TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring multimodal scaffolds supporting middle school students’ construction of causal-mechanistic scientific explanations
AU - Mathayas, Nitasha
AU - Brown, David E.
N1 - Many thanks to Robert E. Wallon and Robb Lindgren for their conversations throughout this process. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. DUE-1432424. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Computer simulations help students visualize abstract scientific concepts. Yet their effectiveness depends upon the kinds of supports students receive. In this study, we explore the verbal and gestural supports we provided to students as they viewed a computer model of molecular conduction and constructed causal-mechanistic explanations for heat transfer. Using a complex systems and embodied approach to students’ conceptions, we conducted a cross-comparison case study of four students’ experiences with the simulation. By comparing students with richer scaffolding interactions to those with weaker scaffolds, we found that directing student attention towards causal elements in the simulation along with requesting them to gesture about the function of those elements helped students develop sophisticated explanations. We describe these cases and reveal ways these scaffolds can and cannot be enacted with the simulation. Implications for instruction and future work are described.
AB - Computer simulations help students visualize abstract scientific concepts. Yet their effectiveness depends upon the kinds of supports students receive. In this study, we explore the verbal and gestural supports we provided to students as they viewed a computer model of molecular conduction and constructed causal-mechanistic explanations for heat transfer. Using a complex systems and embodied approach to students’ conceptions, we conducted a cross-comparison case study of four students’ experiences with the simulation. By comparing students with richer scaffolding interactions to those with weaker scaffolds, we found that directing student attention towards causal elements in the simulation along with requesting them to gesture about the function of those elements helped students develop sophisticated explanations. We describe these cases and reveal ways these scaffolds can and cannot be enacted with the simulation. Implications for instruction and future work are described.
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M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:85053909098
SN - 1814-9316
VL - 1
SP - 56
EP - 63
JO - Proceedings of International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS
JF - Proceedings of International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS
IS - 2018-June
T2 - 13th International Conference of the Learning Sciences, ICLS 2018: Rethinking Learning in the Digital Age: Making the Learning Sciences Count
Y2 - 23 June 2018 through 27 June 2018
ER -