Consistency in Students’ Accounts of Carbon-transforming Processes

Hui JinThe Ohio State University

Charles W. AndersonMichigan State University

What we have done before

• A learning progression framework for energy and causal reasoning in socio-ecological systems

Instrument: Clinical Interviews

Instrument: Written Assessments

The grape you eat can help you move your little finger.

a. Please describe how one glucose molecule from the grape provides energy to move your little finger.

b. Do you think the SAME glucose molecule can also help you to maintain your body temperature, when it is used to provide energy to move your finger?

How do the foods you eat help you move your finger?

Data Sources

Students of two elementary teachers (4th grade), two middle school teachers (7th and 8th grade), and two high school teachers (9th and 11th grade). The schools are located in suburban and rural areas in Michigan.We conducted interview and written assessments twice in order to provide the variety of students’ responses.

Assessments Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools

First-tests 91 214 222Second-tests 125 125 207

First-interviews 8 8 8Second-

interviews 8 8 8

The Learning Progression Framework

• Students rely on different entities to explain what causes change in socio-ecological events: • Level 1. natural ability• Level 2. vital power • Level 3. beginning energy concept• Level 4. scientific energy concept

• At each level, students demonstrate different performance in Association (what things are and are not energy) and Tracing (what happens to energy during the event).

• Association: from broad association to gradually restricted association.

• Tracing: from incomplete tracing to complete and successful tracing.

Level 1. Natural Ability

Association: Associate energy with emotions, feelings, and actions of actors and enablers.

Tracing: Trace cause-effect chain

Level 2. Vital Power

Association: Associate energy with properties and structure of enablers

Tracing: Trace energy back to enablers

Level 3. Beginning Energy Concept

Association: Associate energy with energy indicators including organic molecules, but do not distinguish between energy forms and organic molecules.

Tracing: Matter-energy conversion; Trace energy without degradation

Level 4. Scientific Energy Concept

Association: Associate energy with a limited number of energy indicators. Tracing: Trace energy separately from matter and with degradation.

An Unresolved Problem

• Are the different levels in the learning progression:– Coherent “theories” that students of different

ages have about what causes events to happen and the role of energy

– “Knowledge in pieces,” loose collections of metaphors that students use to build their explanations

Consistency of Students’ Accounts

What are we doing now?

Research Questions• Association: To what extent do individual

students demonstrate consistent performance in associating entities (natural ability, vital power, energy) with different aspects of carbon-transforming processes?

• Tracing: To what extent do individual students demonstrate consistent performance in tracing entities (natural ability, vital power, energy)?

Data Sources & Data Analysis• Data Sources: 48 interviews

• Data Analysis: • Six Account Units:

• TG (Tree Growth), BG (Baby Girl Growth), GR (Girl Running), TD (Tree Decaying), FB (Flame Burning), and CR (Car Running).

• Each Account Unit is analyzed in terms of three units of coding: • ENENABLER: Questions about how energy enabler helps the actor to grow

or move and how energy change in the event & Responses to these questions --- Association; Tracing

• ENSOURCES: Questions about where energy comes from & Responses to these questions. --- Association

• ENSTORED: Questions about where energy is stored & Responses to these questions. --- Association

Assessments Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools

First-interviews 8 8 8Second-

interviews 8 8 8

Data AnalysisTG: Tree Growth

ENENABLER: How does sunlight helps the tree to grow? Where does light energy go when it is used by the tree? --- Association; Tracing

ENSOURCES: What are energy sources for the tree? Does sunlight provide energy? Does water/air/soil provide energy? Why do you think it has energy? --- Association

ENSTORED: Where does the tree store energy in its body? Do you think that the tree is made of cells/molecules? Do you think energy could be in cells/molecules? --- Association

BG: Baby Girl Growth

Data Analysis

Patterns of Consistency of Reasoning• Three patterns of consistency of reasoning:

• Reasoning at single level: The account unit only contains indicators of one level.

• Synthetic reasoning framework: The account unit contains indicators of two or more levels and the indicators (elements of reasoning) are synthesized into a coherent framework.

• Apparently inconsistent reasoning: The account unit contains indicators of two or more levels. There is no evidence in the account unit that the student makes the indicators compatible.

Example 1. Apparently Inconsistent Reasoning (Association Performance)

Example 1. Apparently Inconsistent Reasoning (Association Performance)

Example 1. Apparently Inconsistent Reasoning (Association Performance)

Example 2. Synthetic Reasoning Framework (Tracing)

Summary and Future Work

• Summary – Students may not connect school science with their everyday life

experience and therefore tell about two different stories about the events.

– Students may integrate their naïve reasoning and school science knowledge and therefore generate many misconceptions.

• Future Work– Generate graphs that show percentage of different consistency

patterns– Analyze written data and see if there are similar patterns.