The Impact of Student-Constructed Animation on Middle School Students’ Learning about Plate Tectonics (original) (raw)
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Developing Middle School Students’ Interest in Learning Science and Geology Through Slowmation
Research in Science Education, 2018
Given that interest is associated with learning in educational research, understanding how its development can be supported in different learning contexts represents an important line of inquiry. In this study, we investigate the influence of the slowmation construction process on middle school students' interest in learning science and geology. Both quantitative and qualitative data were generated from four classes of ninth grade students; two classes participated in the construction of a slowmation about tectonic plate boundaries (n = 52) and two classes experienced a state-mandated program of instruction (n = 43). The students completed the Student Interest in Learning Science Survey, a Likert-style instrument, which examined their level of situational and individual interest prior to their participation in the study and upon their completion of the construction task or mandated instruction. Statistical analyses of these data revealed that the students who constructed a slowmation demonstrated significant increases in their interest in learning science and geology, while the students who experienced regular classroom instruction demonstrated lower levels of interest by the end of the study. Interview data obtained from students who constructed a slowmation suggest that the construction process afforded opportunities to work and learn in active, hands-on and collective ways; to exercise creativity; and to engage with technology. Importantly, increases in students' interest appeared to emerge from the early attentional and affective stages of their interest development, rather than through a meaningful connection to the geological subject matter, which has theoretical implications for interest research in learning contexts.
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether static or dynamic visualizations are more effective on students’ understanding. It compares instruction with static visualizations and instruction with dynamic visualizations which is designed to help teach plate tectonics and earthquake concepts to 8th grade students. A quasi-experimental design is implemented to 42 eighth grade students (control n=22, experimental n=20) in a public primary school in İstanbul. The experimental group received instruction with dynamic animations (animations) while the control group studied the same material with static pictures of the same animations. Student learning was investigated by the quantitative analysis of test measuring conceptual understanding and qualitative analysis of the classroom discourse. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test analysis shows that there is a statistical significance between pretest and posttest scores of the students in control and the experimental group. However, Mann-Whitney U Test result shows that there is no difference between the different types of visualizations with respect to students learning. Although there is no significant difference between two groups, qualitative analysis reveals that students in experimental group are more participant and ask more and complex questions during the classroom conversations.
Journal of Geoscience Education, 2019
Plate tectonics is the organizing paradigm of geosciences, but it is also conceptually complex, and students often struggle with developing a system level understanding of the earth. This article reports on research designed to create a characterization of the different levels of sophistication around plate tectonics in the form of a learning progression for middle grades (grades 6-9). A learning progression is an educational research construct that can guide curriculum, assessment, and instruction by creating a description not just of students' misunderstandings but of a sequential pattern of increasingly sophisticated and productive student conceptions. This article reports on research findings from a 7-year National Science Foundation-funded project focused on the teaching and learning of earth and space science, which engaged in hundreds of conceptual interviews with students in diverse contexts across the state of Pennsylvania. This article focuses on the implications for higher education faculty in geosciences with regard to the preparation of students, the likely alternative conceptions they may hold, and hence instructional approaches to help their ideas mature toward a normative scientific understanding.
Geosciences
Well-crafted and scientifically accurate videos and animations can be effective ways to teach dynamic Earth processes such as continental rifting, both in live course offerings as well as in online settings. However, a quick search of the internet reveals too few high-quality videos/animations describing deep Earth processes. We have modified a hybrid 10.5 min video/animation about continental rifting and the formation of new oceans and passive continental margins created for an upper-division geology audience, retailoring it for a lower-division geology audience. A key challenge in successfully modifying such resources is aligning the cognitive load that the video/animation imposes on students, in part related to the technical geoscientific jargon used in explaining such phenomena, with that which they encounter on these topics in their textbooks and classrooms. We used expert feedback obtained at a 2019 GeoPRISMS (Geodynamic Processes at Rifting and Subducting Margins) workshop in...
