Inquiry, Modeling, and Metacognition: Making Science Accessible to All Students

“4 Examples of such questions in mathematics may be found in Hodgen and Wiliam (2006) and Swann (2006).”

“Moreover, these approaches to learning address important goals of education that include content knowledge, epistemic practices, and soft skills such as collaboration and self-directed learning.”

“…Savelsbergh, & Manlove, 2005) White & Frederiksen (2005) Phases + Cycle Mathematics Question, Hypothesize, Investigate, Analyse, Model, Evaluate (White & Frederiksen, 1998) Wilhelm & Walters (2006) Phases + Cycle Mathematics Science Llewelyn’s Inquiry Model: Introducing a topic, Assessing prior…”

“Take, for example, recent education standards that press teachers to help their students to understand mathematics as involving conjecture, problem solving, and justification rather than as being entirely about computation.”

“Computational models and simulations can make scientific concepts more accessible and enhance student understanding of phenomena (Buckley et al. 2004; Klopfer 2003; Parnafes 2007; Schwarz et al. 2007; White and Frederiksen 1998; Wilensky 1997; Wilkerson-Jerde and Wilensky 2015).”

“…has been incorporated into other successful programs in different subject areas, including writing and composition (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1982; Harris & Graham, 1996), and science and mathematics (Blumenfeld, Soloway, Marx, Krajcik, Guzdial, & Palincsar, 1991; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“When discovery learning activities were carefully planned and structured, students were led to make correct interpretations of information and produce solutions to problems presented to them (Hickey, 1997; Minstrell & Stimpson, 1996; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“…useful (pedagogical content knowledge; e.g., American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993; Baumert, Blum, & Neubrand, 2004; Chi, Feltovich, & Glaser, 1981; National Research Council, 2001; OECD, 2004; Schoenfeld, 1985; Shulman, 1987; Wayne & Youngs, 2003; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“…Vosniadou & Brewer, 1989), thinking and problem solving in the various disciplinary domains (Bransford & Stein, 1984; Hiebert et al., 1996), the use of representations in learning and teaching (Latour, 1990; Suchman, 1990), and metacognition (Brown, 1980; Flavell, 1991; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“In this section, I briefly consider the challenges of learners in the discipline of science to delineate the opportunities for a software tool to help learners overcome these challenges.”

“…draws on characterizations of inquiry learning in science (Krajcik, Berger, & Czerniak, 2002; Minstrell & Van Zee, 2000; Reiser et al., 2001; White & Frederiksen, 1998), characterizations of the more general nature of scientific practice (Latour, 1990; Lemke, 1990), and core principles of…”

“…& Schauble, 1997), software design (Bell, Davis, & Linn, 1995; Guzdial, Turns, Rappin, & Carlson, 1995; Hancock, Kaput, & Goldsmith, 1992; Jackson, Stratford, Krajcik, & Soloway, 1996; Scardamalia et al., 1992; White & Frederiksen, 1998), and professional development (Schifter, 1996; Sherin, 1998).”

“in more organized ways and test components of their ideas (Izsak, 2000; Mellar, Bliss, Boohan, Ogborn, & Tompsett, 1994; White & Fredericksen, 1998 ).”

“Examples include learning in the areas of science (e.g., Lin & et. al, 1995; White & Fredrickson, 1998), mathematics (e.g., CTGV, 1994; Schoenfeld, 1985 ), computer programming (Bielaczyc, et al., 1995) and literacy (e.g., Palincsar & Brown, 1984; Pressley & Afflerbach, 1995).”

“55 Researchers concluded that the use of the ThinkerTools software appeared to make science interesting and accessible to a wider range of students than was possible with more traditional approaches.”

“Several software tools have been developed in the past few years to help students with these difficulties: ThinkerTools (White & Fredriksen, 1998), STAR LEGACY (Schwartz, Lin, Brophy, & Bransford, 1999), Knowledge Integration Environment (KIE; Linn, 1995), Progress Portfolio (Loh et al., 1998), BGuILE (Reiser et al.,…”

“The hallmark of the newer problem-posing (Kortland, 1996), project-based (Duschl & Gitomer, 1997; Krajcik, Czerniak, & Berger, 1998), and technology-supported (di Sessa, 2000; Linn & Hsi, 2000; White & Frederickson, 1998 ) science programs is a commitment to have students track through inquiries and investigations beg…”

“…by generating data, analyzing and interpreting those data, drawing conclusions from them, communicating those conclusions, applying conclusions back to the original question, and perhaps following up on new questions that arise (e.g., Krajcik et al., 1998; NRC, 1996; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“Most formulations of scientific inquiry frame the process as starting with particular questions (e.g., NRC, 1996; Rutherford & Ahlgren, 1990; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“If the Wndings of laboratory studies are to be informative to educators, children’s metacognitive and metastrategic limitations must be recognized as inquiry tasks become incorporated into science curricula (e.g., Kolodner et al., 2003; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“(cells 1 and 4 in Table 1). Can we help poor students become better learners through more direct forms of metacognitive instruction (cf., Schoenfeld 1983; White and Frederiksen 1998 )? As described in the next section, we have been exploring this question in the context of Cognitive Tutors.”

