Collaborative Research: Developing Metacognitive Activities and Assessments for Introductory and Upper-Division Physics

这个项目开发了评估和促进学生物理元认知的方法。具体而言，该项目是：（1）开发和验证一套评估任务，以探索学生在物理教学过程中监控自己学习的能力，（2）开发和测试一套活动，以促进这种自我监控，（3）记录学生在回顾和指导自己的物理理解发展时表现出的具体策略，实践和缺陷。该项目的动机是各种常见的学生行为，其中许多已经通过研究记录，并熟悉经验丰富的教师。这些问题包括学生的倾向：（1）专注于记忆算法，而没有意识到他们是如何知道他们所知道的，（2）在不同但相关的上下文中应用概念不一致，（3）在面对新情况时，难以识别适当的推理方法。这些研究结果和其他研究结果表明，学生学习的内容和实践的物理可以改善通过系统的努力，以提高学生的能力，有条不紊地和富有成效地思考自己的思维（即，元认知）。这些活动和评估正在同时开发，并在四个不同的机构进行测试，包括实验室（入门级和高级）和互动讲座环境。 智力优点：该项目正在开发一套经研究验证的活动，以唤起和提高学生的元认知技能，并调查学生利用的资源和他们在从事元认知时面临的具体困难。此外，该项目正在研究元认知思维的具体路线与物理学概念理解和推理能力之间的联系。尽管大量的前期研究和广泛的共识，其在学习中的关键作用，元认知仍然是一个“模糊”的概念，难以融入教学。这个项目的一个主要贡献是开发教学策略来支持不同形式的学生元认知;从“向后看”的反思，其中学习者清楚地表达她对一个概念的了解以及她是如何知道它的，到“向前看”的策略，支持学习者选择最适合新情况的方法。活动的一个新方面是学生对具体教学任务和练习在促进学习方面的作用进行系统的反思和评价。 更广泛的影响：元认知活动与现有材料有很大不同。它们不需要全盘采用全新的课程或教学法，因此可以灵活地纳入物理课程，作为现有教学的补充。 这种方法的灵活性使教师能够逐步采用教学创新。此外，由于学生元认知的质量与学业成功有关，这些活动不仅可以增加学生在物理课程中的学习，而且还可以加强正在进行的努力，以：（1）通过缩小成绩较高和较低学生之间的差距促进课堂公平，（2）留住STEM学科的风险学生。

This project develops methods to assess and promote student metacognition in physics. In particular, the project is: (1) developing and validating a suite of assessment tasks to probe the ability of students to monitor their own learning during physics instruction, (2) developing and testing a suite of activities to foster this self - monitoring, and (3) documenting specific strategies, practices, and deficits that students exhibit as they review and direct the development of their own physics understanding. The project is motivated by a variety of common student behaviors, many of which have been documented through research and are familiar to experienced instructors. These include the tendency of students to: (1) focus on memorized algorithms without developing an awareness of how they know what they know, (2) apply concepts inconsistently in different but related contexts, and (3) struggle in identifying appropriate reasoning approaches when confronted with novel situations. These findings and others suggest that student learning of the content and practice of physics may be improved through systematic efforts to enhance the ability of students to think methodically and productively about their own thinking (i.e., metacognition). The activities and assessments are being developed concurrently and tested at four different institutions, in labs (both introductory and upper - division) and interactive lecture environments. Intellectual merit: The project is developing a suite of research - validated activities to evoke and improve students' metacognitive skills and investigate the resources that students utilize and the specific difficulties they face when engaged in metacognition. Furthermore, the project is examining the connections between specific lines of metacognitive thinking and gains in conceptual understanding and reasoning ability in physics. Despite substantial prior research and widespread agreement on its crucial role in learning, metacognition remains a "fuzzy" concept that is difficult to integrate into instruction. A major contribution of this project is to develop instructional strategies to support different forms of student metacognition; from "backward - looking" reflection, in which the learner articulates what she knows about a concept and how she came to know it, to "forward - looking" strategies that support the learner in selecting approaches best suited to new situations. A novel aspect of the activities is systematic student reflection on and evaluation of the role of specific instructional tasks and exercises in promoting learning. Broader impact: The metacognitive activities differ substantively from existing materials. They do not require the wholesale adoption of entirely new curricula or pedagogies, and may therefore be flexibly incorporated into physics courses as a supplement to existing instruction. The flexibility of the approach allows instructors to adopt teaching innovations incrementally. In addition, as the quality of student metacognition is linked to academic success, the activities may not only increase student learning in physics courses, but may also strengthen ongoing efforts to: (1) promote equity in the classroom by closing the gap between higher - and lower - achieving students, and (2) retain at risk students in STEM disciplines.