iddeas: introducing desirable difficulties for educational applications in science classroom studies...
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IDDEAS: Introducing Desirable Difficulties for Educational
Applications in Science
Classroom studies of desirable difficulties
implemented in astronomy curricula
Britte Haugan Cheng
Graduate School of Education
University of California, Berkeley
IDDEAS
• Collaboration between UC, Berkeley and UCLA (M. Linn and R. Bjork)
• Complementary lab and classroom studies investigate the role of Desirable Difficulties in learning (cf. Bjork)
• Desirable Difficulties are aspects of training or instruction that may initially hamper learning but produce improved learning versus a control group over the long-term (e.g. spacing between training or learning events, generation of information (vs. recall), interleaved instruction (vs. blocked), etc.)
Research Questions
• Study One: Examining Instruction and Reflection– Will blocked or interleaved
sequence of instruction better support student learning?
– Will reflection prompts that address single concepts or those that integrate multiple concepts better support student learning?
• Study Two: Examining Reflection in Depth– Will reflection prompts that
address single concepts or those that integrate multiple concepts better support student learning?
– Will animated visualizations or static visualizations presented as part of reflection prompts better support students’ learning?
Research Settings
Study One• Bay Area urban public
school• ~140 8th grade students
– Large range of reading ability
– Large range of SES
• Teacher has over 10 years experience (new to WISE)
Study Two• Bay Area suburban
public school• ~185 8th grade students
– Some range of reading ability
– Some range of SES
• Teacher’s second year teaching (and second year teaching WISE)
TimelinesStudy One: Fall Semester
Post-Test
Modeling Activity(3 days)
WISE Activity(4-5 days)
Pre-Test
Study Two: Spring Semester
Post-Test Two
Modeling Activity(3 days)
Post-Test One
Revised WISE Activity(4-5 days)
Pre-Test
Participant Conditions
Study One Study Two
Non-integrated
Prompts
Integrated
Prompts
Static -visual Prompts
Per: 1a, 2a, 3a
Per: 1b, 2b, 3b
Animated-visual Prompts
Per: 4a, 5a, 6a
Per: 4b, 5b, 6b
Blocked Instruction
Interleaved Instruction
Recall-based Prompts
Period 6 Period 2
Reasoning-based Prompts
Period 4 Period 3
Stimuli: WISE Environment
• In both studies, instruction was delivered via WISE (Web-based Inquiry Science Environment)
• Using WISE, it was possible to carefully control:
• instructional delivery (sequence and wording)
• Reflection prompts• Visual stimuli
Stimuli: WISE Activities
Students are introduced to basic physics principles in the context of the search for life on planets outside our solar system:– Planetary characteristics
– properties of mutual gravitation
– astronomical measurement and scale
Stimuli: Blocking vs. Interleaving
Blocking
Distance: Mutual Gravitation
Distance: Planet Composition
Mass: Mutual gravitation
Mass: Planet composition
Interleaving
Distance: Mutual Gravitation
Mass: Mutual gravitation
Distance: Planet composition
Mass: Planet composition
Stimuli: Example Integration Prompts (Study One)
• Blocked Presentation Order:– Planets with very little mass will most likely not have an atmosphere which helps keeps the surface of the planet warm enough for liquid water to exist.
– Venus has less mass than Earth, but smaller objects do not always have less mass than larger objects.
• Interleaved Presentation Order:– In our solar system, the rocky or terrestrial planets are
closest to the sun which means that these planets have a warmer temperature.
– In our solar system, there are no jovian or gas-based planets within the habitable zone.
Bold = term to be filled-in by the student
Stimuli: Example Static-visual Prompt (Study Two)
*Static visuals are screen shots of animated visuals. Students in the animated condition will see a moving version of static prompts.
