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Contrasting Cases can Facilitate Middle School Science Learning at Scale

Contrasting Cases can Facilitate Middle School Science Learning at Scale. Christian Schunn, Liz Richey, Louis Alfieri, Kalyani Raghavan , & Mary Sartoris.

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Contrasting Cases can Facilitate Middle School Science Learning at Scale

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  1. Contrasting Cases can Facilitate Middle School Science Learning at Scale Overview Christian Schunn, Liz Richey, Louis Alfieri, KalyaniRaghavan, & Mary Sartoris Funded by: Grant R305C080009 to The 21st Century Partnership for STEM Education. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the U.S. Department of Education

  2. The 21st Century Center for Research and Development in Cognition and Science Overview Objective: To improve current science curricula and identify general principles for the design of curriculum that could be easily applied to other science curricula to improve student learning. The 21st Century Partnership for STEM Education

  3. The Design Challenge Textbook • Kit based Overview

  4. Overview of Cognitive Science Principles Contrasting Cases:Introducing new material by simultaneously comparing and contrasting several relevant cases Prior Knowledge & Misconceptions:Identifying areas of known conceptual difficulty in science learning in order to guide emphasis in planning modifications and conducting teacher professional development Visualizations:Helping students gain proficiency with conventions used in scientific graphics, such as labeling, captions, relative scale, perspective, etc. Spaced Testing: Systematically revisiting material learned earlier and having students recall it repeatedly over extended periods of time Overview & PK/Misconceptions

  5. Contrasting Cases—Theory Multiple analogs, restatement of principle support schema acquisition (Gick & Holyoak, 1983) Guided comparison better than instructions to compare only (Gentner, Lowenstein, & Thompson, 2003) Contrasting cases before direct instruction are more beneficial (Schwartz & Bransford, 1998) Analogies used in classrooms, often without cognitive supports (Richland, Zur, & Holyoak, 2007) Theory

  6. Contrasting Cases: It’s this one! • Science seeks make parsimonious explanations of complex phenomena: • Only some features of rich situations participate • Features can be abstract • Students often don’t see these features • Experiments, lectures, readings are then misencoded Theory

  7. Contrasting cases-Example (Same? Different?) Intervention

  8. Conduct within-category contrasts to pull out critical features T. rex • lived 65 to 68 million yrs ago • ate other animals • found on land • move by walking upright • made up of many different kinds of cells • each cell has nucleus • move • ingest food found in environment • reproduce sexually Intervention • found in African rainforests • also walks on all fours • eats fruits, leaves, and small animals • found in marine environments • moves by swimming • eats plankton Bonobo Barnacle

  9. Conduct between-category contrasts to highlight similarities and differences Intervention

  10. Followed by reading/lecture(or science experiment) Intervention

  11. Many Issues in Translation • Same effect in both curricula? • Inquiry -> More direct instruction • Textbook -> More inquiry • Incomplete principles (many decisions remain) • No free time: What gets deleted? Intervention

  12. Pilot Study, Textbook Unit • 3 teachers, teach both ways across sections • 112 Control students • 168 Experimental students Pilot Data

  13. Monster Study, Textbook Unit Mobster Study, Textbook Unit

  14. Monster Study, Textbook Unit Mobster Study, Textbook Unit

  15. Large Study, Inquiry Unit Large Study, Inquiry Unit

  16. Large Study, Inquiry Unit Large Study, Inquiry Unit

  17. Next steps • Wave 2: More assessment practice • Cases propose, materials refine, what cements? • Fidelity of implementation? • How do teachers enact at the micro-level? • What factors prevent enactment at the macro-level? Overview

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