟学生学习的知识整合过程；(2)开发评估工具，以衡量学生在学习选定的物理主题时知识整合的进展；以及(3)建立评估结果和影响的知识库，以帮助学生实现对物理的深刻概念理解。教育研究将主要探索评估设计的特征--包括对问题背景、问题中的组成部分和联系的熟悉程度，以及问题所需的概念模型的各个方面--在多大程度上可以用来衡量学生知识整合的发展水平。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by analyzing and improving students' learning of key concepts in introductory physics courses. To advance STEM education across the nation, one need is to foster deep understanding of core knowledge within the various STEM disciplines along with concepts that cut across the disciplines. Teaching methods that promote the integration of knowledge have been shown to be effective in creating deep conceptual learning; however, the research on how to measure such deep learning is limited. In this project, the project team plans to develop assessment methods that provide new features for evaluating the levels of knowledge integration and deep learning achieved by individual students. By probing the specific paths that students follow when solving problems, these assessments can inform instruction to effectively help students achieve deep conceptual understanding. Because the core ideas underlying many physics concepts are essential to a wide range of STEM disciplines, the assessments developed in this project should provide useful tools for improving knowledge integration in related STEM fields.Although there is a wealth of literature about the misconceptions that students taking physics for the first time commonly have, more research is needed to study the knowledge structures of students with regard to knowledge integration and deep conceptual understanding. As a central part of this project, the project team plans to develop conceptual frameworks and associated assessments for concepts typically taught in introductory physics courses. Conceptual frameworks are composed of central ideas of concepts, contextual features, intermediate processes, and links between those components, and are used to represent students' thinking pathways as they solve problems. Major activities in the project will include (1) developing conceptual frameworks for selected topics in introductory physics to model the knowledge integration process of student learning; (2) developing assessment instruments that measure the progression of knowledge integration in students' learning of selected topics in physics; and (3) producing a knowledge base of assessment outcomes and implications regarding students' achievement of deep conceptual understanding in physics. The education research will primarily explore the extent to which features of assessment design -- which include the familiarity of question contexts, components and connections within a question, and aspects of conceptual models required by a question -- can be used to measure the developmental levels of students' knowledge integration. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.