Junior secondary school students' conceptions about plate tectonics
International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 2016
There are ongoing calls for research that identifies students' conceptions about geographical phenomena. In response, this study investigates junior secondary school students' (N=95) conceptions about plate tectonics. Student response data was generated from semi-structured interviews-about-instances and a two-tiered multiple-choice test instrument developed and validated by the researchers. There were three main findings: (1) students held many alternative conceptions about plate tectonics, most of which have not been reported in previous research; (2) students' alternative conceptions most commonly concerned the formation of landforms at tectonic plate boundaries; and (3) students were especially confused about the cause of subduction at an oceanic-continental convergent plate boundary. The findings of this study can assist geography teachers and researchers to develop innovative pedagogies that consider students' pre-instructional alternative conceptions and promote conceptual change learning.
cgu.org.tw
In this example, the students' original model has two views: a cross section view, and a crustal layer view. Their model and explanation include no causal mechanisms in terms of what happens inside the earth when mountains are formed; thus, it is a local model . In the critique from their learning partners', it was suggested that the students include the direction of movement of the plates. This is a high level comment in that it reflects that the reviewers knew that this information was important to the causality of the system being depicted. The critique also includes comments related to the model as a communication tool, i.e., they suggested that the students include a cross section view rather than a bird's eye view which is good comment regarding the model as a communication tool. The revised model includes the earth in cross section form with a cut away that includes information about the plates moving toward each other. In addition the students have added the mantle as a causal mechanism. Although not a significant advance from the point of view of including more detailed causal information, the revised model is a better model from a communication standpoint, as was requested by their learning partners.
2020
Learning science involves students engaging in disciplinary discourses. In this case study, middle school earth science students were led through an online module designed to support exploration of plate tectonics through the use of interactive data visualization and simulation tools. This study investigates how teacher questioning, curricular features, or other student’s talk scaffold progressive discourse. Preliminarily findings revealed that students’ participation in progressive discourse is predicated on teacher-supported sensemaking and a learning environment that scaffolds student questioning and exploration.
Recent decades have seen multiple calls, internationally, for enhanced earth science education. At present, quality earth science education in grade school is rare, increasing the importance of post-secondary courses. Research within the post-secondary environment demonstrates that students often maintain ideas about the earth that are not coherent with scientific consensus, even after direct instruction. This qualitative case study documents model-building activities of a group of five students as they experience classroom instruction that braids history, inquiry, and model-based-learning within the context of earthquakes and plate tectonics. Based on transcripts of students’ conversations and their written work, we observed that students primarily employed model accretion to enhance their mental models during activities. These instances of accretion were most often descriptive in character, pertaining to what their model consists of, as opposed to how it explains the target phenomenon. In instances where learning did not parallel the planned trajectory, participants conflated “continent” with “tectonic plate” and had difficulty attributing elastic properties – the mechanism for earthquakes – to rocks or “plates”. We assert that the documented learning difficulties resulted from use of the metaphor “tectonic plate”, reinforced by other everyday experiences and meanings. We suggest students need time with new models or concepts to develop strong descriptions before developing explanations. They need concrete experiences and explicit discussions concerning mapping those experiences to concepts. Lastly, because students often apply common meanings to scientific terms, we should not ask if a student understands the concept, but ask how they understand the concept.
The approaches and interpretations of a class of 6th graders and a class of 8th graders in a U.S. middle school asked to engage in tasks that involved using observations to describe and classify samples is the subject of this paper. Overall 8th graders were better able to perform the tasks, suggesting a developmental advantage aspect. However, the descriptions of the rock and mineral samples recorded by students can be considered salient for identification purposes. However, the descriptions were not recognized as salient features by most of the grade 6th and 8th U.S. students.
Journal of Arts and Humanities
In this study, the researchers developed two visual representations for use in the geosciences context. One of the study’s goals was to demonstrate the educational value of distinguishing realistic from abstract visual representations in order to explore which type of representation most improves students’ cognitive understanding and learning of science. Four 4th-grade students were observed and videotaped while interacting with the developed representations. The researchers used the results to develop recommendations regarding useful pedagogical imagery.