The role of effective learning environments in preschool children’s understanding of the scientific inquiry cycle

科学素养包括两个核心知识组成部分：第一，概念组成部分，包括概念和理论知识;第二，程序组成部分，描述有关获取科学知识的知识。后者包括对科学探究周期（SIC）的理解，该周期描述了从提出问题和假设生成到数据解释的步骤，并强调科学探究的累积和循环特征。对SIC的初步了解是早期科学教育的一个重要目标。有证据表明，只适用SIC的个别步骤并不一定能促进对调查过程本身的理解，这需要明确的指导本身。目前还没有很好的理解，实际上是什么特点有效的学习环境，支持第一次理解的SIC幼儿。根据文献中现有的研究结果，有效的学习环境需要高质量的教学支持，其中具有挑战性的互动，特别是功能，如比较过程的诱导发生的关键组成部分。特别是，类比和比较的例子的形成是至关重要的获取广义知识，因为它们使跨上下文的转移。然而，到目前为止，它是未知的相似程度之间的例子促进或阻碍识别的对应关系和关系。当前项目的主要问题是，在什么条件下，5至6岁的儿童能够识别和比较SIC的步骤，并通过例子和背景，并发展对SIC的初步理解（而不仅仅是孤立的步骤）。目前的项目旨在提供因果证据的教学支持的作用，在理解SIC，并确定在何种情况下，这种学习发生最有效的。为了实现这一目标，我们采用了准实验干预研究与干预前和干预后的评估。在第一步中，我们比较了高教学支持的学习环境与对照组，参与了相同的科学活动，但没有教学支持的学习环境，并与基线组没有干预。在第二步中，我们比较了两个干预组的教学支持，不同方面探索概念上相似的科学现象和探索概念上不同的现象。主要因变量/目标结果是对SIC的初步理解。拟议项目的结果将从根本上告知我们的理解，创造有效的学习环境的背景下，在早期科学教育的程序知识。

Scientific literacy comprises two central knowledge components: First, a conceptual component that encompasses knowledge of concepts and theories and secondly, a procedural component that describes knowledge about the acquisition of scientific knowledge. The latter includes an understanding of the scientific inquiry cycle (SIC) which describes the steps from asking questions and hypothesis generation to data interpretation and emphasizes the cumulative and cyclic character of scientific inquiry. A first understanding of the SIC is an important goal in early science education. There is evidence that only applying the individual steps of the SIC does not necessarily promote understanding of the inquiry process on its own, which requires explicit instruction itself. Currently there is no good understanding of what actually characterizes effective learning environments that support a first understanding of the SIC for young children. Based on the existing findings in the literature, effective learning environments require high-quality instructional support, in which challenging interactions and in particular features such as the induction of comparison processes occur as critical components. In particular, the formation of analogies and comparisons of examples are crucial to the acquisition of generalized knowledge, because they enable transfer across contexts. So far, however, it is unknown whether the degree of similarity between examples facilitates or hinders recognizing the correspondences and relations. Main question of the current project is under what conditions children at the age of 5 to 6 years would be able to recognize and compare steps of the SIC across examples and contexts and develop a first understanding of the SIC (not only of the isolated steps). The current project seeks to provide causal evidence for the role of instructional support in understanding the SIC and additionally to identify circumstances under which such learning occurs most effectively. To achieve this objective, we employ a quasi-experimental intervention study with pre- and post-intervention assessments. In a first step we compare learning environments with high instructional support with a control group which participates in a learning environment with the same science activities but without instructional support and with a baseline group without intervention. In a second step we compare both intervention groups with instructional support which differ in regards to exploring conceptually similar scientific phenomena and exploring conceptually dissimilar phenomena. The main dependent variable/target outcome is a first understanding of the SIC. The results of the proposed project will fundamentally inform our understanding of creating effective learning environments in the context of procedural knowledge in early science education.