Abstract
This paper describes a perspective on the development of integrated scientific knowledge featuring “action knowledge”, “intuitive conceptions”, and “scientific ideas,” and reports on three experimental investigations of student understanding in thermodynamics that support the perspective. Middle school students enrolled in a one semester physical science participated in these studies. The first experiment investigates the ideas that students construct about thermodynamics without formal instruction. the second experiment reports on the beliefs that students develop about the nature of scientific enterprise. The third experiment describes three reformulations of a twelve-week curriculum in which computers serve as laboratory partners. the discussion clarifies the implications of these experiments in terms of the developmental perspective and addresses the role played by the technological environment.
The authors would like to thank the other members of the Computer as Lab Partner project for their ideas, enthusiasm, contributions, and sense of humor during all phases of this research. Special thanks to Doug Kirkpatrick who counseled us wisely and served as the outstanding teacher of the classes described in this paper. We would also like to thank Bat-Sheva Eylon, and Paul Horowitz for advice on construction of scientific principles. Special thanks also to Eric Kotila and Darraugh Perrow for editing and preparing this document.
This material is based upon research supported by the National Science Foundation under grants MDR-88-50552 and MDR-89-54793. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publications are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Linn, M.C., Songer, N.B., Lewis, E.L., Stern, J. (1993). Using Technology to Teach Thermodynamics: Achieving Integrated Understanding. In: Ferguson, D.L. (eds) Advanced Educational Technologies for Mathematics and Science. NATO ASI Series, vol 107. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02938-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02938-1_1
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