Transcript Represented in this study group:

Science Literacy in General Education:
Assessing Its Metadisciplinary Nature,
Providing Metacognitive Solutions
Ed Nuhfer, Humboldt State University
[email protected]
And
Karl Wirth, Macalester College
[email protected]
Reflective Prompt
What do you believe will be the most valuable
quality that your students can acquire as
result of their undergraduate educational
experience? Write on a scratch paper.
Show of hands:
How many picked something
to do with elevated
reasoning ability?
How many picked additional
content knowledge?
Reflect for a moment on that quality…
• What signature trait could you observe in a
student’s work that would be indicative of a
student’s starting to achieve that quality?
• ….then share that quality and the signature trait
that you could observe with your neighbor.
Learning we offer as SLO’s
Metacognition
Knowledge
Skills
Reasoning
By making distinctions for
ourselves between these
different kinds of learning
challenges, we engaged in
some metacognition.
We should guide students to
do the same. Ideally, a GE
curricula should help students
become mindful of how to
distinguish the three and how
to learn all three effectively.
Metadisciplines
• Groups of disciplines that hold in common an
overarching framework of reasoning/way of
knowing that unites them.
– Example: anthropology, biology, chemistry,
environmental science, geology, physics hold in
common the overarching way of reasoning of
science.
Traditions of Critical Thinking
(Brookfield, 2012)
•
•
•
•
•
Logic and philosophy
Science
Pragmatism
Psychoanalysis
Critical theory
Traditions of Critical Thinking
and where these occur
TRADITIONS
• Logic and philosophy
• Science
• Pragmatism
• Psychoanalysis
• Critical theory
METADISCIPLINES
• Humanities
• Science
• All metadisciplines
• Social science
• Social science,
humanities
GE Science: Version 1 (Knowledge)
• General Education:
– Strives to impart content knowledge that citizens
should know
– This accords with the type of science literacy tested
on certain science literacy tests:
• All radioactivity is man-made.
• Radioactive milk can be made safe by boiling it.
• The earliest humans lived at the same time as the
dinosaurs.
Respond by agree-disagree.
(Miller, 1998)
Version 2 (Skill)
• General Education:
– Strives to impart an excitement and enthusiasm for science by
engaging students in doing science…ideally with other students
– This accords with involvement in applied research experiences
such as
• Field studies
• Laboratory studies
• ….active development of knowledge and skills in authentic experiences
– And it is a successful approach to recruiting science majors…
…who are and always will be a minority of citizens
What about the majority?
Version 3 (Reasoning)
• General/Liberal Education for Citizen Literacy
– Develops through "… the collaboration and integration of
general education and the major.”
• Content and specialty skills alone do not enable easy integration
across majors.
• But understanding a framework of reasoning and way of knowing
does allow such transfer.
• We want to convey the kind of science literacy that enables
students to understand science as a way of knowing, recognize its
limits and strengths, and employ the framework of reasoning of
science as educated citizens.
• In brief, we hope to deliver on the truth-in-advertising found in
most college catalogs
What We Want To Do
Worth being
familiar with
Important to
know and do
Improved
Reasoning &
Awareness of
Learning
Wiggins and McTighe (1998)
What We Mostly Do
Worth being
familiar with
Important to
know and do
Disciplinary
Knowledge &
Skills
Wiggins and McTighe (1998)
If we want to promote higher level
reasoning…
• Teach the overarching way of knowing of our
metadiscipline—not just our discipline
• Convey awareness that EVERY metadiscipline
has a valuable way of knowing / framework of
reasoning
Humboldt State University’s Challenge: Thinking in Progress
FYS: Development for learning & reasoning
General Education: development of critical and creative reasoning
through employing ways of knowing of…
Arts
Humanities
Mathematics
Science
Social
Science
Technology
Major and minor programs: development of disciplinary
knowledge, skills and advancement of reasoning through drawing
on all of the above
Synthesis
Integrated
Capstone
Reasoning
ESSENTIAL SKILLS
Oral Communication
Written Communication
Information Literacy
Quantitative Reasoning
UNIVERSITY MISSION THEMES
Diversity Social responsibility and action
Environment and Sustainability
Reasoning
Metacognition
Metacognition
Knowledge
Skills
Reasoning
Key to:
• building ‘expertise’
• transfer
• creativity & innovation
• lifelong learning
Metacognition Involves Reflection
• What kind of problem is this?