“Such artifacts could include models (e.g., Stewart, Hafner, Johnson, & Finkel, 1992), laws (e.g., White & Frederiksen, 1998), or arguments and explanations (Bell & Linn, 2000; Sandoval, 2003).”

“This view, namely that teaching for higher order thinking is important for the learning of all students in all academic tracks, is emphasized by several additional researchers (Levine, 1993; Newmann, 1990; Peterson, 1988; Pogrow, 1988, 1996; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“White and Frederiksen (1998, 2000) have found that students who received the reflective prompts resulted in greater understanding of the inquiry practices.”

“…Yancey, 1998), social studies (Lewbel & Hibbard, 2001), mathematics (Adams, 1998; Ross, Hogaboam-Gray, & Rol-heiser, 2002; Stallings & Tascione, 1996), science (Duffrin, Dawes, Hanson, Miyazaki, & Wolfskill, 1998; White & Frederiksen, 1998), and exter-nal examinations (MacDonald & Boud, 2003).”

“For example, the ThinkerTools Inquiry Curriculum (White & Frederiksen, 1998), incorporating rich inquiry-based instruction based on student generated questioning, experimentation with technological and real-life tools, model formulation, and metacognitive re¯ection, has shown dramatic improvements of middle school stu…”

“PADI's applications in science revolve around paradigmatic ways of thinking, such as inquiry cycles (White & Frederiksen, 1998), knowledge representation (Markman, 1999; Greeno, 1983), model-based reasoning (Stewart & Hafner, 1994), and scaffolded learning (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989).”

“The inquiry cycle by White and Frederiksen ( 1998 ), for example, consists of the iterated activity sequence “question—predict—experiment—model—apply”; this inquiry cycle is embedded in students’ reflective assessment activities.”

“White and Frederiksen (1998) have shown success using prompts for reflective assessment in their mechanics curriculum for junior high school students.”

“In these “computer investigations,” they would collect data about the behavior of the ThinkerTools Newtonian microworlds to help them test their hypotheses about competing principles that might govern force-and-motion phenomena (White, 1984, 1993b; White & Frederiksen, 1998; White & Horwitz, 1988).”

“Furthermore, this view can be seen as part of a more general movement that takes models, not necessarily formulated as equations, as the targets of physics instruction (e.g., White, 1993a, 1993b; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“These results have a bearing on the relation between concrete and abstract thought and also on practical issues for the design of pedagogically motivated simulations.”

“Ferrara, & Campione, 1983; Gunstone, 1992; Schoenfeld, 1983; Schoenfeld, 1992; Hammer and Elby 7 White & Frederiksen, 1998 ).”

“…on children’s performance in diverse fields such as reading, mathematics and problemsolving (e.g. Brown & Palincsar, 1984; Dignath & Büttner, 2008; Georghiades, 2004a; Haller, Child, & Walberg, 1988; Hattie, 2009; Kramarski & Mevarech, 2003; White & Frederiksen, 1998; Zohar & Ben David, 2008).”

“Questions in text can highlight important features (Rothkopf, 1966) or promote self-assessment (White & Frederiksen, 1995, 1998).”

“…developed by earlier design teams as well as promising work on technologyenhanced learning environments by other investigators (diSessa, 1992; Edelson, Gordin, & Pea, 1999; Feurzeig & Roberts, 1999; Kafai & Resnick, 1996; Songer, Lee, & Kam, in press; Vanderbilt, 1997; White & Frederickson, 1998).”

“…science, and other subject areas (e.g., Barab, Thomas, Dodge, Carteaux & Tuzun, 2005; Barak & Dori, 2005; Barron et al., 1998; Bottino & Robotti, 2007; Linn, Clark & Slotta, 2003; Roschelle, Kaput & Stroup, 2000; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994; van Aalst & Chan, 2007; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“…Hynd, McWhorter, Phares, & Suttles, 1994), and content-specific instructional strategies and representations that support student learning (Chinn & Brewer, 1993; Guzzeti, Snyder, Glass, & Gamas, 1993; Scott, Asoko, & Driver, 1992; Smith, Blakeslee, & Anderson, 1993; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“Stevens, Wineburg, Herrenkohl & Bell, submitted ).”

“The peer also possesses a breadth of experience with the course and content knowledge that a current student could not and has a critical role as a more capable peer in promoting student interaction and exchange of ideas.”

“Third, they provide effective exposure to experimentation skills that involve a cycle of hypothesis formation, testing, evaluation, and revision (White, 1993; White & Fredericksen, 1998).”

