Desirable Difficulties in Science Learning: Taking What We Learn in the College Classroom into the Middle School Classroom CASL PI Meeting Washington DC May 17-18, 2005

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Desirable Difficulties in Science Learning
Taking What We Learn in the College Classroom
into the Middle School ClassroomCASL PI
MeetingWashington DCMay 17-18, 2005

• Marcia C. Linn and Britte H. Cheng,
• University of California, Berkeley
• Lindsey E. Richland, Robert A. Bjork, and Jason
  Finley
• University of California, Los Angeles

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IDDEAS

• Introducing Desirable Difficulties for
  Educational Applications in Science (IDDEAS)
  http//iddeas.psych.ucla.edu
• Extend results from laboratory studies to complex
  science materials
• Test promising findings from laboratory studies
  in science classrooms using a Technology-Enhanced
  Learning Environment

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WISE Environment

• Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE)
  http//wise.berkeley.edu
• Delivers instruction in multiple formats
• Frees teacher to tutor individuals
• Gathers embedded assessments of student progress

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Desirable Difficulties

• Conditions that introduce difficulties for the
  learner can enhance long-term retention and
  transfer
• Conditions that appear optimal during instruction
  can fail to support long-term retention
• Desirable difficulties (Bjork, 1994, 1999)
  include
• Today generating rather than reading responses

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Role of Generation

• When students respond by answering questions,
  explaining material, making predictions or
  reflecting they engage in generation
• Much of learning consists of listening to
  lectures, reading texts, or watching
  demonstrations
• Many theories call for active, hands-on, or
  interactive learning consistent with generation
• Generation research can clarify the nature of
  active learning and extend understanding of
  desirable difficulties

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Web-based Inquiry Learning Environment

• An Awful Waste of Space
• Enables learners to explore the variables that
  determine whether or not a planet in another
  solar system might be habitable
• Generation features
• Notes
• Journal
• Prediction
• Argument construction

Middle School WISE Project
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Generic and directed prompts
Integrated ideas
Generic prompts require more generation than
directed prompts result in more integrated ideas.
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(Davis, E. A. (1998). Scaffolding students'
reflection for science learning. Unpublished
doctoral dissertation, University of California
at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.)
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Directed PromptCondition
Generic PromptCondition
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Laboratories and classrooms

• Classroom learning
• Students work in pairs
• Students interact with the teacher
• Students motivated by personally relevant tasks
• The booming, buzzing classroom offers many
  distractions
• Watch the video

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(No Transcript)
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Undergraduate Classroom Studies

• Extend chain of evidence for generation from
  studies of phrases to concepts
• Compare read to generate with science concepts
• Compare single concept generation to concept
  integration about habitability
• Laboratory studies 1 hour of instruction on
  concepts, 48 hour retention interval
• Classroom studies 5 class periods, one week
  delayed posttest

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Undergraduate Laboratory Studies Experimental
Conditions

• Experiment 1 Sentence Completion
• Read Jovian-type planets are mostly made up of
  gases.
• Generate ____-type planets are mostly made up
  of gases.
• Experiment 2 Sentence level generation, more
  educationally important
• Single Mass Describe in a sentence how the
  size of one planet's mass can affect another
  planet.
• Concept Integration Mass Distance

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Undergraduate Laboratory Study Read vs. Generate
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Undergraduate Laboratory Study Single vs.
Integrated
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Undergraduate Laboratory Study Illustrative
Responses
Single idea Generation Single concept generation Concept integration generation
Prompt The range of distances from the sun where the temperature allows water to be liquid are called the _____ _____. Student habitable zone Prompt Scientists often use a single measurement to talk about a planet's distance from its sun, but why is this practice misleading? Use a distance listed in the table you saw to explain. Student The distance for Mars would be misleading because Mars travels in an elliptical orbit and is different distances from the sun at different times. Prompt Using Jupiter's distance from the sun as an example, explain how the measure of an object's weight can shift when it is in different locations, even if that object is a planet. Student An object's weight can shift when its in different locations because it's weight depends upon the strongest pull of gravity. People weigh more on Jupiter than they do on Earth because Jupiter's gravitational pull is stronger. If the object is a planet, then changing the distance it is from the sun will change it's weight because it will either feel a strong gravitational pull (if close to the sun) or a weak gravitational pull (if further away from the sun).
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Undergraduate Laboratory Studies Implications

• Chain of evidencecan generalize paradigm from
  typical recall studies to investigations using
  typical science concepts
• Counterintuitive desirable difficulty can be
  used successfully to enhance instruction
• Opportunitieshow does generation work in typical
  middle school classroom settings?

