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doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2736(199901)36:1<1::AID-TEA2>3.0.CO;2-2pmid: N/A
Recently, a growing awareness of the relationship between assessment and learning has resulted in several major critiques of existing practice and proposals for reform in science education at national and regional levels. One initiative advocates the use of carefully constructed performance tasks that give students opportunities to demonstrate their understanding as they would in the world outside of school. The purpose of this study was to explore relationships among school students' (n = 189) acquisition of meaningful understandings of protein synthesis. Students were tested before and after protein synthesis instruction using a multiple choice assessment format and an open‐ended assessment format. The assessment instrument was designed to measure students' interrelated understanding of protein synthesis. An independent t‐test analysis was conducted on the posttests to measure retention of factual information and gender differences. Analysis of student‐generated analogies also revealed unique patterns in students' understandings of this topic. This research provides information for educators on students' acquisition of meaningful understandings of protein synthesis and has many implications for educators. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 1–22, 1999.
Musheno, Birgit V.; Lawson, Anton E.
doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2736(199901)36:1<23::AID-TEA3>3.0.CO;2-3pmid: N/A
Research has found the learning cycle to be effective for science instruction in hands‐on laboratories and interactive discussions. Can the learning cycle, in which examples precede the introduction of new terms, also be applied effectively to science text? A total of 123 high school students from two suburban schools were tested for reasoning ability, then randomly assigned to read either a learning cycle or traditional text passage. Immediate and delayed posttests provided concept comprehension scores that were analyzed by type of text passage and by reasoning level. Students who read the learning cycle passage earned higher scores on concept comprehension questions than those who read the traditional passage, at all reasoning levels. This result supports the hypothesis that reading comprehension and scientific inquiry involve similar information‐processing strategies and confirms the prediction that science text presented in the learning cycle format is more comprehensible for readers at all reasoning levels. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 23–37, 1999.
Gobert, Janice D.; Clement, John J.
doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2736(199901)36:1<39::AID-TEA4>3.0.CO;2-Ipmid: N/A
This research examines the beneficial effects of student‐generated diagrams versus student‐generated summaries on conceptual understanding in the domain of plate tectonics. Fifty‐eight Grade 5 students read a brief expository text about plate tectonics. During their reading of the text, students were asked to either draw diagrams, produce written summaries, or simply read the text (control). Conceptual understanding was measured by the diagrams and summaries which were generated during students' reading of the text, as well as by a posttest which assessed students' understanding of both spatial/static and causal/dynamic knowledge of the domain. Results indicated that the summaries generated during the reading of the text contained more domain‐related information than the diagrams which were generated during the reading of the text. However, on the posttest measures, the diagram group outperformed both the summary and text only groups in terms of understanding both the spatial/static as well as causal/dynamic aspects of the domain. Results are discussed with regard to the differential effects that generating diagrams as compared to generating summaries or simply reading has on both on‐line comprehension during reading and resulting conceptual understanding of the domain. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 39–53, 1999.
Harrison, Allan G.; Grayson, Diane J.; Treagust, David F.
doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2736(199901)36:1<55::AID-TEA5>3.0.CO;2-Ppmid: N/A
Many students enter physics courses with highly intuitive conceptions of nonobservable phenomena such as heat and temperature. The conceptions of heat and temperature are usually poorly differentiated and heat is often confused with internal energy. This article focuses on one student's cognitive and affective changes which occurred during the Grade 11 topic of heat and temperature. The instruction used an inquiry approach coupled with concept substitution strategies aimed at restructuring alternative conceptions identified using pretests. A constructivist perspective drove both the teaching and research, and Ausubel's theory of meaningful learning augmented the interpretive framework. The qualitative data comprising transcripts of all classroom discussions, student portfolios containing all of each student's written work, and teacher/researcher observations and reflections were collected and interpreted to generate a case study for one student named Ken. Ken's initial conceptual framework was undifferentiated with respect to heat and temperature. The course activities and concomitant use of concept substitution helped him differentiate these concepts and integrate them in a more scientifically acceptable way. A degree of affective and epistemological change was also identified as the course progressed. In‐depth examination of the student's prior, formative, and final conceptions showed that during this unit, the student progressively accepted greater responsibility for his learning, was willing to take cognitive risks, and became more critical and rigorous in both written and verbal problem solving. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 55–87, 1999.
Carter, Glenda; Westbrook, Susan L.; Thompkins, Cheryl D.
doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2736(199901)36:1<89::AID-TEA6>3.0.CO;2-7pmid: N/A
This report invokes a Vygotskian framework to examine students' use of science tools in a ninth‐grade physical science classroom. The study took place in the context of a unit on electric circuits. Data were collected by means of videotapes of class activities, transcripts of audiotaped interactions, daily work of students, and field notes. Analyses of the data through a framework of social cognition led the researchers to make four assertions concerning students' tools usage: (a) Students who were able to verbally relate the tools to everyday experiences perceived themselves—and were often perceived by their group—as tool experts. (b) Physically using the tools was a necessary prerequisite for using the tools as mediators of learning. (c) Boys initially dominated the use of tools. Girls who demanded use of the tools indicated an awareness of the importance of tool usage for mediating understanding. (d) If the tools were outside their zone of proximal development, students could not use the tools to develop an understanding of circuits. Implications of the findings suggest that students can be taught to collect data using the tools provided, but lack of familiarity with the tools renders those data meaningless. Conceptual progress may be hindered by the students' need first to understand the tools in terms of everyday applications. The progressive use of tools across school grade levels could provide opportunities for students to build everyday repertoires with respect to those tools. If students are expected to develop conceptual understandings through the interaction of laboratory and discussion (as is the case with the learning cycle model), then it is essential that the tools and activities implemented in laboratory investigations be selected on the basis of their match with both the students' zones of proximal development and their everyday experiences. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 89–105, 1999.
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