Scientific Reasoning Research Institute - CLSG

Energy in the Human Body is freely available

lstephens — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 18:08:16 +0000

Energy in the Human Body, A Middle School Life Science Curriculum
Access the Energy in the Human Body curriculum here: http://www.cesd.umass.edu/energyinthehumanbody/

Or learn more about this curriculum under Products, above.

Energy in the Human Body

lstephens — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 16:16:41 +0000

A Middle School Life Science Curriculum

Group Page:

CLSG

by:

Mary Anne Rea-Ramirez, Maria Nunez-Oviedo, John Clement

Energy in the Human Body is an exciting curriculum for grades 6-8 based on learning theory. It actively engages students and teachers in the construction of new knowledge through multiple strategies. With it, teachers take on the role of facilitator and co-constructor with your students.

Because we believe youth need and want to take responsibility for their own bodies and their health, we feel it is important to find better ways to help them construct mental models of their bodies that they can use to reason about their world. That is the purpose of this curriculum. In addition, new teaching strategies for helping students in the difficult process of constructing mental models of complex topics have been developed. We hope you will find it useful both in teaching this curriculum and in other areas as well.

Go to the Curriculum: http://www.cesd.umass.edu/energyinthehumanbody/

The Energy in the Human Body curriculum is the result of eight years of research on student learning and teaching strategies that assist students in constructing complex mental models of how their bodies work. It has been developed by a team of researchers and expert teachers in an attempt to find strategies that help students learn important concepts in life science. Students learn about how their own bodies use the energy they get from food. They learn why we breathe in oxygen, and breathe out carbon dioxide. Most importantly, they learn why their bodies are designed the way they are and apply this knowledge to common everyday occurrences. Instead of simply memorizing vocabulary, students learn concepts that will be important in their study of Biology later in their academic career. Students will have a chance to relate structure to function, to understand how the way a part of the body is structured relates to the way it works.

Supported by grants from the National Science Foundation [ESI-9911401 and REC-0231808] John Clement, PI. Copyright 2004 Mary Anne Rea-Ramirez. All rights reserved.
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

CLSG Debuts a Website for Educators!

lstephens — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 01:40:07 +0000

http://www.umass.edu/teachingstrategies/.

In the fall of 2015, CLSG took "Strategies For Using Interactive Simulations In Science Class" live. This website contains a collection of approximately 40 strategies for using simulations in science classes, with examples of the strategies in use during real science class discussions.

New Journal Articles

lstephens — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 01:04:28 +0000

In 2015, CLSG authors published in the International Journal of Science Education and Computers & Education.

In 2015, Grant Williams and John Clement had an article in the International Journal of Science Education, Identifying multiple levels of discussion-based teaching strategies for constructing scientific models.
https://www.srri.umass.edu/node/664

Also in 2015, Lynn Stephens and John Clement had an article in Computers & Education, Identifying multiple levels of discussion-based teaching strategies for constructing scientific models.
https://www.srri.umass.edu/node/662

Norman Price and John Clement published an article in Science Scope in 2014, Generating, evaluating, and modifying scientific models using projected computer simulations.
https://www.srri.umass.edu/node/667

Strategies For Using Interactive Simulations In Science Class

lstephens — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 00:47:24 +0000

a website for educators

Group Page:

CLSG

Contact(s):

Clement, John

Funding:

NSF Grants DRL-1222709 and DRL-0723709

http://www.umass.edu/teachingstrategies/

This manual is the product of a long-term project designed to investigate the different teaching strategies that science teachers use with simulations in the classroom. The site contains a collection of approximately 40 strategies for using simulations in science classes.

The manual is set up in two sections shown in the lists below. The first section is composed of nine core strategies and contains some video examples. We chose to highlight these strategies because they show different ways simulations can be used to enhance science lessons and support student learning. Many of these strategies have not been written about before.

Strategies for Leading Classroom Discussions Aimed at Core Ideas and Scientific Modeling Practices

lstephens — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 00:35:15 +0000

Group Page:

CLSG

Starting date:

2015-08-01

Contact: John Clement
Funding: NSF DRK-12 Program # DRL-1503456

This NSF funded project is conducting classroom case studies in the areas of high school mechanics and electricity, and middle school life sciences in order to identify key discussion leading strategies used by exemplary teachers. It will also combine the results of the case studies with studies of expert scientists reasoning practices to develop an integrated theoretical framework for model based learning in science.

Identifying Science Teaching Strategies for Promoting Reasoned Discussions of Concepts and Simulations

lstephens — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 00:23:08 +0000

Group Page:

CLSG

Starting date:

2012-09-01

Contact: John Clement
Funding: NSF DRK-12 Program, DRL- 1222709

This project used classroom video tapes to identify discussion leading strategies that science teachers use to promote understanding in science classes, including classes that use computer simulations.