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Middle School Classroom Study Read vs. Generate
Posttest Performance

• Generation led to greater recall of material
• (F (1,115) 18.769 , p .000)

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Middle School Classroom StudySingle vs.
Integrated
Posttest Performance

• Integrated generation led to more sophisticated
  understanding
• (F (1,172) 3.946 , p lt.05)

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Middle School Classroom StudyIllustrative
Responses
Single idea Generation Single concept generation Concept integration generation
Prompt The range of distances from the sun where the temperature allows water to be liquid are called the _____ _____. Student habitable zone Prompt Are planets always the same distance from their sun? Student Because planets' orbits are elliptical, scientists calculate the average number of AUs to describe how far a planet it from its sun. Prompt On Jupiter, would your weight, your mass, or both your weight and your mass be more than it is on Earth? Why? Student If I were ever on Jupiter, my weight would change because Jupiter is such a large planet. Since it is a large planet it has a gigantic mass, it has a strong gravity pull. Weight is determined by amount of gravity pull on you, so you would weigh more on Jupiter because there has a greater gravity pull. Although, if I were on Jupiter, my mass would stay the same because mass is the amount of matter in an object and that doesn't change if you go to another planet.
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Laboratory and Classroom Findings

• Generation instructions generally improve
  learning
• During learning, generation results in more
  errors
• On posttest, generation yields better
  understanding
• Generation across topics intensifies effects
• Single concept generation easier during learning
  but less effective that integrated concept
  generation on posttest

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Current Middle School StudyWhat forms of
generation improve learning?
Four groups, either within or across classrooms
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Prompts Illustrating Simple, Complex, Narrow,
Broad Generation
SIMPLE (Identify Planets in Habitable Zone) COMPLEX (Distinguish Planets in Habitable Zone from Other Planets)
NARROW (Focus on the Habitable Zone) In the animation below of the inner four planets of our solar system, at which points is Mars in the Habitable Zone? Explain your answer. In the animation below of the inner four planets of our solar system, which planets are in the habitable zone? Explain why you think the planets you chose are habitable and others are not.
BROAD (Connect to factors beyond the habitable zone atmosphere, water, temp, etc) Based on what you see here, What is the main reason Mars is not habitable while Earth is? Based on what you know of the inner four planets of our solar system (represented below), what kinds of planets should scientists search for if they are looking for life in the universe?
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Scoring Rubric Emphasis on making connections

• 0 Response is irrelevant
• 1 Response is incorrect
• 2 Response is correct but connections not
  directly relevant (non-target connections not a
  broad response)
• 3 Response links correct and incorrect ideas
• 4 Simplified or partial answer with no
  explanation/example
• 5 Correct with one step reasoning, partial
  answer with explanation, or full answer with no
  explanation
• 6 Ideal includes using correct terminology,
  multi-step reasoning full answer with
  explanation/s
• 7 Ideal response with elaborated explanation
• 8 Ideal response with additional connections
• 9 Ideal response with elaborations and
  additional connections

Invalid, Non Normative
Valid, Non Normative Connections
Normative Connections
Multiple Connections
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Ideal Responses for Each Condition
SIMPLE (Identify Planets in Habitable Zone) COMPLEX (Generalization to other planets)
NARROW (Focus on the Habitable Zone) In the animation of the inner four planets of our solar system, at which points is Mars in the Habitable Zone? Explain your answer. Mars is habitable when it is in the northern most point of its orbit, because the distance from Mars to the sun gets larger as it orbits away from the northern most point making it too cold for life to survive. In the animation below of the inner four planets of our solar system, which planets are in the habitable zone? Explain why these planets are habitable and others are not. The planet that is 1/2 of an AU and the next one that is about 1 AU. We chose these because they are the best distance away from the sun. The other planets are either too close or to far from the sun to be in the habitable zone.
BROAD (Connect to factors beyond the Habitable zone atmosphere, water, temp, etc) Based on the animation of the inner four planets, what is the main reason Mars is not habitable while Earth is? Mars is too far away from the Sun during certain points of its orbit so it is only habitable at certain points in time. Earth, however is in the habitable zone all year long. Based on what you know of the inner four planets, what kinds of planets should scientists search for to find life in the universe? They should look for a planet within the habitable zone and with a climate that won't either turn all the water into gas because of so much heat or turn it all into ice because it's so cold.
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Middle School Classroom StudyEmbedded Notes
Performance on Note about Mass

• Preliminary analyses, more responses still need
  scoring
• During learning, simple generation is easier
• Will simple generation be sufficient for learning?

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Middle School Classroom StudyEmbedded Notes
Performance on Note about Mutual Gravitation

• Preliminary analyses, more responses still need
  scoring
• During learning, simple generation is easier
• Will simple generation be sufficient for learning?

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Middle School Classroom StudyEmbedded Notes
Performance on Note about Atmosphere

• Preliminary analyses, more responses still need
  scoring
• During learning, simple generation is easier
• Will simple generation be sufficient for learning?

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Generation and science learning

• Active, interactive, hands-on, autonomous
  learning all emphasize generation
• Related studies consistent with generation
• Chi, SlottaGeneration and self-explanation
• Kintsch, McNamara, SongerOrganized vs. complex
  text
• DavisAutonomous learning Generic and Directed
  prompts

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Conclusions

• Research on generation in undergraduate
  laboratory studies generalizes to complex science
  concepts-chain of evidence
• Laboratory findings can generalize to buzzing,
  booming classroom context
• Classroom research can respect teacher goals,
  contribute to student learning
• Research on generation helps clarify calls for
  active, hands-on learning opportunities

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Make Thinking Visible Chemical Reactions
Jennie Chiu
http//wise.berkeley.edu http//TELSCenter.org
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Implications

• For designers, design principles
• Encourage generation across topics to promote
  lifelong learning
• Select focus on generation based on goals
• For learners
• Test your ideas in multiple contexts
• For classroom teachers
• Reward generation, use cumulative tests
• For researchers
• Conduct research in complex settings