scholarly journals Mechanistic Learning Goals Enhance Elementary Student Understanding and Enjoyment of Heart Lessons

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Betz ◽  
Frank Keil
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Science Learning ◽  
School Science ◽  
Student Understanding ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Elementary Student ◽  
Learning Goal ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Biological Entities

Biologists, lay adults, and children alike value causalexplanations of how biological entities work. Despite this,elementary school science education has historically lackedmechanistic content. In line with recent science educationstandards, we investigated the effects of mechanistic learninggoals on understanding of an in-depth lesson about how theheart works. Children ages 6 to 11 who were given mechanistic learning goals performed better on knowledge assessments of the heart lesson and enjoyed their learning goal more than children who were given a relatively superficial learning goal—to focus on labels. Thus, learning goals orienting children towards mechanistic content during lessons enhance science learning and enjoyment.

scholarly journals The resurgence of everyday experiences in school science learning activities

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 1019-1045
Author(s):  
Anttoni Kervinen ◽  
Wolff-Michael Roth ◽  
Kalle Juuti ◽  
Anna Uitto
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Science Learning ◽  
Instructional Support ◽  
School Science ◽  
Conceptual Learning ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
The World ◽  
Everyday World ◽  
Familiar World

AbstractScience education can be alienating for students, as it is apart from the mundane world with which they are familiar. Science education research has approached the gap between everyday understandings and science learning largely as a challenge arising while learning about science concepts and the kinds of instructional approaches that may support this. However, the forms of everyday ways of relating to the world fundamentally expand beyond conceptual understandings. In this study, we use data from an outdoor science learning setting to examine a range of non-conceptual but culturally possible and intelligible ways in which students actually connect science learning processes to their everyday world and its characteristic commonsense understandings. Our study shows how students’ (a) spontaneous embodied explorations, (b) humor in all of its bodily and grotesque forms, and (c) narrative representation and interpretation of the world are used to contextualize science learning, namely its environment and content, within their familiar world. We show how students draw on these fundamental cultural forms of understanding the world even without particular instructional support while, at the same time, completing their science tasks according to the goals set by their teachers. Our findings suggest that the ways in which students connect their everyday world with science learning do not have to be explicitly related to the particular conceptual learning goals but can parallel conceptual learning while contextualizing it in affectively meaningful ways.

scholarly journals Focus on How it Works: A Mechanistic Emphasis Enhances Elementary Student Learning Outcomes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Betz ◽  
Frank Keil
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Elementary Student ◽  
Science Content ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Mechanistic Explanations ◽  
K 12

Biologists, lay adults, and children alike value understandings of how biological entities work, prioritizing these mechanistic explanations in learning choices from at least five years of age and onwards. Despite this, formal education of young children has historically lacked mechanistic content, reserving these types of causal explanations for older students. We explored strategies by which mechanistic explanations may be emphasized to learners, identifying asymmetries between teacher intuitions and the influence of a mechanistic focus on young children’s science learning. In Study 1, we contrasted K-12 teacher intuitions about two types of learning goals—mechanistic or labels—in elementary school biology lessons, assessing general preferences and beliefs about which goal would maximize learning. Teachers preferred labels-focused learning goals when considering first and second grade lessons, but increasingly shifted to mechanistic learning goals for third through fifth grade lessons. In Study 2, children ages 6 to 11 were given either a mechanistic or a labels-focused learning goal prior to watching a video lesson about the heart. In Study 3, children ages 6 to 9 heard either a mechanism-focused or labels-focused description of the small intestine prior to viewing the target heart lesson. For both learning studies, children of all sampled age groups guided to focus on mechanism performed better on a learning assessment than those guided to focus on labels. While teachers believe that younger students benefit more from superficial goals such as labels, we find that mechanistic goals enhance learning even among the youngest children. We discuss implications of initial emphasis of mechanistic science content in early elementary school to boost subsequent learning outcomes and science interest.

scholarly journals KONSTRUKTIVISME DALAM PEMBELAJARAN SAINS DI SD: TINJAUAN EPISTEMOLOGI, ONTOLOGI, DAN KERAGUAN DALAM PRAKSISNYA

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lily Barlia
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Science Learning ◽  
School Science ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Elementary School Science ◽  
Construction Of Knowledge ◽  
Constructivist Perspective ◽  
Alternative Solutions

Abstract: Constructivism in Science Learning in Elementary Schools: Epistemological and Ontological Perspectives and Doubts in the Praxis. A constructivist perspective focuses on children’s contribution to the construction of knowledge. Constructivism believes that a child is a real inquirer and discoverer who is actively engaged in building theories about the world and the way it works without the aid of direct instructions. The implication is that teachers have to give wider mandates to students, to provide them with contexts for experimentation to occur, and to facilitate theory building by providing helpful experiences. Epistemologically and ontologically, there are still doubts about the application in practice. This, however, should not be a constraint for science teachers to implement basic principles of constructivism as one of the alternative solutions to educational reform and movement in the elementary school science. Keywords: constructivism, science learning science, elementary school science

Who Wants to Learn More Science? The Role of Elementary School Science Experiences and Science Self-Perceptions

2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Pamela R. Aschbacher ◽  
Marsha Ing
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Elementary School ◽  
Science Learning ◽  
School Science ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Self Perceptions ◽  
Future Science ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Relationship

Background/Context Much science education reform has been directed at middle and high school students; however, earlier experiences in elementary school may well have an important impact on young people's future science literacy and preparation for possible STEM careers. Purpose/Objective This study explores the relationships among fifth-graders’ perceived learning opportunities in school science, their perceptions of self in science, and their desire to take more science courses in middle and high school. Research Design To directly address concerns about the reproducibility of results of small educational studies, this study explores whether results from one sample are replicated in a second, different sample. The fifth-grade students from two different samples of public elementary students in California (Sample 1: n = 363; Sample 2: n = 327) completed surveys about students’ perceived school science experiences, sense of themselves as science learners, and aspirations to learn more science in the future. The analyses of both samples included regression analyses to explore the relationship between science self-perceptions and wanting to take future science classes, as well as whether students’ perceived opportunities to participate in science activities might influence the relationship between self-perceptions and wanting to take more science in the future. Findings/Results There were positive and significant relationships between both school science learning opportunities and wanting to take more science courses, and science self-perceptions and wanting to take more science courses. Analyses indicate that both factors need to be considered when predicting who is eager to learn more science. These findings were consistent across both samples and were robust even after including student-level and school-level and controlling for the nested structure of the data. Conclusions/Recommendations Findings highlight the importance of fifth-graders’ self-perceptions in understanding the effects of science learning opportunities on their desire to learn more science. Thus, school science opportunities may be necessary but not sufficient for increasing student interest in learning more science. Since teachers have influence on both learning activities and a student's sense of self as a science learner, the results underscore the importance of preparing elementary teachers to foster student desire to learn more science in the future.

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