Problem solving in chemistry supported by metacognitive scaffolding: teaching associates’ perspectives and practices

Vo, Kimberly; Sarkar, Mahbub; White, Paul; Yuriev, Elizabeth

doi:10.1039/d1rp00242b

Cited by 13 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The exact concept of scaffolding instruction is that teachers should provide students with a “scaffold” that is conducive to an effective understanding of knowledge when teaching, and use the “scaffold” to further enable students to understand the teaching content at a deeper level ( Vo et al, 2022 ). Scaffolding instruction is not only a teaching idea but also a teaching mode.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Creative thinking in the teaching of Chinese language and literature in colleges from the perspective of educational psychology

2022

Front. Psychol.

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In the major of Chinese language and literature, the reading of Chinese language and literature is the most basic part. With the development of internet technology, the teaching of Chinese language and literature has also ushered in new changes. In order to better innovate the teaching methods of Chinese language and literature education according to the emerging internet technology, this study applies the scaffolding teaching model based on educational psychology to Chinese language teaching. Firstly, the educational psychology and scaffolding teaching theory are analyzed, and a scaffolding teaching model of educational psychology is proposed. Secondly, this model is applied to the teaching of Chinese language and literature majors in colleges, and teaching experiments are carried out. The results show that the Chinese language and literature reading anxiety of the students in the experimental class has been alleviated to a certain extent. After using the scaffolding teaching model based on human-computer interaction and educational psychology to conduct teaching experiments, the average reading anxiety of the experimental class is 67.13 points, and the average reading anxiety of the control class is about 76.52 points. The average post-test reading anxiety of the experimental class is 9.39 points lower than that of the control class. The students’ Chinese language and literature scores improve after the experiment. Therefore, the scaffolding teaching model based on educational psychology can be used in the teaching of Chinese language and literature majors in colleges and universities. This study can realize the effective teaching inside and outside the classroom of Chinese language and literature in colleges and universities, promote the deep integration of educational psychology and the teaching of Chinese language and literature, and provide a new teaching idea for Chinese language and literature teachers.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Creative thinking in the teaching of Chinese language and literature in colleges from the perspective of educational psychology

2022

Front. Psychol.

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“…Within this tradition, scholars have examined teacher's knowledge, beliefs, identities, and goals in an attempt to get ''under the hood'' of teacher practice (e.g., Pajares, 1992;Abd-El-Khalick et al, 1998;Lederman, 1999;Loughran et al, 2004;Remillard, 2005;Avraamidou and Zembal-Saul, 2010;Orgill et al, 2015;Connor and Shultz, 2018;Kradtap Hartwell, 2019;Lutter et al, 2019;Posey et al, 2019;Connor et al, 2023). Further, scholars have similarly focused on instructors' attitudes, beliefs, and orientations toward teaching (e.g., Mutambuki and Fynewever, 2012;Towns, 2015Towns, , 2016Gibbons et al, 2018;Popova et al, 2020;Heidbrink and Weinrich, 2021;Vo et al, 2022).…”

Section: Literature Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beliefs versus resources: a tale of two models of epistemology

DeGlopper

Russ

Sutar

et al. 2023

Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.

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Compelling evidence, from multiple levels of schooling, suggests that teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about knowledge, knowing, and learning (i.e., epistemologies) play a strong role in shaping their approaches to teaching and learning. Given the importance of epistemologies in science teaching, we as researchers must pay careful attention to how we model them in our work. That is, we must work to explicitly and cogently develop theoretical models of epistemology that account for the learning phenomena we observe in classrooms and other settings. Here, we use interpretation of instructor interview data to explore the constraints and affordances of two models of epistemology common in chemistry and science education scholarship: epistemological beliefs and epistemological resources. Epistemological beliefs are typically assumed to be stable across time and place and to lie somewhere on a continuum from “instructor-centered” (worse) to “student-centered” (better). By contrast, a resources model of epistemology contends that one's view on knowledge and knowing is compiled in-the-moment from small-grain units of cognition called resources. Thus, one's epistemology may change one moment to the next. Further, the resources model explicitly rejects the notion that there is one “best” epistemology, instead positing that different epistemologies are useful in different contexts. Using both epistemological models to infer instructors’ epistemologies from dialogue about their approaches to teaching and learning, we demonstrate that how one models epistemology impacts the kind of analyses possible as well as reasonable implications for supporting instructor learning. Adoption of a beliefs model enables claims about which instructors have “better” or “worse” beliefs and suggests the value of interventions aimed at shifting toward “better” beliefs. By contrast, modeling epistemology as in situ activation of resources enables us to explain observed instability in instructors’ views on knowing and learning, surface and describe potentially productive epistemological resources, and consider instructor learning as refining valuable intuition rather than “fixing” “wrong beliefs”.

