Elementary

Reasoning About Data in Elementary School: Student Strategies and Strengths when Reasoning with Multiple Variables

The need for data literacy is an increasingly pressing priority in society, but most of the work in data-centred education has focused on developing skills at the middle school, secondary, and post-secondary levels, with little attention on the potential for engaging elementary-aged students in reasoning with and about data. This paper reports findings from a foundational study to explore the natural strengths, skills, and strategies that upper elementary students bring to reasoning about data-centred problems.

Author/Presenter

Jessica Sickler

Michelle Lentzner

Lynn T. Goldsmith

Lauren Brase

Randall Kochevar

Year
2024
Short Description

The need for data literacy is an increasingly pressing priority in society, but most of the work in data-centred education has focused on developing skills at the middle school, secondary, and post-secondary levels, with little attention on the potential for engaging elementary-aged students in reasoning with and about data. This paper reports findings from a foundational study to explore the natural strengths, skills, and strategies that upper elementary students bring to reasoning about data-centred problems.

Reasoning About Data in Elementary School: Student Strategies and Strengths when Reasoning with Multiple Variables

The need for data literacy is an increasingly pressing priority in society, but most of the work in data-centred education has focused on developing skills at the middle school, secondary, and post-secondary levels, with little attention on the potential for engaging elementary-aged students in reasoning with and about data. This paper reports findings from a foundational study to explore the natural strengths, skills, and strategies that upper elementary students bring to reasoning about data-centred problems.

Author/Presenter

Jessica Sickler

Michelle Lentzner

Lynn T. Goldsmith

Lauren Brase

Randall Kochevar

Year
2024
Short Description

The need for data literacy is an increasingly pressing priority in society, but most of the work in data-centred education has focused on developing skills at the middle school, secondary, and post-secondary levels, with little attention on the potential for engaging elementary-aged students in reasoning with and about data. This paper reports findings from a foundational study to explore the natural strengths, skills, and strategies that upper elementary students bring to reasoning about data-centred problems.

Multidimensional Science Assessment: Design Challenges and Technology Affordances

Contemporary views on what students should learn increasingly emphasize that students need to acquire more than a base of knowledge; they need to acquire the skills and abilities to use such knowledge in dynamic and flexible ways. To be most effective, learning environments need assessments that are aligned to these perspectives. Using a principled design framework can help guide assessment development toward such targets. Even when using a framework, however, thorny design challenges may arise.

Author/Presenter

Brian D. Gane

Diksha Gaur

Samuel Arnold

Daniel Damelin

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2024
Short Description

In this paper, we describe three challenges (conflict between multiple dimensions of science proficiency, authentic data, and grade-appropriate graphing tools) that we faced when designing for a specific Next Generation Science Standard, and the theoretical and design principles that guided us as we ideated design solutions. Through these designs we maintained alignment to our multidimensional assessment targets, a critical component of our larger assessment validity argument.

Multidimensional Science Assessment: Design Challenges and Technology Affordances

Contemporary views on what students should learn increasingly emphasize that students need to acquire more than a base of knowledge; they need to acquire the skills and abilities to use such knowledge in dynamic and flexible ways. To be most effective, learning environments need assessments that are aligned to these perspectives. Using a principled design framework can help guide assessment development toward such targets. Even when using a framework, however, thorny design challenges may arise.

Author/Presenter

Brian D. Gane

Diksha Gaur

Samuel Arnold

Daniel Damelin

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2024
Short Description

In this paper, we describe three challenges (conflict between multiple dimensions of science proficiency, authentic data, and grade-appropriate graphing tools) that we faced when designing for a specific Next Generation Science Standard, and the theoretical and design principles that guided us as we ideated design solutions. Through these designs we maintained alignment to our multidimensional assessment targets, a critical component of our larger assessment validity argument.

Embodied, Dramatizing Performances in Science Class: Multimodal Spaces and Places of Knowledge and Identity Construction

We explored the semiotic choices children in grades 1–6 made that nurtured embodied, dramatizing performances in science classes at urban public schools, serving predominantly students of color in a large US city. We studied how such choices in school and home settings (when instruction was remote during the COVID-19 pandemic) were implicated in the children’s knowledge and identity construction and related to available resources and positionings.

Author/Presenter

Maria Varelas

Amanda R. Diaz

Rebecca Kotler

Rebecca Woodard

Ronan Rock

Zachary Sabitt

Nathan Phillips

Rachelle Tsachor

Marcie Gutierrez

Hannah Natividad

Derek Threewitt

Jaegen Ellison

Year
2024
Short Description

We explored the semiotic choices children in grades 1–6 made that nurtured embodied, dramatizing performances in science classes at urban public schools, serving predominantly students of color in a large US city. We studied how such choices in school and home settings (when instruction was remote during the COVID-19 pandemic) were implicated in the children’s knowledge and identity construction and related to available resources and positionings.

