Collaborative Research: Rethinking How to Teach Energy: Laying The Foundations in Elementary School

该项目是由来自TERC、克拉克大学、塔夫茨大学、布鲁克林大学和萨默维尔大学的科学家、科学教育工作者和教师共同努力的结果，旨在开发3-5年级的学习进度，为小学的能源教学提供连贯的方法，并为中学的进一步学习奠定坚实的基础。这项工作借鉴并补充了探究项目（NSF奖0628245）中正在开发和测试的学习进程和课程。该项目将确定一个关于能源的核心概念和原则的网络，这些概念和原则是基本和普遍的，足以与关于能源的科学思想兼容，但在五年级学生的范围内。本项目探讨的假设是，虽然能量的科学概念过于抽象，难以理解，但通过详细阐述能量的学习过程，可以在早期建立有用的基础。临床访谈将对从城市课外项目中招募的24对三年级、四年级和五年级学生进行，以确定核心思想的先驱以及学习这些思想的障碍。这项研究将帮助研究人员设计关键的学习经验，使学生能够从最初的想法发展到对能源的科学理解。然后，这些学习设计将在相同环境下与三小组学生进行教学访谈。考虑到项目研究成果以及相关标准、课程和科学教育文献，项目的结果将是3-5年级能源学习进度的大纲。

This project is a collaborative effort involving scientists, science educators, and teachers from TERC, Clark University, Tufts University,and the Brookline and Somerville, MA schools that aims to develop a grade 3-5 Learning Progression that will provide a coherent approach to teaching energy in elementary school and lay a strong foundation for further learning in middle school. The work draws on and complements the learning progression and curriculum for matter being developed and tested in the Inquiry Project (NSF award 0628245). The project will identify a network of core concepts and principles about energy that are fundamental and general enough to be compatible with scientific ideas about energy, yet within reach of 5th graders. This project explores the hypothesis that, while the scientific concept of energy is too abstract and difficult to understand in early grades, useful foundations can be established early on by elaborating a learning progression for energy. Clinical interviews will be administered to 24 pairs of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders recruited from urban after-school programs, to identify precursors to the core ideas as well obstacles to learning them. This research will help the investigators design key learning experiences that could allow students to progress from initial ideas toward a scientific understanding of energy. Those learning designs will then be tested in teaching interviews with 3 small groups of students in the same settings. The result of the project will be an outline for a grade 3-5 learning progression for energy taking into account the project research findings as well as relevant standards, curricula, and science education literature.