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“…Viewed from another angle, the unit factor method may be seen as potentially providing metacognitive support, at least within the analysis and solution phases of problem solving (Vo et al, 2022). This is because identification of the given and required information and their units, i.e., analysis of the problem, is central to this method, as is the relationship between the given and required quantities, required for the solution of the problem.…”

Section: Well-defined Calculationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Algorithms may be seen as necessary evils in that they are required to reduce cognitive load (Hartman and Nelson, 2021), yet they may be applied incorrectly due to rote, rather than meaningful, usage (Nyachwaya et al, 2014), and may detract from conceptual development (Skemp, 1987). Ideally, an algorithm should provide metacognitive support (Vo et al, 2022), e.g. by directing the user from one step to the next (Gulacar et al, 2021), while also directing attention to the integration of relevant concepts at the macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic levels of representation (Johnstone, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The efficacy of instruction in application of mole ratios and submicro- and macro-scopic equivalent forms of the mole within the unit factor method

Stott

2023

Chem. Educ. Res. Pract.

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The unit factor method, a generic strategy for solving any proportion-related problem, is known to be effective at reducing cognitive load through unit-cancellation providing step-by-step guidance. However, concerns have been raised that it can be applied mindlessly. This primarily quantitative prepost study investigates the efficacy of instruction aimed at addressing such concerns. This was done by making submicro- and macro-scopic equivalent forms of the mole concept, and the meanings of mole ratios, explicit, and emphasising the application of these within the unit factor method to solve stoichiometry calculations. Data were collected from 161 South African Physical Sciences teachers’ answers to four calculation, and 14 conceptual, questions in each of a pre- and a post-test written at the start and end, respectively, of a two-day workshop at which such instruction was implemented. These data were analysed for changes in strategy type and calculation and conceptual knowledge, i.e., heuristic power. A small (n = 7) group retained deficient calculation strategies in which they failed to recognise the need to apply proportion to the mole ratio. For the remainder, a weak but significant correlation was found between their conceptual and calculation improvements. There was high uptake of the unit factor method in the posttest, although a group (n = 33) which began with relatively good calculation knowledge largely rejected this method. Statistically significant improvements in both conceptual and calculation knowledge were found regardless of the extent of uptake of the unit factor method, however the calculation improvement measured was significantly lower for the group which showed moderate uptake of the unit factor method, suggesting they may have needed a longer intervention. Based on the findings, speculations are made regarding the nature of knowledge and the mechanism of development of heuristic power. Long-term effects of such an intervention would, however, still need to be determined.

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Problem solving in chemistry supported by metacognitive scaffolding: teaching associates’ perspectives and practices

Abstract: Problem solving is a fundamental skill that chemistry graduates should possess, yet many students have difficulties solving problems in chemistry. These difficulties may be either student- or instructor-driven. Instructor-related difficulties...

Cited by 13 publications

References 59 publications

Creative thinking in the teaching of Chinese language and literature in colleges from the perspective of educational psychology

Creative thinking in the teaching of Chinese language and literature in colleges from the perspective of educational psychology

Beliefs versus resources: a tale of two models of epistemology

The efficacy of instruction in application of mole ratios and submicro- and macro-scopic equivalent forms of the mole within the unit factor method

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