• What is the best strategy for solving it?
• What kind of reasoning is most appropriate?
• How will I know if I solved it correctly?
• What additional information do I need?
• How can I use my new understanding to
solve other kinds of problems?
Pedagogical Challenge
• Metacognition is a “self-imposed internal
conversation”
• Shown to improve transfer (Bransford et al. 2000)
• Easily assumed that students are doing it, or can
develop on own; both assumptions are wrong
• Challenge is to keep students in constant contact
with their metacognition
• Instruction must be explicit (Pintrich, 2002)
Geologic Time
Personal Resources
• Prior Knowledge
• Available Strategies
Task Requirements
• Type of Learning Task
• Appropriate Strategies
Geologic Time
GSA (2009)
Expert Learners - Knowledge
Metacognitive Knowledge
(declarative, procedural, conditional)
Personal
Resources
Task
Requirements
Prior Knowledge
Available Strategies
Type of Learning
Appropriate Strategies
Modified from Ertmer and Newby (1996), Butler (1997), Winne
and Hadwin (1998), Pintrich (2000), Lovett (2008)
Expert Learners – Self-Regulation
Metacognitive Knowledge
(declarative, procedural, conditional)
Personal
Resources
Task
Requirements
Prior Knowledge
Available Strategies
Type of Learning
Appropriate Strategies
Metacognitive Control
(self-regulation)
Plan
Evaluate
Monitor
Modified from Ertmer and Newby (1996), Butler (1997), Winne
and Hadwin (1998), Pintrich (2000), Lovett (2008)
Solving a Problem
Elapsed Time
(mins)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Read
Novices
Analyze
Explore
Plan
Implement
Verify
Elapsed
Time
(mins)
Read
Experts
Analyze
Explore
Plan
Implement
Schoenfeld (1987)
Verify
0 1 2 3
4 5 6
7
8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Expert Learners - Affect
Metacognitive Knowledge
(declarative, procedural, conditional)
Personal
Resources
Task
Requirements
Prior Knowledge
Available Strategies
Type of Learning
Appropriate Strategies
Metacognitive Control
(self-regulation)
Plan
Goals
Beliefs
Attitudes
Motivation
Evaluate
Monitor
Modified from Ertmer and Newby (1996), Butler (1997), Winne
and Hadwin (1998), Pintrich (2000), Lovett (2008)
Affect – Beliefs About Intelligence
• “fixed” versus “growth”
theories of intelligence
• Affects motivation to
learn and persistence
• Students taught study
skills and brain
plasticity outperform
control groups
Beliefs About Intelligence
• avoid challenges
• embrace challenges
• give up easily
• persist in face of setbacks
• see effort as fruitless
• see effort as path to mastery
• ignore feedback
• Iearn from criticism
• be threatened by
success of others
• find lessons and inspiration in
success of others
Dweck (2006)
Expert Learners & Reflection
Metacognitive Knowledge
Metacognitive Control
(self-regulation)
(declarative, procedural, conditional)
Personal
Resources
Task
Requirements
Prior Knowledge
Available Strategies
Type of Learning
Appropriate Strategies
Plan
Reflection
Goals
Beliefs
Attitudes
Motivation
Evaluate
Reflection
Monitor
Reflection
Reflection
Ertmer and Newby (1996), Butler (1997), Winne and Hadwin (1998),
Pintrich (2000), Lovett (2008)
Reflection & Learning
Dimension
Description
Habitual Action
Minimal thought and engagement; memorization is
emphasized; correlated with surface learning; tasks treated
as unrelated activities; an attitudinal state of unreflectiveness
Understanding
Focuses on comprehension without relation to one’s personal
experience or other learning situations; book learning that is
understanding-oriented; learning stays within boundaries of
preexisting perspectives
Reflection
Learning is related to personal experience and other
knowledge; involves challenging assumptions, seeking
alternatives, identifying areas of improvement; active
engagement; characteristic of deep approaches to learning
Critical or
Intensive
Reflection
Highest level of reflective learning; learners are aware of why
they think, perceive, or act as they do; as a result, learner
likely alters or changes firmly held personal beliefs and ways
of thinking
Modified from Mezirow (1991) by Kember et al. (2000)
Metacurriculum for Metacognition
Activity
Knowledge or Skill
Knowledge Surveys
Goal-setting, Monitor. & Eval.
