1 of 8

Instructional Scaffolds to Facilitate Scientific and Critical Comparisons of Geological Phenomena

This research was funded, in part, by the US National Science Foundation (Grant No. 2027376).

Stogianos, T., Lombardi, D., Mohan, S., Jaffe, J., & Governor, D

2 of 8

Goal: Examine relationships between scientific evaluations, judgements about alternative models, and knowledge of controversial geology topics (fracking and fossils) per Lombardi et al.’s (2016) theoretical framework.

Fracking pcMEL

3 of 8

Research Question:

We specifically asked: How do students’ (a) evaluations about the connections between lines of scientific evidence and explanatory models, (b) shifts in plausibility judgements, and (c) changes in knowledge about geology compare between the two instructional scaffolds, the (fracking) pcMEL and (fossil) baMEL?

Fossils baMEL

4 of 8

Methods

N=40 students enrolled in Earth and environmental science courses participating.

For our method, our group examined two different scaffolds, the pre-constructed MEL, and the build-a-MEL, covering the topics of fracking and fossils, respectively. Students completed the pcMEL first and the baMEL second during a multi-week instructional unit. The duration of each activity was about 90 minutes.

The present study was conducted during Year 3 and 4 of a four-year design-based research project. The participants were middle school and high school students in different regions of the United States.

We were interested in three outcomes of each MEL. An evaluation score, based on the accuracy of the students’ evaluation and the quality of their explanation. Plausibility shifts, the difference between plausibility ratings before and after completing the diagrams. Higher values would indicate that the students are shifting their plausibility judgment toward a more scientific stance. Finally, knowledge gain was measured before and after instruction.

Specifically, knowledge gains were measured as percent increase in scores from short surveys of students’ understanding of the various topics completed at pre and post instruction

5 of 8

Results

6 of 8

Results

7 of 8

Results

8 of 8

Discussion

Knowledge scores increased about 5% for both the Fracking pcMEL and Fossils baMEL, an appreciable gain for about 90 minutes of classroom instruction.
Students had more background knowledge about fossils due to prior science learning experiences compared to the novel concept of fracking and earthquakes, which are not covered in the elementary curriculum.
Regardless, the results are promising and suggest that both instructional scaffolds can promote geology learning.