精东影业

As fans of Sherlock Holmes know, the master detective frequently admonishes his biographer and sidekick, 鈥淵ou see, Watson, but you do not observe.鈥� So it is with many students in science classes, who may take in the teacher鈥檚 words and do the experiments, but still not really 鈥渟ee鈥� how the deeper scientific principles are embodied in these activities.

Students鈥� ability to perceive underlying concepts and ideas is related to their ability to 鈥渢ransfer鈥� the formulas and principles they learn to new situations and contexts 鈥� or as Holmes says, 鈥淵ou know my methods. Apply them.鈥� Yet, as many assessments show, that outcome is the exception, not the rule.

One strategy for changing that picture has been the recent introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards and the proliferation of coding clubs, robotics competitions and maker labs in schools and afterschool programs 鈥� all aimed at improving deep conceptual learning through the use of hands-on engineering activities.

These activities are engaging, but they can backfire. Without the guidance of well-trained teachers, learners may focus on procedure 鈥� say, getting wires connected 鈥� instead of on the principles that underlie them, such as the interaction of resistance, current and voltage. They may rely on 鈥渢rial鈥恆nd鈥恊rror approaches to generating problem solutions instead of careful application of and reflection on scientific principles,鈥� write Catherine Chase, Assistant Professor of Cognitive Studies, Laura Malkiewich (Ph.D.'18), a research scientist with the education technology company 2U; and TC doctoral candidate Aakash S. Kumar, in a paper titled published in January in Science Education. 鈥淓ven worse, the hands鈥恛n nature of many engineering projects makes them susceptible to devolving into mere 鈥榓rts and crafts鈥� projects.鈥�

鈥淣oticing,鈥� as the researchers define it, is the process of actively selecting and interpreting relevant information from the broader environment 鈥� and 鈥渉igher-level鈥� noticing describes awareness of a concept, principle, or a relation between deep features.

鈥淣oticing,鈥� as Chase, Malkiewich and Kumar define it, is the process of actively selecting and interpreting relevant information from the broader environment 鈥� and 鈥渉igher-level鈥� noticing describes awareness of a concept, principle, or a relation between deep features 鈥� for example, conservation of energy, rate of change, and variance.

How to promote higher-level noticing?

Chase, Malkiewich and Kumar assigned two groups of learners an engineering task 鈥� to build a Lego cantilever. However, some of the participants were also asked to analyze 鈥渃ontrasting cases鈥� 鈥� examples that systematically vary deep features that connect to the underlying concepts. The researchers found that these participants subsequently demonstrated an enhanced ability to notice the physics concept of 鈥渃enter-of-mass鈥� within the task they were performing, and that most showed a superior ability to transfer the concept to non-engineering contexts. All the students who noticed the deeper science content in the engineering task 鈥� regardless of whether they were exposed to contrasting cases 鈥� developed more successful engineering products and demonstrated a greater ability to transfer content to different contexts.

How might these findings be applied? 精东影业 should help their students to perceive the underlying concepts and ideas embedded in learning activities. Contrasting examples is a good way to help learners 鈥渟ee.鈥� Students might present and contrast their designs or engineering products through 鈥済allery walks,鈥� or collect contrasting examples of engineering products from the real world to share and discuss with the class. More research is needed before strong recommendations can be made for instructional practice. But Chase, Malkiewich and Kumar confess to being 鈥渃autiously optimistic.鈥�

The game, it seems, is afoot.

— Joe Levine