
School of Education A Critical Evaluation of the Thinking Frames Approach as a Teaching Strategy for Multidimensional Conceptual Change in the Science Classroom Felicity Isabel McLure This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University August 2018 Declaration To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgment has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. Human Ethics The research presented and reported in this thesis was conducted in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007) – updated March 2014. The proposed research study received human research ethics approval from the Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee (EC00262), Approval Number # SMEC-53-13 Signature: …………………………………………. Date: ………………………... ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Mihye Won and Professor David Treagust for their patient support and encouragement throughout this project. I would also like to thank Dr Chandrasegaran for assistance with Cronbach’s alpha statistical analyses. I would particularly like to thank my family who encouraged me to embark on this adventure and who have supported me throughout. A special thanks to the executive leadership of the school, who believed in me enough to try something new and who released me from classroom duties to attend conferences. Thanks also go to other staff members who acted as sounding boards, encouraged me to continue and who stepped in to swap classes and classrooms when necessary. Members of the Science department have been especially supportive. Thank you for your friendship, advice and encouragement. You are amazing! Thanks to Diana Primrose for proof-reading the final draft. Finally, I would like to give a huge thankyou to my wonderful students, whose enthusiasm, honesty and insights have been invaluable. iii Abstract This study grew out of my dissatisfaction with my teaching practice and my concern about the limited degree to which students adopted and communicated scientific conceptions. I sought a structured approach which would encourage students to replace their alternative conceptions with scientific ones and support them in writing elaborated causal scientific explanations. This thesis critically evaluated the effectiveness of such a structured approach, the Thinking Frames Approach (TFA) (Newberry, Gilbert & Cams Hill Science Consortium, 2011), to address students’ conceptual change, explanatory writing and its effect on my own teaching practice. The literature indicated the effectiveness of addressing students’ alternative conceptions using strategies based on multidimensional conceptual change theory. This theory suggests that students’ alternative conceptions in the epistemological dimension should be challenged by presentation of discrepant events and that they should be made aware of the ontological categories underpinning these beliefs. Attention should also be paid to supporting the social aspects of learning, such as working co-operatively in small groups, facilitating dialogic interactions and feedback, as well as addressing student characteristics, such as intentionality, motivation, self-efficacy and emotions. However, there were few studies applying this theory in the regular classroom. This may be as a result of the daunting complexity of multidimensional change theory to classroom teachers. It was proposed that the TFA may address this complexity by challenging students’ alternative conceptions, supporting social construction of understanding using student-generated multiple representations in small groups and promoting self-evaluation of written explanations. This study used a two-year explanatory sequential mixed-methods design to critically evaluate the effect and mechanism of action of teaching with the TFA. To determine conceptual change in the epistemological and ontological dimensions (Research Question 1a) pre-, post- and delayed post-test data were gathered from experimental and comparison groups in Grades 8-10 students in Chemistry, Physics and Biology topics. Research Question 1b probed changes in students’ written explanations over the learning period using evaluation rubrics. Results were compared using statistical tests such as paired t-tests and multiple regression analyses. Research Questions 2a and b investigated students’ and colleagues’ perceptions of learning using the TFA through thematic coding of interview data and audio and video recordings of lessons. Three case studies were presented to obtain a more fine-grained understanding of the student experience in response to Research Question 3. Research Question 4 investigated my experience teaching with the TFA using data from reflective journals and audio/video recordings of lessons. The results from pre- and post-tests revealed that students who learned using the TFA iv underwent statistically significant epistemological conceptual change in all topics, with Cohen effect sizes of 0.94-2.04. Conceptual change was sustained over the six-month period after teaching in the topics of thermal energy, Newton’s laws, and energy. Comparison of results from the experimental groups with comparison classes also showed significantly greater conceptual understanding attained by students who learned using the TFA. Students of the experimental group also showed statistically significant transfer in allegiance to scientific ontological models, such as adoption of the principles of Newton’s third law and natural selection. An added benefit of learning using the TFA was statistically significant improvement in the ability of students of all three grades to write elaborated causal explanations linking claims and evidence with the underlying ontological models. Probing of the mechanism of action of the TFA (Research Question 2 & 3) indicated that the TFA supported students’ epistemological understanding through step-wise scaffolding of understanding as students produced multiple representations. Ontological understanding was built over a series of lessons through teacher questioning and application of the model in various contexts. Both students and teachers stressed the benefits of working in a small group environment, which led to interthinking, greater opportunities to express ideas and ask for support. As a result, many instances of increased intentionality and engagement were reported. Many students developed mastery goals as opposed to performance goals which led to greater attention to meta-cognitive strategies, such as production of multiple representations. Increased self-efficacy in understanding new concepts and writing explanations were reported. Positive activating emotions, such as excitement and enjoyment of lessons were adopted and students expressed increased personal interest in learning science. These observations were confirmed in the case studies. My experience teaching using the TFA indicated ways in which it supported me in implementing multidimensional conceptual change theory within the constraints of the normal classroom. Limitations and future improvements in the methodology were suggested. This research provided evidence that the TFA is indeed a powerful approach to address multi-dimensional conceptual change in the regular classroom. A mechanism of action of the TFA: the interaction between the Predict-Discuss-Explain-Observe-Discuss-Explain (PDEODE) aspect of the approach with the power of socially constructed multiple representations in small groups which resulted in students being constrained to intentionally engage with the meta-cognitive strategies presented. Learning with the TFA facilitated a change in several student characteristics: intentionality, motivation, interest and self-efficacy, a result which is rarely noted in the literature. Further elucidation of the mechanism of action on student characteristics of learning with the TFA would be valuable. As a result of this study it is also suggested that ways to support student creativity in drawing be further investigated. v Contents Declaration ..........................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ iii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv List of Tables ....................................................................................................................viii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x Glossary…………………………………………………………………………………...….xi Chapter 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Rationale of the Study ........................................................................................ 2 1.2 The Thinking Frames Approach .......................................................................... 4 1.3 Research Questions ............................................................................................ 5 1.4 Overview of Methodology .................................................................................
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