Prediction and reflective prompts promote learning with primary age students
Theobald, Maria, et al. (2024) "Do reflection prompts promote children's conflict monitoring and revision of misconceptions?." Child Development 95.4 : e253-e269. The study investigates whether reflection prompts enhance elementary school children’s ability to monitor cognitive conflicts and revise scientific misconceptions. Researchers tested 97 children (average age 7.2) on the principles of water displacement, specifically targeting […]
Design based research on using knowledge about the power of prediction error
I have been doing some Design Base Research (DBR) in an International School near Zürich on a grade 7 Unit on Magnetism. We have developed a unit on magnetism that uses the strategy of asking students to make predictions and explain them, then observe and then we try to resolve the cognitive conflict often produced […]
Thirty Years of Conceptual Change Research in Biology
Aleknavičiūtė, Vesta, Erno Lehtinen, and Ilona Södervik. "Thirty years of conceptual change research in biology–A review and meta-analysis of intervention studies." Educational Research Review 41 (2023): 100556. This systematic review and meta-analysis examines three decades of research into conceptual change interventions within biology education. The authors investigate how various instructional strategies, such as refutational texts […]
Control of variables, conceptual change in primary school science
Three studies carried out at the ETH Zürich give excellent insights into interventions in primary science teaching. In particular the importance of the control of variables strategy and how this effects conceptual change and the learning of scientific principles. They explore how primary school students develop scientific thinking, specifically focusing on the relationship between domain-general […]
AI-Guided Inquiry in Multivariate Reasoning how can it be translated to face to face lessons?
I came across a very interesting study Teaching Multivariational Reasoning through AI-Guided Inquiry in Interactive Simulations Ekaterina Shved, Engin Bumbacher, Seyed Parsa Neshaei and Tanja Käser from EPFL in Lausanne Switzerland I and all of us at the Let’s Think Forum have been deeply interested in the thinking schema of variables for decades. I thought […]
Developing Norms of Argumentation: The Role of Social Practice
This paper Developing Norms of Argumentation: Metacognitive, Epistemological, and Social Dimensions of Developing Argumentive Competence Deanna Kuhn, Nicole Zillmer, Amanda Crowell, and Julia Zavala details a 2013 academic study by Deanna Kuhn and colleagues regarding the development of argumentative discourse in middle school students. Through a three-year longitudinal intervention, the researchers examined how consistent peer-to-peer […]
Is Developing Scientific Thinking All About Learning to Control Variables
Is Developing Scientific Thinking All About Learning to Control Variables? Deanna Kuhn and David Dean, Jr. This research study explores how scientific reasoning develops in students by focusing on question formulation rather than just the traditional control of variables. The authors demonstrate that encouraging sixth graders to investigate only one factor at a time significantly […]
Direct Instruction and Inquiry
Why not have the best of both worlds? How to use direct instruction principles in inquiry-based instructional design original article de Jong, Ton, et al. "Why not have the best of both worlds? How to use direct instruction principles in inquiry-based instructional design." Learning and Individual Differences 124 (2025): 102785. My thoughts explaining implications […]
Higher Order Thinking in Physics Education
HIGHER ORDER THINKING IN PHYSICS EDUCATION (HOT-PHYSICS) Jens D. Holbech, Poul V., Thomsen, Centre for Studies in Science Education, University of Aarhus, Aarhus C, Denmark This paper examines the HOT-Physics project, a Danish educational initiative designed to improve higher-order thinking skills in secondary school students. The researchers identified a significant gap between the pedagogical approach […]
Cognitive Acceleration in Science Education: Enhancing Inquiry Skills among Primary Students
A small scale research intervention was published in 2014. The Cognitive Acceleration Curriculum As A Tool For Overcoming Difficulties In The Implementation Of Inquiry Skills In Science Education Among Primary School Students Hugerat, M ; Najami, N ; Abbasi, M ; Dkeidek, I Journal of Baltic Science Education ; Šiauliai Vol. 13, Iss. 4, (2014): […]