Journal of Science Education and Technology最新文献

Understanding the world around us is a growing necessity for the whole public, as citizens are required to make informed decisions in their everyday lives about complex issues. Systems thinking (ST) is a promising approach for developing solutions to various problems that society faces and has been acknowledged as a crosscutting concept that should be integrated across educational science disciplines. However, studies show that engaging students in ST is challenging, especially concerning aspects like change over time and feedback. Using computational system models and a system dynamics approach can support students in overcoming these challenges when making sense of complex phenomena. In this paper, we describe an empirical study that examines how 10th grade students engage in aspects of ST through computational system modeling as part of a Next Generation Science Standards-aligned project-based learning unit on chemical kinetics. We show students' increased capacity to explain the underlying mechanism of the phenomenon in terms of change over time that goes beyond linear causal relationships. However, student models and their accompanying explanations were limited in scope as students did not address feedback mechanisms as part of their modeling and explanations. In addition, we describe specific challenges students encountered when evaluating and revising models. In particular, we show epistemological barriers to fruitful use of real-world data for model revision. Our findings provide insights into the opportunities of a system dynamics approach and the challenges that remain in supporting students to make sense of complex phenomena and nonlinear mechanisms.

Digital electronics is a fundamental subject for engineering students, and it enables the students to learn design-based approaches and solve complex engineering problems. Students learn about minimization techniques for reducing the hardware components and size of the circuit by solving complex Boolean equations. The Karnaugh map (K-map) is one such technique utilized in digital electronics to solve complex Boolean equations and design AND-OR-INVERT (AOI) logical diagrams. The K-map technique involves several steps to solve the Boolean expression, and students often find it difficult to follow the K-map process. In this study, an AR-based learning system was developed using Unity 3D and Vuforia SDK that aimed to teach the students about the step-wise operation of the K-map technique. An experimental study was conducted with 128 undergraduate engineering students to determine the impact of the AR learning system on the critical thinking skills, learning motivation, and knowledge gain of students. The students were divided into two groups: experimental group (N = 64) and control group (N = 64). The AR learning system was implemented in flipped learning mode and utilized to provide in-class activities during the learning. The experimental group students utilized the AR learning system for in-class activities whereas control group students performed in-class activities using the traditional approach. The experimental outcomes indicate that the use of AR technology has a significant positive impact on the critical thinking skills, learning motivation, and knowledge gain of students. The study also found that critical thinking skills and learning motivation have a significant positive correlation with the knowledge gain of students in the experimental group.

Fostering technology-enhanced science learning in elementary schools is an ongoing challenge as young students are not always motivated to engage with science lessons. The use of technology, such as digital sensors and data recorders, has been found to result in higher engagement with science. However, the association between technology-enhanced science learning and students' motivation to learn, from a cross-cultural viewpoint, is still discussed among researchers. Thus, the goal of this study was twofold: (a) to examine the motivation to learn science of elementary school students from different countries and cultural backgrounds; (b) to identify phases of technology-enhanced science learning and their association with students' motivation. Applying the sequential mixed-methods research design, data were collected via questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and online observations. The study included seven experienced science teachers from the USA and Israel and 109 sixth-grade students: English speakers (N = 43), Arabic speakers (N = 26), and Hebrew speakers (N = 40). The findings indicated differences in students' internal motivation, in terms of "interest and enjoyment," "connection to daily-life," and "cross-cultural interactions," with medium ratings for "self-efficacy." The study identified and characterized two consecutive phases of technology-enhanced science learning-"divergence" and "convergence"-that can be associated with motivation to learn science. Overall, the study's results highlight the importance of seamlessly embedding technology to support cross-cultural learning of scientific practices.

Science learning is an important part of the K-12 educational experience, as well as in the lives of students. This study considered students' science learning as they engaged in the instruction of scientific issues with social relevance. With classroom environments radically changing during the COVID-19 pandemic, our study adapted to teachers and students as they were forced to change from more traditional, in-person instructional settings to virtual, online instruction settings. In the present study, we considered science learning during a scaffold-facilitated process, where secondary students evaluated the connections between lines of scientific evidence and alternative explanations about fossil fuels and climate change and gauged the plausibility of each explanation. Our investigation focused on the relations between students' levels of evaluations, shifts in plausibility judgments, and knowledge gains, and examined whether there were differences in these relations between in-person classroom settings and virtual classroom settings. The results revealed that the indirect relational pathway linking higher levels of evaluation, plausibility shifts toward a more scientific stance, and greater knowledge gains was meaningful and more robust than the direct relational pathway linking higher levels of evaluation to greater knowledge gains. The results also showed no meaningful difference between the two instructional settings, suggesting the potential adaptiveness and effectiveness of properly-designed, scaffolded science instruction.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10956-023-10046-z.