Generating questions is a regulatory action associated with self-monitoring processes in comprehension tasks: subjects can ask information seeking questions to solve comprehension obstacles. A sequence of two related experiments were conducted to trigger, classify and analyse questions asked under different conditions: reading a text about experimental scientific devices operating, watching these devices in a DVD and manipulating them in the LAB. Students' information seeking questions were classified using a simple taxonomy. Taking into account the multimedia learning principles, the advantages of realistic animations for understanding time-depending processes and the effect of the procedural-motor activity, were expected students would ask different questions under each of the aforementioned conditions. Results confirmed the expectations: the reading condition triggered more questions addressed to describe the entities while the watching and manipulation conditions stimulated more causal questions. In addition, the effect of prior knowledge on questions including scientific concepts was analyzed.Keywords: Science education, self-regulation, question generation, experimental devices. ResumenFormular preguntas es una de las acciones asociadas con procesos metacognitivos de regulación durante tareas de comprensión: los sujetos pueden generar preguntas destinadas a obtener información para salvar obstáculos de comprensión. Se realizaron dos experimentos para estimular, clasificar y analizar las preguntas de los estudiantes en tres condiciones diferentes: leer sobre el funcionamiento de dispositivos científicos experimentales, observarlos en un DVD o manipularlos en el Laboratorio. Las preguntas fueron clasificadas usando una taxonomía sencilla. Teniendo en cuenta los principios multimedia de aprendizaje, las ventajas de imágenes realistas animadas para el aprendizaje de procesos dependientes del tiempo y el efecto de la actividad procesual-motora, se predijo diferente distribución de preguntas en las tres condiciones consideradas. Los resultados confirmaron lo esperado: la lectura de textos estimuló más las preguntas destinadas a describir las entidades, mientras las condiciones de observar y manipular estimularon más las preguntas causales. Además, se analizó el efecto del conocimiento previo sobre las preguntas que incluyen conceptos científicos.Palabras clave: Didáctica de las ciencias experimentales, autorregulación, generación de preguntas, dispositivos experimentales.
In physics and chemistry, the development of problem-solving skills is necessary to become an expert. A simple cognitive model to analyse such development is proposed and tested. An exploratory research was conducted with expert professors and students in initial and advanced years. A think aloud procedure was used to obtain relevant data while the participants tried to solve undefined, open problems. Solving these problems required a particular skill representative of expertise: modelling reality using science. More than 1350 solving actions were collected and related to the mental representations elaborated, developed and inter-related by solvers. The proposed model was able to account for expert-novice differences in terms of the respective distributions of solving actions among the mental representations. Large differences appeared in the mental representation of Conceptual scientific Model. In addition, advanced and initial students showed similar and significant averages of unproductive actions, while experts took very few. Experts showed high convergence in their distributions of actions among the mental representations. If the outcomes were replicated with higher external validity, the model could help researchers to analyse the cognitive mechanisms in problem-solving, and teachers to better focus their efforts on specific students’ lacks. Keywords: cognitive model, expert-novice differences, mental representations, problem-solving skills, solving actions
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