The development of scientific reasoning from primary school to secondary school: A longitudinal study (Science-S)

本项目调查了中学科学思维的发展(包括理解科学的本质和科学探究方法的分维度)。本项目的主要目的是在科学-P项目以前工作的基础上，从小学早期(三年级)到中学后期(九年级)，调查科学思维的概念发展模式在广泛年龄范围内的有效性。由于发展研究表明11至15岁之间科学思维的显著发展进步，同时指出小学早期能力的重要性，因此迫切需要对科学思维早期和后期能力之间的发展趋势和相互关系进行系统的纵向调查。除了评估Science-P中假设的能力发展模式的有效性外，本项目的中心研究问题还涉及作为一种结构的科学思维，它可以从科学内容知识(例如物理领域)和一般认知发展(例如智力)中描绘出来，以及认知和动机相关因素以及背景因素(如学校教育和父母教育)对科学思维发展的影响。这些问题将在四个测量点(6年级、7年级、8年级和9年级)的过程中进行纵向调查，核心样本为N=114名学生，其中包括那些已经参加过科学-P的学生，另外一个样本为N=450名学生(因此，完整的样本包括N=564)。

The present project investigates the development of scientific thinking (with the subdimensions understanding the nature of science and methods of scientific inquiry) in secondary school. Building on prior work from the project Science-P, which focused on the development of scientific thinking in primary school, the main goal of the present project is to investigate the validity of a conceptual-development model of scientific thinking in a broad age range, from early elementary (grade 3) to late secondary school (grade 9). Because developmental research indicates significant developmental progressions in scientific thinking between 11 and 15 years while simultaneously pointing to the importance of early abilities in primary school, a systematic longitudinal investigation of developmental trends and interrelations between early and later competencies in scientific thinking is much needed. Next to evaluating the validity of the competence development model postulated in Science-P, the central research questions of the present project concern scientific thinking as a construct that can be delineated from scientific content knowledge (e.g., in the area of physics) and from general cognitive development (e.g., intelligence), and the influences of cognitive and motivational correlates as well as of contextual factors such as schooling and parental education on the development of scientific thinking. These questions will be investigated longitudinally over the course of four points of measurement (grades 6, 7, 8, and 9) in a core sample of N = 114 students, which comprises those students who already participated in Science-P, and an additional sample of N = 450 students (the complete sample thus comprises N = 564).