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Fostering Deep Learning in Middle School Design-Based Science: Findings, Challenges, and Recommendations From Two Studies

Sun, April 30, 8:15 to 9:45am, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Floor: Meeting Room Level, Room 221 C

Abstract

Objectives/Purposes
Research on design-based science, in which designed artifacts provide a context for science learning, has produced limited evidence regarding how such approaches foster deep knowledge (NAE & NRC, 2009, 2014). We contribute insights about this issue from two studies of thoughtfully developed and implemented design-based science activities led by experienced researchers and teachers.

Perspectives/Theoretical Framework
When well conceived and implemented, design-based science accords well with theories about how people learn (Piaget, 1985; Vygotsky, 1978; Papert, 1993; Dewey, 1933; 1938). So what challenges have limited its effectiveness? One study addressed this question from a perspective that examined tensions related to epistemological distinctions between design and science (Leonard & Derry, 2011). Study 2 (Minshew, Derry, Anderson & Kelly-Barber, 2016) framed this question as a problem of orchestrating effective collaborative learning using technology (Kaendler et al., 2014).

Methods
Both studies represented relatively early versions of curricula being developed in accordance with a design-based research (DBR) paradigm (McKenny & Reeves, 2012). Both studies followed widely accepted recommendations for video research (Derry et al., 2010) and discourse analysis (Gee, 1999).

Context/Data Source
Study 1 examined two weeks of activity from a high-performing 8th grade class in a large-city suburban school in the US South. Students designed balloon cars to learn Newton’s Laws of Motion. The primary data was classroom video supplemented with interviews and curriculum review. Study 2 examined an eight-week implementation in a 6th grade class in an economically disadvantaged small Southern town. Students constructed composting bioreactors and used them to learn about cycles of energy and matter. This study used pre-post assessment based on a science concept test, video of interviews assessing student understanding of energy and matter, and classroom video collected on selected days.

Results
In both studies students’ conceptual knowledge did develop although not as much as hoped. Results were likely influenced by the following challenges. Because design activities do not necessarily require science knowledge in order to be successful, curriculum designers/researchers incorporate scaffolds, such as collaborative teaching/learning scripts, to bring the science in. Yet designed-in scaffolding was often inadequately implemented or ignored by teachers and students. Time constraints were one issue. Also, in order to call on science knowledge to explain designs, teachers and students must translate the science into more functional “how to” rules. However, such bridging knowledge was not well supported by curricula. Relatedly, using science concepts to model the physical world accounts for much of the work expected of teachers and students, but this form of cognitive activity was not fostered. Teachers were expected to analyze student thinking and build on their naïve ideas to scaffold more sophisticated understandings. This demanding expectation requires deep, flexible science knowledge and ability to analyze student thinking, which was limited. Finally, while hands-on activities engage students, it is much more difficult to motivate simultaneous in-depth thinking about science.

Scientific/Scholarly Significance
Design-based science places significant processing demands on teachers, students, and curriculum designers. This paper will identify challenges and discuss implications by proposing design recommendations for fostering deep understanding through design-based science.

Authors