Carbon TIME Project: Inquiry activities and learning progression

Background/Question/Methods

Learning progressions (LP) are increasing levels of sophistication of student reasoning about a topic based on empirical evidence, which are increasingly used in education reform and in development of teaching strategies, standards for student learning and student assessment. Previous LP research about student explanations of carbon transforming processes (CTPs) has identified important new insights, for example, how student’s interconnected and mutually supporting ideas and practices are deeply embedded in discourse at all levels. However, research on student reasoning during inquiry activities about CTPs is less well developed. In the Carbon TIME (Transformations In Matter and Energy) Project, we developed a suite of teaching tools based LP research. Among these teaching tools were activities to scaffold student explanations of CTPs, and core inquiry investigations designed to scaffold student measurements and arguments from evidence. Our objective was to use pilot classrooms to develop a new LP framework for student inquiry. In interviews middle and high school students (n=20) evaluated the quality of two arguments and associated numerical evidence about the source of mass of a growing plant. In written assessments students (n=150) described the best methods for measuring plant growth and evaluated data about the source of mass for a growing mouse.

Results/Conclusions

We established a framework of lower- and upper-anchor of student achievement based on emerging patterns of student responses in interviews and assessments. Student responses to interviews and assessment support our theory that primary differences in student achievement during inquiry activities (i.e. making measurements and arguments from evidence about CTPs) deal with student’s ability to notice and manage uncertainty. The lower-anchor is heavy reliance on sense perceptions and pattern recognition with little awareness of the many ways in which our senses give us incomplete and uncertain information about the world. The upper-anchor is using scientific reasoning to notice sources of uncertainty, such as precision and accuracy in experimental design and measurements, and also constructs arguments that link to evidence. Evidence from interviews and assessments indicate that students often make use of personal and firsthand experiences to understand uncertainty about measurement rather than considering what other information they may need to consider. Students also relied on their own explanations rather than evidence to evaluate the quality of an argument. Also, students saw data as authoritative regardless of its scientific value. These observations of student reasoning will inform empirical levels of achievement in the framework of the inquiry LP.