Collaborative Research: Scaffolding Explanations and Epistemic Development for Systems

这个项目的目标是帮助学生学习使用不同类型的证据来思考和创建复杂系统的模型。思考系统对于学生理解科学和工程中的复杂主题越来越重要。 基于证据构建模型对于帮助学生进行批判性思考，特别是关于复杂系统的想法非常重要。为了支持学生的这些努力，该项目开发了一个易于使用的软件建模工具，支持学生创建模型，同时指出证据的来源（数据，模拟等）。来支持他们的建模选择。该项目的产品，其中包括软件，课程和评估，提高了吸引年轻学习者参与符合下一代科学标准的雄心勃勃的科学教育经验的能力。该项目的成果包括专业发展材料、脚手架工具和评估，这些将通过项目网站免费提供。该项目由EHR核心研究（ECR）计划资助。该项目改变了模拟的方式，以帮助学生在小学科学课堂上发展科学实践，认识论和内容知识。它探讨了五年级的学生如何对待模拟相似，并从其他来源的证据时，从事科学探究不同。通过仔细选择不同的，有时相互矛盾的证据形式，该项目挑战学生反思他们的信念，科学概念的模拟如何做，并不反映正在研究的现象。在过去工作的基础上，该项目正在开发一个脚手架框架，用于在水生生态系统的背景下教授学生复杂系统的概念。该软件和相关课程旨在帮助学生深入了解特定的生物学内容，它所代表的重要的交叉系统概念，以及基于多种不同形式的证据构建科学模型所涉及的关键科学实践。因此，本项目将侧重于下一代科学标准中的两个关键交叉概念-系统思维和科学实践。该项目通过三种互补的方法研究了假设的支架和干预措施的有效性：在更受控的环境中进行更小样本量的辅导研究，在五个五年级教室中进行设计实验，以及准实验研究。课堂设计实验和实验研究在印第安纳州和新泽西的不同教育环境中进行。衡量的结果包括学生的成长和话语和互动，从视频分析。 学生成长的措施包括面试和书面学生文物。 话语和互动的措施被编码为来自视频分析的变量。该研究结果支持设计师，研究人员和教育工作者，他们不仅在科学课程中使用模拟，而且帮助他们在强大的科学实践和思维习惯中进行优化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

The goal of this project is to help students learn to use different kinds of evidence in thinking about and creating models of complex systems. Thinking about systems is increasingly important for students to understand complex topics in science and engineering. Building models based on evidence is important for helping students think critically in general, and about complex systems ideas in particular. To support students in these efforts, the project develops an easy-to-use software modeling tool that supports students in creating models while concurrently indicating the sources of evidence (data, simulations, etc.) that support their model-building choices. The products of this project, which include software, curriculum, and assessments, increase the capacity to engage young learners in ambitious science educational experiences that are consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards. Outcomes of the project include professional development materials, scaffolding tools, and assessments which will be made freely available via the project website. This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program.This project transforms the way simulations are used to help students develop scientific practices, epistemologies, and content knowledge within elementary school science classrooms. It explores how 5th grade students treat simulations as similar to and distinct from other sources of evidence when engaged in scientific inquiry. By carefully selecting disparate and sometimes contradictory forms of evidence, the project challenges students to reflect upon their beliefs about how simulations of scientific concepts both do, and do not reflect the phenomena under study. Building on past work, the project is developing a scaffolded framework for teaching students about complex systems concepts in the context of aquatic ecosystems. This software and associated curriculum aims to help students engage deeply with the specific biology content, the important cross-cutting systems concepts that it represents, and the crucial scientific practices that are involved in constructing scientific models based on multiple disparate forms of evidence. This project will therefore focus on two of the key cross-cutting concepts from the Next Generation Science Standards--systems thinking and scientific practices. The project investigates the efficacy of posited scaffolds and interventions through three complementary approaches: tutoring studies in more controlled settings with smaller sample sizes, design experiments in five fifth-grade classrooms, and a quasi-experimental study. The classroom design experiments and experimental studies are carried out in diverse educational settings in Indiana and New Jersey. Outcomes measured include both student growth and discourse and interactions from video analysis. Measures of student growth include interviews and written student artifacts. Measures of discourse and interactions are coded as variables derived from video analysis. The findings support designers, researchers, and educators who not only make use of simulations in science curricula, but help situate them within robust scientific practices and habits of mind.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.