“…design challenge was grounded in research that has documented powerful effects of improving classroom assessment as a strategy for advancing students' understanding of and abilities for inquiry (Black & Harrison, 2001; National Research Council, 2001; Petrosino, 1998; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“More recently, White and Frederiksen (1998, 2000) assessed the impact of a special curriculum (Thinker Tools) designed to teach physics and inquiry, based upon a metacognitive model of research.”

“This result challenges existing systems designed to foster students’ conceptual understanding (e.g., White & Frederiksen, 1998) since it would necessitate “expanding” system components (e.g., student model, instructional model, interface, etc.) to determine the learner student’s emerging mental…”

“Metacognitive students identify and clarify those aspects of new material that may be relevant for future use (Palincsar & Brown, 1984; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“…by means of systematic explicit guidance to learners as they think and reflect on their tasks (Bannert, 2008; Lin, Schwartz, & Hatano, 2005; Quintana, Zhang, & Krajcik, 2005; Schraw et al., 2006; Veenman, Van Hout-Wolters, & Afflerbach, 2006; White & Frederiksen, 1998; Winters et al., 2008).”

“…umbrella called scaffolding (Lajoie, 2005; Pea, 2004)—can help learners to regulate their learning, generate inferences, or integrate new information with prior knowledge (e.g., Chi et al., 2001; Graesser, McNamara, & VanLehn, 2005; Renkl, 1997; Simons & Klein, 2007; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“…is primarily laboratory based to one that also involves the creation of social support in classroom environments that foster metacognitive reflection (e.g., Brown, 1997; Brown & Campione, 1996; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1996; Vye, Schwartz, Bransford, Barron, & Zech 1998; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“It is not enough, however, to give teachers directions on how to enact curriculum (Franke, Carpenter, Levi, & Fennema, 1998; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“Most educational interventions seem to help high-performing students more than low-performing students (White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“Studies demonstrate that these various kinds of scaffolding mechanisms improve students’ conceptual understanding (White and Frederiksen 1998), reading comprehension (Palincsar and Brown 1984), and knowledge integration (Davis and Linn 2000).”

“…systems from different domains have been evaluated—including some with impressive results (e.g., Koedinger, Anderson, Hadley, & Mark, 1997; White & Frederiksen, 1998)—such assessments typically, and intentionally, confound the computer versus noncomputer comparison with a host of other…”

“Similar support is also found in the Thinker Tools project (White & Frederiksen, 1998) and STAR-Legacy (Schwartz, Brophy, Lin, & Bransford, 1999).”

“Second, a study by Stamper et al. (2011) compared versions of a tutoring system for logic proof with and without next-step hints.”

“These problems serve as a challenge to students’ reasoning or problem-solving skills and as an organizer for their learning (Voss and Post 1988; White and Frederiksen 1998).”

“Similar findings about the value of metacognitive processing have been found in science learning (e.g., White & Frederiksen, 1998; Lin & Lehman, 1999; Dufresne, Gerace, Leonard, Mestre, & Wenk, 1996; NRC, 2000; Vye et al., 1998), mathematics (Shoenfeld, 1992) and reading comprehension (e.g.,…”

“Specifically, a scientific inquiry enactment involves asking questions, generating data through systematic observation or experimentation, interpreting and evaluating data, and drawing conclusions (White and Frederiksen 1998 ).”

“In fact, ample evidence has suggested that the metacognitive aspects of inquiry-based approaches greatly benefit all students, including those who have encountered past academic difficulties (Boaler, 1997; Boaler & Staples, in press; Schoenfeld, 2002; White & Frederiksen, 1998; Zohar & Dori, 2003).”

“Studies have demonstrated that explicit instruction of metastrategic knowledge helps significantly to enhance students’ scientific inquiry strategies, especially among lower-achieving students (e.g., White & Frederiksen, 1998; Zohar & Ben David, 2008).”

“An example of specifying elements within the practices dimension of the Social Infrastructure Framework using an implementation path approach comes from the ThinkerTools environment (White, 1993, 1995; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”

“With scaffolds, students can conduct productive inquiry in these settings and learn important science ideas and investigation skills (e.g., Linn, Bell, & His, 1998 White, 1993; White & Frederiksen, 1998 ).”

“Inquiry learning is a potentially effective strategy when supported appropriately (Chinn & Malhotra 2002; White & Frederiksen 1998).”

“…expertise is needed in developing knowledge through inquiry (Frederiksen & White, 1997; Georghiades, 2004; Hogan, 1999; Kuhn & Pearsall, 1998; White & Frederiksen, 1998, 2000) and is critical in transferring ones’ capabilities for learning in one domain context to learning in new domains, as…”

“This view, namely that teaching for higher order thinking is important for the learning of all students in all academic tracks, is also emphasized by other researchers (Levine, 1993; Newman, 1990; Peterson, 1988; Pogrow, 1988, 1996; White & Frederiksen, 1998).”