Next generation crosscutting themes: Factors that contribute to students' understandings of size and scale

Abstract

This study examined the degree to which individual differences in students' (N = 232) concepts of size and scale are explained by factors such as students' innate sense of number, out‐of‐school science experiences, exposure to size and scale instruction, gender identities, and racial/ethnic identities. There is increasing emphasis being placed on the use of crosscutting concepts to promote deep learning in science. A multiple linear regression indicated students' racial/ethnic identities, experiences with scale outside of school, and exposure to size and scale instruction significantly added to the prediction model. Results from this study can both inform the movement toward incorporating crosscutting concepts into pedagogy as well as inform educators, administrators, and other stakeholders of the factors that may shape students' understanding of the cross‐cutting concept of scale, proportion, and quantity.

The use and potential of Fermi problems in the STEM disciplines to support the development of twenty-first century competencies

“…Indeed, Vasterink (2011) argued that FPs can be a central part of the learning of estimation in the different STEM disciplines. This is exemplified in science by Chesnutt et al (2018) who investigated the role of estimation on students' developing understanding of size scale, and the study of Resnick et al (2017) on using scale as the basis for comparing size using relational reasoning. These last two studies illustrate that FPs on interdisciplinary themes involving different scales (from the nanoscale to the macro scale) can be a productive way to teach about concepts such as geological time and about estimating size and scale.…”

Factors influencing middle school students' interdisciplinary competence in science education

“…Statements about interdisciplinary school learning were designed according to both the general learning opportunity indexes in existing studies (e.g., allocated time, content coverage, and content emphasis; Cogan & Schmidt, 2015; Floden, 2002; OECD, 2016; F. I. Stevens, 1993) and the specific characteristics of the interdisciplinary curriculum or learning activities described in previous studies (Brassler & Dettmers, 2017; Czerniak & Johnson, 2014; Nagle, 2013). The category of out‐of‐school experience included students' exposure to resources and events that can support their interdisciplinary learning when they are not in school (Chesnutt et al, 2018). The item responses ranged from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” on a five‐point scale or from “always” to “never” on a four‐point scale.…”

Crosscutting concepts and achievement: Is a sense of size and scale related to achievement in science and mathematics?

“…Tretter et al piloted the SOQ with both students and teachers, made necessary revisions, piloted the questionnaire again, and made final revisions prior to using it in their research. The SOQ has been employed to index students' concepts of absolute scale in a number of publications (Chesnutt et al, ; Tretter, Jones, Andre, et al, ). The SOQ asked students to determine if the size of an object falls into one of the 12 size categories.…”

“…Evidence of the integration of scale within the curriculum has been collected through retrospective interviews in which participants recounted learning about scale within the context of science (Jones & Taylor, ). Further evidence of the embedded nature of size and scale within the science curriculum was found in a recent controlled experiment in which factors such as students' out of school experiences with science and students' exposure to science‐related scale instruction were able to predict students' performance on scale assessments (Chesnutt et al, ). More research is needed to examine the degree to which students' development of a sense of scale relies on general conceptual growth.…”