Collaborative Research: Engaging students in discourse about criteria for judging scientific models

该项目的目标是研究中学生如何更好地理解自然科学的潜在逻辑——新思想的构建与批评之间的关系。传统上，科学教育主要关注学生如何构建自然现象的模型。然而，批评对于模型的迭代细化是至关重要的，因为在专业科学中，对解释性模型的同行批评激励并指导朝着更好的理解方向发展。这个项目让学生参与到这个过程中，并帮助他们理解批评与更好的解释之间的关系，通过课堂讨论将学生集中在批评和理解共同发展的标准上。该团队正在开发一套教学工具，扩展了先前开发的开源软件建模和证据映射环境，该软件构建了学生如何将证据直接连接到他们构建的模型。该项目的产品包括改进的软件、课程和评估，旨在提高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体验的能力。该项目侧重于三个相互关联的实践，这些实践对于成功地利用科学模型的证据进行推理至关重要：参与模型的同行批评，描述和证明关键的认知因素以指导模型批评，以及通过参加同行批评来迭代地修改模型，以提高模型的准确性。该项目通过增加一个脚手架套件来推进现有的模型和证据映射环境软件，以支持学生参与和评估社区批评的认识论元层面，从而提高模型的准确性和实用性。一组设计实验提供了关于教师有效搭建活动和软件功能的见解，并为教学材料的迭代设计提供了信息。整个系统在印第安纳州和新泽西州的小型和大型异构教室环境中进行了测试。测量的结果包括学生的学习，基于访谈和书面学生工件，以及课堂合作话语的考试。该项目对学习者在理解科学、实践材料和专业发展方面的成长提供了重要的理论见解。本项目由美国国家科学基金会EDU核心研究（ECR）项目支持。ECR项目强调在该领域产生基础知识的基础STEM教育研究。投资在至关重要、广泛和持久的关键领域：STEM学习和STEM学习环境，扩大STEM参与，以及STEM劳动力发展。该项目还得到了探索研究preK-12计划（DRK-12）的支持，该计划旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，显著提高preK-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。

The goal of this project is to study how secondary students come to understand better an underlying logic of natural sciences--the relation between construction of new ideas and critique of them. Science education has traditionally focused mostly on how students construct models of natural phenomena. However, critique is crucial for iterative refinement of models because in professional science, peer critique of explanatory models motivates and guides progress toward better understanding. This project engages students in this process and helps them understand the relation of critique to better explanations, by focusing students on the criteria by which critique and understanding develop together through classroom discussions. The team is developing a suite of teaching tools expanding upon the previously developed open source software, Modeling and Evidence Mapping Environment, which structures how students connect evidence directly to models they construct. The products of this project, which include enhanced software, curriculum, and assessments, are intended to increase capacity to engage young learners in ambitious science educational experiences that are consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards.The project focuses on three interlinked practices critical for successful reasoning with evidence about scientific models in science: engaging in peer critique of models, describing and justifying key epistemic considerations to guide model critique, and iteratively revising models towards greater accuracy by attending to peer critique. This project advances the existing Model and Evidence Mapping Environment software by adding a scaffolding suite to support student engagement in, and valuing of, this epistemic meta-level of community critique for improving the veracity and utility of models. A set of design experiments provide insights regarding teachers' effective scaffolding of activities and software features, and inform iterative design of instructional materials. The entire ensemble is tested in small and larger scale heterogeneous classroom settings in Indiana and New Jersey. Measured outcomes include student learning, based on interviews and written student artifacts, as well as examinations of classroom collaborative discourse. The project is yielding critical theoretical insights about learners' growth along these dimensions of understanding science, and practical materials and professional development to support it. This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The project is also supported by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12), which 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.