The Scientific Thinker Project: A study of teaching and learning concepts of evidence and nature of scientific evidence in elementary school

纽约大学（NYU）将研究儿童对证据的认识论理解（例如，什么是科学证据，它与其他类型的证据有何不同，为什么它是持久的和暂时的，它在科学思维中的作用是什么）。纽约大学试图了解的经验和条件，促进小学科学学生的科学证据的性质的理解。这将通过一个基于设计的研究项目来实现。该项目将在2年的时间内进行，以研究强调比美国小学生典型的更具挑战性的科学形式和认识论形式的理解的可能性。首要的研究目标是：确定小学生是否可以学习科学证据的性质时，提供了一个连贯的，连续的课程，在一个主题领域（发展和相互作用）持续一段时间（2年的时间;等级3-4）。沿着记录学生如何以及在何种程度上能够理解科学证据的本质，确定什么样的教学支持是必要的，以实现这一目标，如果没有，什么是学习的障碍。这项工作将在小学教室和实验室环境中进行，在纽约市的一所小学，有不同的学生群体（3-4年级）。本研究提出的设计为基础的研究模式是有意干预和分析的迭代循环之一。通过这种方法，纽约大学将开发和测试教学工具（材料，互动，经验），形状和活动理论模型的发展形成。

New York University (NYU) will study children's developing epistemological understandings of evidence (e.g., what is scientific evidence, how does it differ from other kinds of evidence, why is it durable and tentative and what is its role in scientific thinking). NYU seeks to understand the experiences and conditions that facilitate elementary science students understandings of the nature of scientific evidence. This will be accomplished through a design-based research program.The project will take place over a 2-year period to study the possibility of emphasizing more challenging forms of science and epistemological forms of understanding than is typical for U.S. elementary school children. The overarching research goal is: To determine whether elementary school children can learn the nature of scientific evidence when provided a coherent, contiguous course of study in one topic area (development and interactions) sustained over time (a 2-year period; grades 3-4). Along with documenting how and to what extent students can understand the nature of scientific evidence, identification of what teaching-and-learning supports are necessary to achieve this and if not, what are the barriers to learning.The work will be conducted in elementary classroom and laboratory settings at an elementary school in New York City with a diverse student population (grades 3-4). The design-based research model proposed for this study is one of iterative cycles of intentional intervention and analysis. Through this approach NYU will develop and test instructional tools (materials, interactions, experiences) that shape and are shaped by an activity theory model for development.