Evolving Minds: Promoting Causal-Explanatory Teaching and Learning of Biological Evolution in Elementary School

自然选择是进化的基本机制，是生物学的统一原则。它是理解生物的功能专门化、物种多样性的起源和生物生命的内在统一性的核心。尽管随着时间的推移，早期出现的一些倾向会使学习进化变得越来越具有挑战性，但目前直到初中或高中才教授自然选择。这是在误解模式可能变得更加根深蒂固很久之后发生的。当前的研究正是针对这一情况。它以小学为目标，开始对生物进化进行全面的指导。采用一种新颖的教学和课程方法，将定制的解释性故事书材料与实践调查相结合，旨在促进三年级学生对自然选择的小型和大规模进化的理解。通过对多个学区的学生进行研究，这项研究将揭示侧重于支持孩子们有说服力地解释生物世界各个方面的能力，而不是学习有关生物世界的不同事实的教学对不同学生的好处。它还将阐明简单工具的价值，如解释性故事书，对于小学教师来说，他们经常被期望教授违反直觉的主题，如自然选择，而对自己的理解没有信心。本项目将探讨三年级学生在实施强调因果机制解释的自然选择进化引导探究课程单元过程中对生物的学习和推理的变化。课堂探究活动和对一系列现实世界现象的调查将通过一系列创新的自定义因果解释故事书、动画和写作提示材料来构建，这些材料是在NSF之前的支持下开发的，以促进关于自然选择的可转移的、科学准确的理论和基于证据的推理。为了应对生命科学和进化学习的独特挑战，该项目将整合和主题统一目前不同的下一代科学标准（NGSS）内容和实践标准，创建一个全面的单元，解决NGSS的所有三个维度，并伴随以证据为基础的教师专业发展（PD）方法。采用基于设计的研究方法，并根据认知发展的发现，这个为期四年的项目将吸引至少700名学生和他们的老师，包括来自至少四个学区、波士顿大学和TERC的合作伙伴。探索研究K-12项目（DRK-12）旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，显著提高pre -12学生和教师对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和实证依据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Natural selection is a fundamental mechanism of evolution, the unifying principle of biology. It is central to understanding the functional specialization of living things, the origin of species diversity and the inherent unity of biological life. Despite the early emergence of tendencies that can make evolution increasingly challenging to learn over time, natural selection is currently not taught until middle or high school. This is long after patterns of misunderstanding are likely to have become more entrenched. The current research responds to this situation. It targets elementary school as the time to initiate comprehensive instruction on biological evolution. Adopting a teaching and curricular approach that will be novel in its integration of custom explanatory storybook materials with hands-on investigations, it seeks to promote third grade students’ understanding of small- and large-scale evolution by natural selection. By studying students across multiple school districts, this research will shed light on the benefits to diverse students of instruction that focuses on supporting children’s capacities to cogently explain aspects of the biological world rather than learn disparate facts about it. It will also illuminate the value of simple tools, like explanatory storybooks, for elementary school teachers who are often expected to teach counterintuitive topics such as natural selection while not feeling confident in their own understanding. This project will investigate changes in Grade 3 students’ learning and reasoning about living things during implementation of a guided inquiry curriculum unit on evolution by natural selection that emphasizes causal-mechanistic explanation. Classroom inquiry activities and investigations into a range of real-world phenomena will be framed by engagement with a sequence of innovative custom causal-explanatory storybook, animation and writing prompt materials that were developed under prior NSF support to promote transferable, scientifically accurate theory- and evidence-based reasoning about natural selection. In response to the distinctive challenges of life science and evolution learning, the project will integrate and thematically unify currently disparate Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) content and practice standards to create a comprehensive unit that addresses all three NGSS dimensions and is accompanied by evidence-based approaches to teacher professional development (PD). Using a design based research approach, and informed by cognitive developmental findings, this 4-year project will engage at least 700 students and their teachers and include partners from at least four school districts, Boston University, and TERC. The Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.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.