CLSG Group had Visiting Professor from Chile through March 2015

Jang Kreetong — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 13:58:21 +0000

The CLSG group under Prof. Clement had a visitor through March 2015. Prof. Maris Nunez-Oviedo was here on a prestigious Fellowship from the Chilean government. She was doing joint research with the group on analysis of teaching strategies for model base learning. Maria is an alum of the College of Education and is now back at the University of Concepcion in Chile. She continues to communicate with CLSG and brings an important perspective on teacher education for model based learning.

Related Paper Set at NARST

msadams — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:29:12 +0000

Four members of CLSG presented a related paper set at the Annual International Meeting of NARST in Orlando Florida. The title of the set was Discussion-Based Teaching Strategies to Support Mental Modeling: Animated Images, Static Images, and Mental Imaging. Presenters were Grant Williams, Norm Price, Abi Leibovich, and Lynn Stephens and Phil Scott was discussant. A large set of model-based teaching strategies gathered over a period of several years from classroom observations, transcript analyses, and teacher interviews are examined through multiple lenses.

Multiple Levels of Discussion-Based Teaching Strategies for Supporting Students’ Construction of Mental Models, by E. Grant Williams and John J. Clement, describes teaching strategies that experienced high school physics educators utilized during whole-class discussions to engage their students in the construction of explanatory mental models. These fell at distinct levels including dialogic and model construction levels.

Comparative Case Studies of Discussion Strategies Used in Dynamic Computer Simulation and Static Image-Based Lessons, by Norman Price and John J. Clement, uses comparative case studies to describe and compare large group discussion strategies used in computer simulation and static overhead based lessons. It suggests that a simulation can be useful not only because it has a dynamic mode but also because it has a static mode.

Hands On Small-Group vs. Whole Class Use of Animations and Simulations: Comparative Case Studies in Projectile Motion, by A. Lynn Stephens, uses comparative case study analyses to compare teacher and student strategies for using interactive simulations in either small group or whole class settings in high school physics. It considers possible explanations for why the hands-on small group work did not produce better results than the whole class work.

Discussion-Based Strategies for Use of Simulations and Animations in Middle and High School Science Classrooms, by Abi Leibovitch, A. Lynn Stephens, Norman Price, and John J. Clement, describes the process by which many of the strategies for using simulations were gathered and how they were organized using teacher feedback. It also highlights some trends that were observed in the strategies themselves.

New Book Chapter in International Handbook, March 2012

msadams — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:14:34 +0000

A. Lynn Stephens and John J. Clement are proud to announce the publication of a chapter in the Second International Handbook of Science Education (Springer), Chapter 13: The role of thought experiments in science and science learning. In this chapter, we review selected studies of thought experiments used by both experts and students and attempt to develop some useful definitions and conceptual distinctions. We then apply these in an analysis of a classroom episode as an example of the roles thought experiments can play in productive whole class discussions. We are interested in this area because thought experiments are one example of the kinds of creative reasoning of which experts and students appear to be capable of under the right conditions.

Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students: The Role of Imagery, Analogy, and Mental Simulation

Jang Kreetong — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:24:03 +0000

Group Page:

CLSG

Contact(s):

Clement, John

by:

John Clement

This monograph presents a theory of creativity and imagery-based conceptual learning in science that was developed on the basis of think-aloud protocols from experts and students.

How do scientists use analogies and other processes to break away from old theories and generate new ones? This book documents such methods through the analysis of video tapes of scientifically trained experts thinking aloud while working on unfamiliar problems. Some aspects of creative scientific thinking are difficult to explain, such as the power of analogies, the use of physical intuition, and the enigmatic ability to learn from thought experiments. The book examines the hypothesis that these processes are based on imagistic mental simulation as an underlying mechanism. This allows the analysis of insight ("Aha!") episodes of creative theory formation. Advanced processes examined include specialized conserving transformations, Gedanken experiments, and adjusted levels of divergence in thinking. Student interviews are used to show that students have natural abilities for many of these basic reasoning and model construction processes and that this has important implications for expanding instructional theories of conceptual change and inquiry.

Table of Contents:

http://people.umass.edu/clement/pdf/ClementCreativeTOC.pdf

Annotated Table of Contents:

http://people.umass.edu/clement/pdf/ClementCreativeAnnotatedTOCf.doc

Model Based Learning and Instruction in Science

Jang Kreetong — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:15:50 +0000

Group Page:

CLSG

This book is a collection of chapters by our research team describing new, model-based teaching methods for science instruction. It presents research on their characteristics and effectiveness, exploring them in a very diverse group of settings: middle school biology, high school physics, and college chemistry classrooms. Mental models in these areas such as understanding the structure of the lungs or cells, molecular structures and reaction mechanisms in chemistry, or causes of current flow in electricity are notoriously difficult for many students to learn. Yet these lie at the core of conceptual understanding in these areas. Six different levels of organization for teaching strategies are described, from those operating over months (design of the sequence of units in a curriculum) to those operating over minutes (teaching tactics for guiding discussion minute by minute).

