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IDDEAS: Introducing Desirable Difficulties for Educational Applications in Science

Explore the implementation of desirable difficulties in astronomy curricula to improve long-term learning outcomes in science classrooms.

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IDDEAS: Introducing Desirable Difficulties for Educational Applications in Science

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  1. IDDEAS: Introducing Desirable Difficulties for Educational Applications in Science Classroom studies of desirable difficulties implemented in astronomy curricula Britte Haugan Cheng Graduate School of Education University of California, Berkeley

  2. IDDEAS • Collaboration between UC, Berkeley and UCLA (M. Linn and R. Bjork) • Complementary lab and classroom studies investigate the role of Desirable Difficulties in learning (cf. Bjork) • Desirable Difficulties are aspects of training or instruction that may initially hamper learning but produce improved learning versus a control group over the long-term (e.g. spacing between training or learning events, generation of information (vs. recall), interleaved instruction (vs. blocked), etc.)

  3. Study One: Examining Instruction and Reflection Will blocked or interleaved sequence of instruction better support student learning? Will reflection prompts that address single concepts or those that integrate multiple concepts better support student learning? Study Two: Examining Reflection in Depth Will reflection prompts that address single concepts or those that integrate multiple concepts better support student learning? Will animated visualizations or static visualizations presented as part of reflection prompts better support students’ learning? Research Questions

  4. Study One Bay Area urban public school ~140 8th grade students Large range of reading ability Large range of SES Teacher has over 10 years experience (new to WISE) Study Two Bay Area suburban public school ~185 8th grade students Some range of reading ability Some range of SES Teacher’s second year teaching (and second year teaching WISE) Research Settings

  5. Timelines

  6. Study One Study Two Participant Conditions

  7. Stimuli: WISE Environment • In both studies, instruction was delivered via WISE (Web-based Inquiry Science Environment) • Using WISE, it was possible to carefully control: • instructional delivery (sequence and wording) • Reflection prompts • Visual stimuli

  8. Stimuli: WISE Activities Students are introduced to basic physics principles in the context of the search for life on planets outside our solar system: • Planetary characteristics • properties of mutual gravitation • astronomical measurement and scale

  9. Stimuli: Blocking vs. Interleaving

  10. Stimuli: Example Integration Prompts (Study One) • Blocked Presentation Order: • Planets with very little mass will most likely not have an atmosphere which helps keeps the surface of the planet warm enough for liquid water to exist.  • Venus has less mass than Earth, but smaller objects do not always have less mass than larger objects.  • Interleaved Presentation Order: • In our solar system, the rocky or terrestrial planets are closest to the sun which means that these planets have a warmer temperature.  • In our solar system, there are no jovian or gas-based planets within the habitable zone.  Bold = term to be filled-in by the student

  11. Stimuli: Example Static-visual Prompt (Study Two) *Static visuals are screen shots of animated visuals. Students in the animated condition will see a moving version of static prompts.

  12. Stimuli: The Modeling Task • Assessing the habitability and detectability of planets, students… • Examine models and data of the familiar 9 sol-system planets • Make and justify qualitative (i.e. yes/no) predictions for each of 5 fictitious extrasolar planets • Model each extrasolar planet and test their predictions • Explain why none of the planets detected by scientists are habitable • Determine if it is possible for a planet to be both habitable and detectible. *View laptop below for demo of environment

  13. Sun A Planet A 1/2 AU 1.5 AUs Planet B Sun Sun B Stimuli: Example Test Items • Recall “A planet that has a _______ shaped orbit could be within the ___________ _______ for part of the orbit and outside of it for the rest of the time.” • Open-ended/Integration “ In the drawing below, there are 5 planets orbiting a sun that is much like our own sun. Two arrows indicate the average distance between the sun and the planet the arrow is pointing to. Circle the planet you think is most habitable. Explain why you think the planet you chose is the most habitable.” • Transfer (S2 only) “Which planet would be more detectable? Both planets are the same mass and are 1 AU from their companion star. Explain your answer.”

  14. Desirable Difficulty No Desirable Difficulty Results: Study One Pre/Post Scores on Recall Items Reflection Prompt: F (1,115) = 7.168 , p =.009 Order of Instruction: F (1,115)= 3.599, p = .06

  15. Desirable Difficulty No Desirable Difficulty Results: Study OneOpen-ended items (Post-test) Prompt Order Reflection Prompt: F (1,115) = 18.769 , p = .000 Order of Instruction: F (1,115) = 1.989, p = .16

  16. Desirable Difficulty No Desirable Difficulty Results: Study OneModeling Task Scores Prompt Order Reflection Prompt: F (1,94) = 12.422 , p = .001 Order of Instruction: F (1,94) = 6.010, p = .016

  17. Desirable Difficulty No Desirable Difficulty Results: Study Two Post-Test Prompt Visual Reflection Prompt: F (1,172) = 3.946 , p = .049 Visualization: F (1,172)= 1.134, p = .288

  18. Desirable Difficulty No Desirable Difficulty Results: Study TwoModeling Task Scores Prompt Visual Reflection Prompt: F (1,180) = 2.418 , p = .122 Visualization: F (1,180)= 0, p = .992

  19. Conclusions • Study One: • Interleaving was beneficial for student learning. • Reflection opportunities that prompted students to integrate concepts was even more beneficial than interleaving • Study Two: • Opportunities for students to integrate information are essential whether in the form of reflection prompts or instructional design • Animation nominally supported students learning in both prompt condition • Long-term effects may take longer to appear in classroom settings

  20. Implications for future research • Future studies in both the lab and in classrooms could build from this work to closely examine: • reflection prompts that ask participants to integrate specific concepts in order to determine whether there are ideal sets of concepts that when integrated maximally support student learning in this domain • visual stimuli to determine whether animations of particular concepts are more effective than those in Study Two in supporting student learning

  21. Spring ‘04 IDDEAS Studies • UCB: • Examine two versions of visualization • Animations vs. Mathematical/graphic representation (analogous) • Continue examination of interleaving • Habitability and detectability (similar level of analysis/structure as visualizations and other pivotal materials) • UCLA: • Examine complex vs. simple generation • Companion to completed classroom studies • Examine the role of analogic structure of two domains • genetics

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