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

Abstract

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.

Alternative Conceptions of Astronomy: How Irish Secondary Students Understand Gravity, Seasons, and the Big Bang

“…Section Gravity shows that students at all levels had a fragmented understanding of the concepts involved in the questions. These results are consistent with other studies (Bar et al, 2016;Kavanagh & Sneider, 2007;Palmer, 2001;Plummer et al, 2020;Ruggiero et al, 1985) in which secondary students also showed alternative conceptions of weightlessness, factors that affect gravity and the role it plays in free-fall motion. The alternative ideas found in this study are also connected with a lack of understanding of other fundamental topics such as speed, acceleration, force, magnetism and mass.…”

“…The idea of gravity as existing only on Earth was also found by Asghar and Libarkin (2010), in which half of the students involved in the research thought that gravity is only related to Earth and 93% believed that gravity is an outside force. Interestingly, Plummer et al (2020) found that even after instruction, 46% of the students still believed that not all celestial bodies in the Solar System have gravity.…”

Periodicity and change: Talking about time inside the planetarium dome

“…Yet at the same time Plummer (2009b) reminds us that in the case of children it is beneficial to learn not only the heliocentric (or more generically allocentric) perspective but also the geocentric perspective, that is, the apparent movements. Plummer (2009a) highlights that "the patterns of motion of the celestial objects, exhibited on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis, are among the most fundamental aspects of astronomy" (p. 1571), and research already exists, for instance, concerning these celestial patterns (e.g., Plummer, 2009a;Plummer et al, 2011), the dynamics of the Solar System (e.g., Plummer et al, 2020), the phases of the Moon (e.g., Chastenay, 2016); and the day-night cycle (e.g., Kallery, 2011). Yet, despite their relevance, time concepts are not central to these studies.…”

Designing a Learning Progression about Micro-Evolution to Inform Instruction and Assessment in Elementary Science

“…Additional validity concerns related to external variables and real-world implications are also important to note at later stages of development. We note two examples in the literature where researchers conducted studies to explicitly examine how the learning progression theory mapped to student responses before and after related instruction [34,35].…”