Instructional Scaffolding in STEM Education

Instructional Scaffolding in STEM Education

Brian R. Belland Instructional Scaffolding in STEM Education Strategies and Efficacy Evidence

Brian R. Belland Utah State University Logan, UT USA ISBN 978-3-319-02564-3 ISBN 978-3-319-02565-0 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-02565-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015956782 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London The Editor(s) (if applicable) and the Author(s) 2017. This book is published open access. Open Access This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this book are included in the work s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if such material is not included in the work s Creative Commons license and the respective action is not permitted by statutory regulation, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to duplicate, adapt, or reproduce the material. This work is subject to copyright. All commercial rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

To ChanMin, Elianne, and Sean

Acknowledgments Support for the writing of this book comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant numbers Division of Research on Learning (DRL) 1251782 and DRL 0953046. Any opinions, findings, or conclusions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent official positions of NSF. The author thanks the rest of the grant project team Dr. Andy Walker, as well as doctoral students Nam Ju Kim and Mason Lefler and undergraduate students Brett Whitney and Lindi Andreasen. He also thanks the advisory board Rebecca Jordan, George Bodner, Raluca Teodorescu, Gary Bertoline, Chris Schunn, Eric Hamilton, Cindy Hmelo-Silver, David Klahr, and Terri Pigott whose input was central to the project s success. Much of the writing of this book occurred while the author was on sabbatical from Utah State University. During that time, he was a visiting scholar in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice of the University of Georgia, Athens, GA. He gratefully acknowledges the opportunity provided by Utah State University to take time away from teaching to devote his time more fully to research, as well as the warm hospitality of the University of Georgia. vii

Contents 1 Introduction... 1 1.1 Why Write a Book on Computer-Based Scaffolding in STEM Education?... 1 1.2 What This Book Covers... 3 1.3 Problem-Centered Instructional Approaches and STEM... 4 1.4 Role of Scaffolding... 5 1.5 Central Premises Behind This Book... 6 1.6 Structure of the Book... 8 References... 10 2 Instructional Scaffolding: Foundations and Evolving Definition... 17 2.1 Historical Definition... 17 2.2 Scaffolding Elements... 19 2.2.1 Dynamic Assessment... 19 2.2.2 Providing Just the Right Amount of Support... 21 2.2.3 Intersubjectivity... 23 2.3 Scaffolding Forms... 24 2.3.1 One-to-One Scaffolding... 24 2.3.2 Peer Scaffolding... 25 2.3.3 Computer-Based Scaffolding... 26 2.4 Considerations as the Instructional Scaffolding Metaphor was Applied to Computer Tools... 27 2.4.1 Theoretical Bases of Computer-Based Scaffolding... 28 2.4.1.1 Activity Theory... 28 2.4.1.2 ACT-R... 32 2.4.1.3 Knowledge Integration... 36 2.4.1.4 Comparison of Theoretical Foundations... 39 2.4.2 Design of Computer-Based Scaffolding... 42 2.4.3 Interplay Between Computer-Based and One-to-One Scaffolding... 43 References... 44 ix

x Contents 3 Context of Use of Computer-Based Scaffolding... 55 3.1 Rationale for this Chapter... 55 3.2 Grade Level... 57 3.2.1 Results from the Meta-Analysis... 58 3.3 STEM Discipline... 59 3.3.1 Results from the Meta-Analysis... 60 3.4 Student Demographics... 60 3.4.1 Results from the Meta-Analysis... 61 3.5 Instructional Model with Which Scaffolding is Used... 62 3.5.1 Problem-Based Learning... 63 3.5.2 Case-Based Learning... 64 3.5.3 Design-Based Learning... 65 3.5.4 Inquiry-Based Learning... 66 3.5.5 Project-Based Learning... 67 3.5.6 Other Instructional Approaches... 68 3.5.7 Results from the Meta-Analysis... 68 References... 70 4 Intended Learning Outcomes and Assessment of Computer-Based Scaffolding... 79 4.1 Rationale for this Chapter... 79 4.2 Targeted Learning Outcomes of Scaffolding... 80 4.2.1 Higher-Order Thinking Skills... 81 4.2.1.1 Ill-Structured Problem-Solving Ability... 81 4.2.1.2 Argumentation Ability... 82 4.2.1.3 Self-Directed Learning Ability... 83 4.2.1.4 Alignment with NGSS... 84 4.2.2 Learning Content Deeply... 92 4.2.2.1 Alignment with STEM Education Goals... 93 4.2.3 Results from Meta-Analysis... 94 4.3 Assessment... 95 4.3.1 Results from Meta-Analysis... 96 References... 98 5 Computer-Based Scaffolding Strategy... 107 5.1 Rationale for Chapter... 107 5.2 Scaffolding Function... 109 5.2.1 Conceptual Scaffolding... 109 5.2.2 Strategic Scaffolding... 110 5.2.3 Metacognitive Scaffolding... 111 5.2.4 Motivation Scaffolding... 112 5.2.5 Results from the Meta-Analysis... 113 5.3 Context Specificity... 114 5.3.1 What It Is... 114 5.3.2 Results from Meta-Analysis... 115

Contents xi 5.4 Customization Presence or Absence... 116 5.4.1 Results from Meta-Analysis... 117 5.5 Customization Basis... 118 5.5.1 Results from Meta-Analysis... 119 References... 121 6 Conclusion... 127 6.1 Overall Implications... 127 6.2 How the Meta-Analysis Responds to Persistent Debates in the Scaffolding and Problem-Centered Instruction Literature... 129 6.2.1 Scaffold Customization... 130 6.2.2 Problem-Centered Instruction and Content Learning... 131 6.2.3 Context Specificity... 132 6.2.4 Higher-Order Thinking Skills Versus Content Knowledge... 132 6.2.5 Scaffolding Strategy... 133 6.2.6 Summary... 133 6.3 Other Interesting Findings... 133 6.3.1 Scaffolding s Effectiveness in Different STEM Disciplines... 133 6.3.2 Scaffolding s Effectiveness by Grade Level... 134 6.4 Directions for Future Research... 134 6.5 Conclusion... 136 References... 137 Index... 143