CAREER: Redesigning a Learning Progression to Build upon Students' Intuitive Ideas about Motion and Support Teachers' Formative Assessment Practices

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

CAREER: Redesigning a Learning Progression to Build upon Students? Intuitive Ideas about Motion and Support Teachers? Formative Assessment Practices Learning progressions??descriptions of the successively more sophisticated ways of thinking about a topic that can follow one another as children learn? (National Research Council, 2007, p. 219)?have the potential to influence a wide range of educational policies and practice. However, learning progressions based upon research on students? misconceptions may not be well-suited to informing teachers? formative assessment practices (eliciting, interpreting, and responding to students? ideas). This project explores the premise that a focus on the productive nature of students? intuitive ideas may provide a stronger basis for both formative assessment practices and learning progressions that can support these practices. Insights derived from this work should influence the design of learning progressions, curricula, formative assessment strategies, and teacher preparation to be more responsive to students? intuitive ideas. The project will take place in high school physics classrooms and in the science teacher preparation program at Michigan State University. The project consists of four strands. Strand A involves curriculum design work to redesign the introductory high school physics curriculum to highlight the productive nature of students? intuitive ideas about motion. Videos of classroom instruction and design team meetings, as well as evidence of student learning (interviews and student work samples) will be used to inform the design process. Starting with a single pilot teacher and later expanding to involve an additional six teachers, design principles will be developed that can be used to revise existing physics curricula to be more responsive to students? intuitive ideas. Strand B uses the curriculum design research as the basis for developing an alternative force and motion learning progression and associated assessment items. Three rounds of revisions, drawing upon students? responses to the assessment items (in open-ended and ordered multiple-choice item formats, as well as in cognitive and think-aloud interviews) will be used to develop the learning progression and assessment items. Strands C and D focus on supporting teachers? formative assessment practices. Strand C entails a summer professional development workshop and ongoing assistance during the academic year to support in-service teachers? formative assessment practices, based upon the force and motion learning progression. Strand D involves application of ideas from the other three strands to inform revisions to the Michigan State University secondary science teacher preparation program. This effort represents an expansion and application of ideas about the potential of students? intuitive ideas to other science content areas and to work with novice teachers. An advisory board will provide formative and evaluative reviews of all project products and evidence for their use. A key indicator of success is whether formative assessment practices based on the alternative learning progression have a positive influence on student learning. The project will directly involve seven in-service high school physics teachers and a cohort of approximately 30 secondary science pre-service teachers, as well as their students. The project will contribute specific examples of redesigned physics curricula and a learning progression, both building upon students? intuitive ideas. These examples will represent a departure from typical physics instruction, in which students? real world experiences are rejected as ?misconceptions.? The project will also contribute evidence of the use of a learning progression (and, more generally, an emphasis on the productive nature of students? intuitive ideas) to support teachers? formative assessment practices. Since formative assessment has been demonstrated to have a significant impact on student learning, particularly for lower-performing students, the products of this research have the potential to expand access to physics learning.