Elementary Teachers’ Knowledge of Using Language as an Epistemic Tool in Science Classrooms: A Case Study

Language is a fundamental tool for learning science. This study highlights the importance of teacher knowledge in utilising language as a tool for knowledge generation in the classrooms. This case study examines elementary teachers’ development of declarative, procedural, and epistemic knowledge related to using language, particularly focusing on how a three-year professional development programme centred around the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach influences the development of these knowledge bases.

Author/Presenter

Qi Si

Jee K. Suh

Jale Ercan-Dursun

Brian Hand

Gavin W. Fulmer

Year
2024
Short Description

Language is a fundamental tool for learning science. This study highlights the importance of teacher knowledge in utilising language as a tool for knowledge generation in the classrooms. This case study examines elementary teachers’ development of declarative, procedural, and epistemic knowledge related to using language, particularly focusing on how a three-year professional development programme centred around the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach influences the development of these knowledge bases.

Design Talks: Whole-Class Conversations During Engineering Design Units

Teacher-facilitated whole-class conversations can help elementary students apply the full power of the NGSS science and engineering practices to an engineering design process. In this article we describe and provide examples for five kinds of Design Talks. Each type of Design Talk centers on a different framing question and is facilitated by specific prompts that help students voice their ideas and make connections to others' ideas.

Author/Presenter

Kristen Wendell

Jessica Watkins

Chelsea Andrews

Natalie De Lucca

Molly Malinowski

Vera Gor

Rae Woodcock

Tyrine Pangan

Naina Sood

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2024
Short Description

Teacher-facilitated whole-class conversations can help elementary students apply the full power of the NGSS science and engineering practices to an engineering design process. In this article we describe and provide examples for five kinds of Design Talks. Each type of Design Talk centers on a different framing question and is facilitated by specific prompts that help students voice their ideas and make connections to others' ideas.

Can Generative AI and ChatGPT Outperform Humans on Cognitive-Demanding Problem-Solving Tasks in Science?

This study aimed to examine an assumption regarding whether generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools can overcome the cognitive intensity that humans suffer when solving problems. We examine the performance of ChatGPT and GPT-4 on NAEP science assessments and compare their performance to students by cognitive demands of the items. Fifty-four 2019 NAEP science assessment tasks were coded by content experts using a two-dimensional cognitive load framework, including task cognitive complexity and dimensionality.

Author/Presenter

Xiaoming Zhai

Matthew Nyaaba

Wenchao Ma

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2024
Short Description

This study aimed to examine an assumption regarding whether generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools can overcome the cognitive intensity that humans suffer when solving problems. We examine the performance of ChatGPT and GPT-4 on NAEP science assessments and compare their performance to students by cognitive demands of the items.

Can Generative AI and ChatGPT Outperform Humans on Cognitive-Demanding Problem-Solving Tasks in Science?

This study aimed to examine an assumption regarding whether generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools can overcome the cognitive intensity that humans suffer when solving problems. We examine the performance of ChatGPT and GPT-4 on NAEP science assessments and compare their performance to students by cognitive demands of the items. Fifty-four 2019 NAEP science assessment tasks were coded by content experts using a two-dimensional cognitive load framework, including task cognitive complexity and dimensionality.

Author/Presenter

Xiaoming Zhai

Matthew Nyaaba

Wenchao Ma

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2024
Short Description

This study aimed to examine an assumption regarding whether generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools can overcome the cognitive intensity that humans suffer when solving problems. We examine the performance of ChatGPT and GPT-4 on NAEP science assessments and compare their performance to students by cognitive demands of the items.

An Exploratory Study of the Relation Between Teachers’ Implicit Theories and Teacher Noticing

Despite interest in how students’ implicit theories—their growth and fixed mindsets about their own learning—affect students as learners, relatively little research on mindset has looked at teachers as learners. This study explores elementary teachers’ implicit theories about the malleability of mathematics intelligence and teaching ability. It also examines how implicit theories of learning relate to teacher noticing, a construct that has been linked to teachers’ classroom practice and their students’ learning outcomes.

Author/Presenter

Meg S. Bates

Joseph R. Cimpian

Shereen Oca Beilstein

Cheryl Moran

Kate Curry

Victoria Jay

Genevieve M. Henricks

Michelle Perry

Year
2024
Short Description

Despite interest in how students’ implicit theories—their growth and fixed mindsets about their own learning—affect students as learners, relatively little research on mindset has looked at teachers as learners. This study explores elementary teachers’ implicit theories about the malleability of mathematics intelligence and teaching ability. It also examines how implicit theories of learning relate to teacher noticing, a construct that has been linked to teachers’ classroom practice and their students’ learning outcomes.