ERIC Number: EJ859580
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1554-9178
EISSN: N/A
Probing Student Understanding of Scientific Thinking in the Context of Introductory Astrophysics
Steinberg, Richard N.; Cormier, Sebastien; Fernandez, Adiel
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, v5 n2 p020104-1--020104-10 Jul-Dec 2009
Common forms of testing of student understanding of science content can be misleading about their understanding of the nature of scientific thinking. Observational astronomy integrated with related ideas of force and motion is a rich context to explore the correlation between student content knowledge and student understanding of the scientific thinking about that content. In this paper, we describe this correlation in detail with a focus on a question about the relative motion of the Sun and the Earth. We find that high achieving high school students throughout New York City struggle with what constitutes scientific justification and thought processes, but can improve these skills tremendously in an inquiry-oriented summer astronomy-physics program. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)
Descriptors: Astronomy, Cognitive Processes, High School Students, Scientific Literacy, Introductory Courses, Scientific Principles, Correlation, Summer Programs, Student Improvement, Physics, Epistemology, Pretests Posttests, Portfolio Assessment, Aptitude Treatment Interaction
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New York
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A