Developing an Empirically-Tested Learning Progression for the Transformation
of Matter to Inform Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Design (LP)
This NSF funded project uses what is known about promoting students learning of science to systematically help learners build understanding of challenging scientific ideas, over the course of three years. This project will develop a Learning Progression (LP) for the Transformation of Matter
(ToM) based upon both theoretical and empirical data. This LP will characterize how students can develop understanding of the major constructs (e.g., particulate nature of matter, conservation of matter, properties of matter, chemical bonding) within the ToM umbrella.
In addition, the ToM-LP will track whether students can make important connections between concepts that lie in multiple constructs. We will empirically test a portion of the LP using the Investigating and Questioning our World through Science and Technology (IQWST) curriculum.
Based upon the hypothetical LP, we will develop assessments that use higher cognitive skills
such as constructing explanations and model building to measure student knowledge. These assessments will be used to examine how students’ knowledge and practices develop across 6th,
7th, and 8th grade through the IQWST curriculum and ultimately provide an instrument that
measures students against the scale provided by the ToM-LP.
Funder: National Science Foundation
Principal Investigators: Namsoo Shin, University of Michigan
Co-Principal Investigators: Joseph Krajcik, University of Michigan
Partner Organizations:
Status: Runs for 4 year: September 15, 2008 to August 31, 2012