Stimuli: The Modeling Task
• Assessing the habitability and detectability of planets, students…
– Examine models and data of the familiar 9 sol-system planets
– Make and justify qualitative (i.e. yes/no) predictions for each of 5 fictitious extrasolar planets
– Model each extrasolar planet and test their predictions
– Explain why none of the planets detected by scientists are habitable
– Determine if it is possible for a planet to be both habitable and detectible.
*View laptop below for demo of environment
• Recall“A planet that has a _______ shaped orbit could be within the ___________ _______ for part of the orbit and outside of it for the
rest of the time.”
• Open-ended/Integration “ In the drawing below, there are 5 planets orbiting a sun that is much like our own sun. Two arrows indicate the average distance
between the sun and the planet the arrow is pointing to. Circle the planet you think is most habitable. Explain why you think the planet you chose is the most habitable.”
• Transfer (S2 only) “Which planet would be more detectable? Both planets are the same mass and are 1 AU from their companion star. Explain your
answer.”
Stimuli: Example Test Items
Sun
1.5 AUs
1/2 AU
Sun A
Planet A
Sun B
Planet B
Results: Study One Pre/Post Scores on Recall Items
0
5
10
15
20
Reflection Prompt (Integrated vs. Non-
integrated)
Order of Instruction(Interleaved vs. Blocked)
Desirable Difficulty
No Desirable Difficulty
Reflection Prompt: F (1,115) = 7.168 , p =.009
Order of Instruction: F (1,115)= 3.599, p = .06
Results: Study OneOpen-ended items (Post-test)
Reflection Prompt: F (1,115) = 18.769 , p = .000
Order of Instruction: F (1,115) = 1.989, p = .16
Desirable Difficulty
No Desirable Difficulty
0
5
10
15
20
25
Integrated(n=58)
Non-integrated
(n=59)
Interleaved(n=57)
Blocked(n=60)
Prompt Order
Results: Study OneModeling Task Scores
0
5
10
15
20
25
Integrated(n=50)
Non-integrated
(n=46)
Interleaved(n=43)
Blocked(n=53)
Reflection Prompt: F (1,94) = 12.422 , p = .001
Order of Instruction: F (1,94) = 6.010, p = .016
Desirable Difficulty
No Desirable Difficulty
Prompt Order
Results: Study Two Post-Test
0
5
10
15
20
25
Integrated(n=86)
Non-integrated
(n=88)
Animated(n=83)
Static (n=91)
Reflection Prompt: F (1,172) = 3.946 , p = .049
Visualization: F (1,172) = 1.134, p = .288
Desirable Difficulty
No Desirable Difficulty
Prompt Visual
Results: Study TwoModeling Task Scores
0
5
10
15
20
25
Integrated(n=90)
Non-integrated
(n=91)
Animated(n=87)
Static (n=94)
Reflection Prompt: F (1,180) = 2.418 , p = .122
Visualization: F (1,180) = 0, p = .992
Desirable Difficulty
No Desirable Difficulty
Prompt Visual
Conclusions• Study One:
– Interleaving was beneficial for student learning.– Reflection opportunities that prompted students to integrate
concepts was even more beneficial than interleaving
• Study Two:– Opportunities for students to integrate information are
essential whether in the form of reflection prompts or instructional design
– Animation nominally supported students learning in both prompt condition
– Long-term effects may take longer to appear in classroom settings
Implications for future research
• Future studies in both the lab and in classrooms could build from this work to closely examine:– reflection prompts that ask participants to integrate
specific concepts in order to determine whether there are ideal sets of concepts that when integrated maximally support student learning in this domain
– visual stimuli to determine whether animations of particular concepts are more effective than those in Study Two in supporting student learning
Spring ‘04 IDDEAS Studies
• UCB:– Examine two versions of visualization
• Animations vs. Mathematical/graphic representation (analogous)
– Continue examination of interleaving• Habitability and detectability (similar level of analysis/structure
as visualizations and other pivotal materials)
• UCLA:– Examine complex vs. simple generation
• Companion to completed classroom studies
– Examine the role of analogic structure of two domains• genetics