Bringing Engineering Design into High School Science Classrooms: The Heating/Cooling Unit

Apedoe, Xornam S.; Reynolds, Bertha C.; Ellefson, Michelle R.; Schunn, Christian D.

doi:10.1007/s10956-008-9114-6

Cited by 227 publications

(203 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…A design-science cycle can make explicit for students the connections between design and science. Learning cycles have been advocated by other learning scientists for effective classroom learning (e.g., Karplus 1977;Lawson et al 1989;Novick and Nussbaum 1981), and are included in many design-based science learning curricula (for examples see Apedoe et al 2008;Brophy and Bransford 2001;Fortus et al 2004;Kolodner et al 2003). Cycles can, and often are, repeated, which can allow students to learn and practice important science and design skills that they can use at increasingly higher performance levels (Kolodner et al 2003).…”

Section: Summary and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategies for success: uncovering what makes students successful in design and learning

Apedoe

Schunn

2012

Instr Sci

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While the purposes of design and science are often different, they share some key practices and processes. Design-based science learning, which combines the processes of engineering design with scientific inquiry, is one attempt to engage students in scientific reasoning via solving practical problems. Although research suggests that engaging students in design-based science learning can be effective for learning both science process and content, more research is needed to understand how to overcome what Vattam and Kolodner (Pragmatics and Cognition 16:406-437, 2008) called ''the design-science gap.'' This study, therefore, takes a first step at systematically delving into this issue of bridging the design-science gap by examining the problem-solving strategies that students are using when they solve a prototypical design task. Videotaped performance assessments of high and low performing teams were analyzed in depth. Results suggest that students use both science reasoning strategies (e.g., control of variables) and design-focused strategies (e.g., adaptive growth). However, the strategies commonly associated with success in science (e.g., control of variables) did not necessarily lead to success in design. In addition, while both science reasoning strategies and design-focused strategies led to content learning, the content learned was different.

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Section: Summary and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategies for success: uncovering what makes students successful in design and learning

Apedoe

Schunn

2012

Instr Sci

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“…This process is akin to the process used by engineering designers. For a detailed description of the unit see Apedoe et al (2008).…”

Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning Together While Designing: Does Group Size Make a Difference?

2011

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As the use of project-based learning becomes more frequent in the K-12 science classroom, and in chemistry classrooms in particular, teachers have begun to identify practical questions about implementation that should be addressed empirically. One such question concerns whether there is an ideal group size that fosters individual student achievement. The current project was designed to assess how group size might impact student chemistry content learning in a project-based learning environment, and how well students are prepared to transfer this new knowledge to other relevant areas. The results indicated that particular conditions (e.g. advanced classrooms) interact with group size (a seemingly superficial feature) to differentially influence the depth and level of student learning related to the unit and student's ability to transfer his/her knowledge outside of the context of a project-based learning unit.

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“…A performance project, on the other hand, might require designing paint, fins, and nose cones to make model rockets go as high as possible (Barron et al, 1998) or designing and building a miniature car and its propulsion system to go over several hills and beyond . In addition to students designing artifacts (e.g., Learning by Design , Design-Based Science (Fortus, Dershimer, Krajcik, Marx, & Mamlok-Naaman, 2004), or design-based learning (Apedoe, Reynolds, Ellefson, & Schunn, 2008)), performances can be other sorts of design projects that do not produce the same kind of material artifacts but whose intellectual activity is fundamentally the same: prescribing remedies for a sick patient or devising a new sales plan (Simon, 1999, p. 111). Performances are thus studies into the "sciences of the artificial," wherein design has the broader definition of students devising courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones (Simon, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, PBS curricula designed around performance projects should be good vehicles for building students' meaningful understanding Science Education of standards-based science content and have been an active area of research. However, while some studies of specific performance PBS curricula (hereafter, pPBSc) suggest that they, too, improve meaningful understanding (Apedoe et al, 2008;Fortus et al, 2004;Holbrook, Gray, Fasse, Camp, & Kolodner, 2001;Kanter & Schreck, 2006;Kolodner et al, 2003;Puntambekar & Kolodner, 2005), other studies suggest that pPBSc may actually interfere with students' ability to learn and learn to use science content. Sherin, Brown, and Edelson (2005) describe a pPBSc in which students analyze climate data to prepare briefings about the causes of the earth's warming and what to do about it.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Doing the project and learning the content: Designing project‐based science curricula for meaningful understanding

Kanter

2009

Science Education

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Project-based science curricula can improve students' usable or meaningful understanding of the science content underlying a project. However, such curricula designed around "performances" wherein students design or make something do not always do this. We researched ways to design performance project-based science curricula (pPBSc) to better support the meaningful understanding of science content. Using existing curriculum design frameworks, we identified the learner's need to "create the demand" for the science content, anticipating how to use it in the performance, and to "apply" the science content, both being necessary to ensure meaningful understanding. Designing the pPBSc I, Bio we discovered how these guiding principles manifested as curriculum design challenges. We generalized from the design of I, Bio and related literature design approaches for addressing each challenge. Finally, we measured the extent to which a pPBSc incorporating these design approaches developed meaningful understanding. 652 middle grades students using I, Bio completed pre-and posttests on the science content behind the I, Bio performance. Our findings provide preliminary evidence that a pPBSc that incorporates these design approaches is consistent with gains in meaningful understanding. We discuss how the results of this work can be used to improve systematic experiments on instructional supports.

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Bringing Engineering Design into High School Science Classrooms: The Heating/Cooling Unit

Cited by 227 publications

References 17 publications

Strategies for success: uncovering what makes students successful in design and learning

Strategies for success: uncovering what makes students successful in design and learning

Learning Together While Designing: Does Group Size Make a Difference?

Doing the project and learning the content: Designing project‐based science curricula for meaningful understanding

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