Reading Reflections
Reflection & Monitoring
How I Earned an “A” Goal-setting & Monitoring
Exam Wrappers
Refl., Monitoring & Evaluation
Learning Reflections Evaluation & Goal-setting
Critical Thinking
Strategies for Thinking
“Science literacy”
• Pray tell….
• What is “science literacy?”
• If a citizen possesses “science literacy,” how
can we recognize this? How can students
recognize when they are “getting it?”
Concepts for Citizen Literacy in the Metadiscipline of Science
1. Science explains physical phenomena based upon testable information about the
physical world.
2. In modern life, science literacy is important to both personal and collective
decisions that involve science content and reasoning.
3. Doubt plays necessary roles in advancing science.
4. Scientists use evidence-based reasoning to select which among several
competing working hypotheses best explains a physical phenomenon.
5. A theory in science is a unifying explanation for observations that result from
testing several hypotheses.
6. Peer review generally leads to better understanding of physical phenomena than
can the unquestioned conclusions of involved investigators.
7. Science can test certain kinds of hypotheses through controlled experiments.
8. All science rests on fundamental assumptions about the physical world.
9. Science differs from technology.
10. Scientific knowledge is discovered, and some discoveries require an important
history.
11. Science employs modeling as a method for understanding the physical world.
12. Scientific knowledge imparts power that must be used ethically.
Concepts restated as 12 Outcomes for Science Literacy
Students will be able to…
1. Define the domain of science and determine whether a statement constitutes a
hypothesis that can be resolved within that domain.
2. Describe through example how science literacy is important in everyday life to an
educated person.
3. Explain why the attribute of doubt has value in science.
4. Explain how scientists select which among several competing working hypotheses best
explains a physical phenomenon.
5. Explain how "theory" as used and understood in science differs from "theory "as
commonly used and understood by the general public.
6. Explain why peer review generally improves our quality of knowing within science.
7. Explain how science employs the method of reproducible experiments to understand
and explain the physical world.
8. Articulate how science’s way of knowing rests on some assumptions.
9. Distinguish between science and technology by examples of how these are different
frameworks of reasoning.
10. Cite a single major theory from one of the science disciplines and explain its historical
development.
11. Explain and provide an example of how modeling is used in science.
12. Explain why ethical decision-making becomes increasingly important to a society as it
becomes increasingly advanced in science.
OK…Can we assess this stuff?
The Instrument
• For each outcome
– Construct several concept inventory items.
– Use established methods for drafting items that have been
developed in other concept inventories.
• In addition…
– Test reasoning, not factual knowledge.
– Administer the inventory under the conditions in which a
citizen will use common information.
