Early elementary students’ understanding of complex ecosystems: A learning progression approach

Hokayem, Hayat; Gotwals, Amelia Wenk

doi:10.1002/tea.21336

Cited by 58 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 68 publications

(95 reference statements)

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“…Researchers often begin with developing a theoretical LP based on relevant literature. Using the theoretical LP as a guiding framework, they develop assessment tasks (e.g., clinical interview tasks and written assessment tasks) to elicit student thinking (e.g., Hokayem & Gotwals, ). They analyze the assessment data and use the analysis results to redevelop, revise, and refine the LP and associated assessment tasks.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward coherence in curriculum, instruction, and assessment: A review of learning progression literature

et al. 2019

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To evaluate the recent advances in learning progression (LP) research and identify future research directions, we reviewed LP literature from 2006 to 2018. Through a systematic search of Web of Science databases and key journals, we located 130 LP articles published between 2006 and 2018. Among these articles, we reviewed 86 studies. The review was framed around three types of coherence that LPs can provide in a system of curriculum, instruction, and assessment: developmental, vertical, and horizontal coherence. Developmental coherence refers to the idea that LPs, as cognitive models, should describe development in students from intuitive thinking to scientific thinking. It provides a foundation for building the horizontal coherence (the alignment among curriculum, instruction, and assessment) and the vertical coherence (the linkage between classroom and large-scale assessments). The results of our review suggest significant advances in enhancing the developmental coherence. More specifically, existing LPs have captured the mechanisms of knowledge development and integrated knowledge and practice in different ways. Regarding the horizontal coherence, while the methodology for the development and validation of LPs has been established, limited attention has been given to LP-based interventions and teachers' understanding and use of LPs. Only one study explored LP's role in building vertical coherence. The review reveals a great need for future research (a) to develop LPs for scientific reasoning that cut across multiple science topics and disciplines, (b) to use LPs in instructional interventions, teacher education, and professional development, and (c) to use LPs to link classroom assessments with large-scale assessments.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward coherence in curriculum, instruction, and assessment: A review of learning progression literature

et al. 2019

Self Cite

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“…Unlike many other studies that have examined written assessment data to provide evidence for a LP, our observations were based on pre‐ and post‐instruction, clinical interviews with students (Ginsburg, 1997). This method has been previously used to provide evidence for LP validity in a few studies (e.g., Hokayem & Gotwals, 2016; Plummer, 2014; Wyner & Doherty, 2017). Our method of interpretation consisted of aligning coded interviews with the levels of each construct map.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gotwals and Songer's (2010) investigation of students' reasoning about food chains revealed variations in how students reason depending on contextual information in the assessment. Hokayem and Gotwals (2016) also found that students were reasoning at different levels on their LP within individual open‐ended questions they used to assess students' thinking about ecosystems. Thus, assigning an individual student to a specific LP level may provide challenges to be monitored in the validation process.…”

Section: Developing and Validating Learning Progressionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our approach to defining the construct maps in this way was determined by the nature of the discipline, in that progress in understanding and explaining dynamics in the Solar System results through the application of systems thinking as students apply knowledge of the physical system (properties and dimensions) as well as understanding of two laws of physics (gravity and inertia). It was also shaped by the grain‐size of ideas which we believe will be useful for teachers, assessment writers, and curriculum writers to use in the future (Hokayem & Gotwals, 2016; Plummer & Maynard, 2014).…”

Section: The Hlp For the Solar Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating a learning progression for the solar system: Progress along gravity and dynamical properties dimensions

Plummer

Palma

Rubin³

et al. 2020

Science Education

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We previously proposed a hypothetical learning progression around the disciplinary core idea of the Solar System and its formation as a first step in a research program to begin to fill this gap and address questions of student learning in this domain. In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of two dimensions within the learning progression, dynamical properties and gravity, in describing change in how student reason in the domain across the course of their 14‐week astronomy unit. A sample of sixth‐grade students (N = 24) were interviewed before and after instruction. We compared changes in how students explained the dynamic properties of planets and the role of gravity in the Solar System to their experiences during instruction. Our findings provide evidence for the usefulness of this learning progression in describing how students' explanations may progress, offer insight into how instruction may support that progress, and highlight the challenges in drawing conclusions on how students' explanations may progress when limitations are identified in instructional experiences. We also discuss the connection between these two construct maps but also point out what appears to be a missing element in our original definition of the learning progression: inertia.

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“…Researchers have described learning progressions for physical science topics such as matter (e.g., Hadenfeldt, Neumann, Bernholt, Liu & Parchmann, 2016) and energy (e.g., Neumann, Viering, Boone, & Fischer, 2013), earth science topics such as the water cycle (Forbes, Zangori, & Schwarz, 2015) and climate change (e.g., Breslyn, McGinnis, McDonald, & Hestness, 2016), and life science topics such as genetics (e.g., Todd & Kenyon, 2015) and ecosystems (e.g., Hokayem & Gotwals, 2016). In addition to learning progressions in these content areas, researchers have also described learning progressions for science practices such as argumentation (e.g., Osborne et al, 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating a learning progression for energy ideas from upper elementary through high school

Herrmann‐Abell

DeBoer

2017

J Res Sci Teach

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This study tests a hypothesized learning progression for the concept of energy. It looks at 14 specific ideas under the categories of (i) Energy Forms and Transformations; (ii) Energy Transfer; (iii) Energy Dissipation and Degradation; and (iv) Energy Conservation. It then examines students' growth of understanding within each of these ideas at three levels of increasing conceptual complexity. The basic level of the model focuses on simple energy relationships and easily observable effects of energy processes; the intermediate level focuses on more complex energy concepts and applications; and the advanced level focuses on still more complex energy concepts, often requiring an atomic/molecular model to explain phenomena. The study includes results from 359 distractor-driven, multiple-choice test items administered to over 20,000 students in grades 4 through 12 from across the U.S. Rasch analysis provided linear measures of student performance and item difficulty on the same scale. Results largely supported a model of students' growth of understanding that progresses from an understanding of forms and transformations of energy to energy transfer to conservation while also progressing along a separate dimension of cognitive complexity. An analysis of the current state of students' understanding with respect to the knowledge identified in the learning progression showed that elementary level students perform well in comparison to expectations but that middle and high school students' performance does not meet expectations. # 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 55: 2018

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Early elementary students’ understanding of complex ecosystems: A learning progression approach

Cited by 58 publications

References 68 publications

Toward coherence in curriculum, instruction, and assessment: A review of learning progression literature

Toward coherence in curriculum, instruction, and assessment: A review of learning progression literature

Evaluating a learning progression for the solar system: Progress along gravity and dynamical properties dimensions

Investigating a learning progression for energy ideas from upper elementary through high school

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