Clement Authors Three New Books

root — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:07:00 +0000

John Clement and colleagues have three new books out. Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students: The Role of Imagery, Analogy, and Mental Simulation is a monograph developing a theory of creativity and imagery-based conceptual learning in science, developed through his research using think-aloud protocols from experts and students. Model Based Learning and Instruction in Science, co-edited with Mary Anne Ramirez, is a collection of chapters by Clement's research team describing new, model-based teaching methods for science instruction. The second edition of Preconceptions in Mechanics, written with Charles Camp and others, is an updated set of lessons for dealing with some of the most difficult concepts in introductory mechanics.

Deepening Conceptual Understanding in Middle School Life Science

root — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:47:26 +0000

Group Page:

CLSG

Contact(s):

Clement, John

Funding:

US National Science Foundation grant #9911401

Starting date:

2000-04-15

This NSF project is completing a model-based curriculum on Energy and the Human Body at the middle school level and investigating ways of teaching complex visual models in science.

Model Construction Processes in Experts

root — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:44:50 +0000

Contact(s):

Clement, John

This project complements and provides input to our science education projects by attempting to understand model construction and learning processes in expert scientists, with an emphasis on the roles of analogy, imagery, and thought experiments.

Visual Modeling Strategies in Science Teaching

root — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:40:20 +0000

Finding principles of instruction for developing students' visualizable models in science

Group Page:

CLSG

Contact(s):

Clement, John

Funding:

US National Science Foundation grant #0723709

Starting date:

2007-08-15

This NSF-funded project seeks principles of instruction for developing students' visualizable models in science, including design principles for curriculum development, technological tools, and new pedagogical principles. We are pursuing specific aspects of this goal by conducting detailed studies of teaching and learning in the context of innovative model based curricula in middle school biology, and in middle and high school physical science. Two parallel tracks of the research are:

studying classroom interaction patterns fostering the learning of visual models, and
analyzing the use of computer simulations and animations in large class discussions to scaffold students' ability to construct their own animated mental models.

Clement Receives National Award for Research in Science Teaching

root — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:50:22 +0000

SRRI's own John Clement has received the Distinguished Contributions to Science Education Through Research Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST). The award, announced on April 7, is granted to an individual who has made a continuing contribution, provided notable leadership, and had substantial impact on science education through research sustained over a period of at least 20 years.

Dean Andrew Effrat stated, "This prestigious award represents the highest recognition that NARST can bestow for contributions to the field of science education through exemplary, high quality research. It is a very significant honor for John and an important acknowledgment of his work."

One of Clement's contributions was to uncover learning difficulties experienced by science students. He found that students who could solve problems using complicated formulas sometimes did extremely poorly on very basic qualitative problems. Their responses revealed that these students tended to hold "alternative conceptions" that are opposed to what scientists have found to be true, for example, the incorrect idea that a heavy object falls more rapidly in a vacuum than a light object. He also uncovered a considerable number of positive intuitions students possess that are in agreement with scientific theory and that can be used as starting points for instruction. By using experiments and classroom discussions to first draw out and then contrast these two kinds of beliefs, science teachers can promote students' thinking and inquiry skills as well as their deeper understanding of science topics.

In discussing his research, John Clement explained, "This basic research on students' learning difficulties in science education has led to the development of curricula that are now being used by thousands of teachers, underlining the importance of the long term effects of research for changing practices in the field."

Preconceptions in Mechanics

root — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:49:20 +0000

Lessons dealing with conceptual difficulties

Group Page:

CLSG

by Charles Camp and John Clement. Contributing authors: David Brown, Kimberly Gonzalez, John Kudukey, James Minstrell, Klaus Schultz, Melvin Steinberg, Valerie Veneman, and Aletta Zietsman. College Park, MD: American Association of Physics Teachers. Second Edition 2010.

The nine units in this high school physics curriculum focus on areas where students have exhibited qualitative preconceptions --- ideas that they bring to class with them prior to instruction in physics. Research has shown that certain preconceptions conflict with the physicist's point of view. It has also shown that some of these conflicting preconceptions are quite persistent and seem to resist change in the face of normal instructional techniques. The motivating idea for this book is to provide a set of lessons that are aimed specifically at these particularly troublesome areas and that use special techniques for dealing with them. Ideas in the lessons can be used to supplement any course that includes mechanics. Many preconceptions that pose difficulties are not simply random errors, nor are they due to inattention or failure to remember key ideas. To help a student learn physics in areas where there are persistent preconceptions, these lessons use a number of special strategies. Most lessons are built around a target problem (a problem designed to draw out a conflicting preconception that has been shown to be present in many students). Another strategy is the use of anchoring analogies or examples--situations where many students' intuitions are in agreement with the physicist's view. Such an intuition can be developed as a rival to, and eventually predominate over, a conflicting preconception.