…initial instrument constructed 2008-2010 through
the collegial efforts of
•
Edward Nuhfer, Faculty Development & Geology, Channel Islands
•
Jerry Clifford, Physics, Channel Islands
•
Christopher Cogan, Environmental Sciences & Resource Management,
Channel Islands
•
Anya Goodman, Biochemistry, San Luis Obispo
•
Carl Kloock, Biology, Bakersfield
•
Beth Stoeckly, Physics, Channel Islands
•
Christopher Wheeler, Geology, Channel Islands
•
Gregory Wood, Physics, Channel Islands
•
Natalie Zayas, Science Education & Environmental Sciences, Monterey Bay
Science Literacy Concept Inventory
• Incorporates 25 validated items that map to
the twelve concepts
• Reliability of .85
• Tested on over 8000 students in about 30
institutions
Outcome. Student can Define the domain of science and
determine whether a statement constitutes a hypothesis that
can be resolved within that domain.
Concept
• Science explains
physical phenomena
based upon testable
information about
the physical world.
Some Misconceptions
• Science is on a mission to
refute religion; scientists
study the paranormal;
untestable statements are
like scientific hypotheses.
Which of the following statements presents a hypothesis that science
can now easily resolve?
A. Warts can be cured by holding quartz crystals on them daily for a week.
B. A classmate sitting in the room can see the auras of other students.
C. Radio City Music Hall in New York is haunted by several spirits.
D. People with chronic illnesses have them as punishment for past misdeeds.
0, 1, or 2?
Which of the following statements presents a hypothesis that science
can now easily resolve?
A. Warts can be cured by holding quartz crystals on them daily for a week.
B. A classmate sitting in the room can see the auras of other students.
C. Radio City Music Hall in New York is haunted by several spirits.
D. People with chronic illnesses have them as punishment for past misdeeds.
What did we learn that made this so
interesting?
• Starting with…Do experts (professors)
outscore novices (students)?
YES! They do! Also, students on average do come to us with some
science literacy: zero literacy = about 25% (random guessing).
Does knowing “stuff” advantage a person?
Professors in Metadisciplines by
Mean Score %
We can learn about our students’
science literacy
Our current GE science courses don’t produce
science literacy…
Development seems more apparent long
term through ranks…
The major gains are breaks that may result from attrition as well as growth in ability to reason.
We can learn much about our
students
Gender-equality (n = 8167)
And this holds true so far in our study across every ethnic group except one.
Middle Eastern (n = 178)
First Generation Students: 67% vs 73%
Students from families privileged with higher education generally achieve higher.
English as a First Language: 64% vs
72%
Students whose first language is English generally achieve higher.
Cumulative first-generation and ESL:
9 point disadvantage
• 64% versus 73% for those who have English as a
first language AND are not first-generation
students.
• That may be another way of showing that
economic status and struggles of students and
their families infuse differences.
SLCI by Institutions with Other
Measures
SAT
Verbal
1.00
SAT
Math
0.94
ACT
Composite
0.97
SLCIFrsh
0.87
SLCISoph
0.86
SLCIJr
0.85
SLCISr
0.87
SAT Math
ACT
Composite
SLCI-Frsh
0.94
1.00
0.98
0.86
0.82
0.77
0.78
0.97
0.87
0.98
0.86
1.00
0.88
0.88
1.00
0.84
0.94
0.81
0.95
0.84
0.87
SLCI-Soph
SLCI-Jr
0.86
0.85
0.82
0.77
0.84
0.81
0.94
0.95
1.00
0.96
0.96
1.00
0.95
0.93
SLCI-Sr
0.87
0.78
0.84
0.87
0.95
0.93
1.00
SAT Verbal
As Eric Gaze and the Quantitative Literacy test researchers have noted, these little
literacy tests may be powerful predictors of student success.
Institutions
Given that our GE science courses don’t produce
much increase in reasoning of science literacy…
What are some ways that we can
convey citizen competency in
science literacy to our students?
OK…Can we teach this stuff?
Employ metacognitive reflections…
• Use others’ tests of science literacy
• Through reflective learning journals/assignments
• Random selection of illustration and identify method of
science needed to produce it
• Students construct own tests & knowledge surveys in
science literacy
• Students analyze popular media features & news stories
• “Where does knowledge/idea XXX come from?”
The end? Hopefully not!