探究情境中國小學童科學解釋能力成長之研究

Developing the Skills Sixth Graders Need for Constructing Scientific Explanations in Inquiry-based Learning Environments

有鑑於國小學童科學解釋能力之不足，研究者參考科教文獻改編課本的活動內容，設計一系列探究導向學習（inquiry-based learning）活動。本研究目的在探討國小六年級學童在探究活動中其科學解釋能力的成長。根據文獻，本研究將科學解釋能力細分為核心能力與相關能力兩部分。核心能力是：「指出因果關係」、「運用推理能力」與「使用證據」；相關能力有：「解釋提出主張」、「運用圖表協助解釋」、「語文傳達解釋能力」與「學生評鑑解釋」。本研究從前後測、錄影、問卷、訪談、學生成品等方面蒐集資料，以質性和量化方法來分析學童的科學解釋能力的成長。資料經信度分析與三角校正歸納後，本研究發現學生科學解釋核心能力以指出因果關係成長最多（其中量化前後測成長結果t=-4.824，p<.01），其次是運用推理能力，最後是使用證據能力；相關能力亦有不等的成長，其中以學生解釋提出主張成長最快。本研究亦發現不同的探究階段，有助於不同解釋能力的成長。最後，本研究提出以科學解釋能力應受重視及早訓練等為建議，供未來相關研究之參考。

Most elementary school students have difficulty in constructing scientific explanations. To develop students' explanation skills, we designed a series of inquiry-based learning activities and provided substantial scaffolding to engage students in scientific inquiry. The purpose of this study was to understand how sixth graders develop the skills necessary for constructing scientific explanations in such inquiry-based learning environments. Eight skills relevant to students' construction of scientific explanations were identified based on a review of the done research on scientific explanations. These include three core skills—"identifying causal relationships," "describing a reasoning process," and "using data as evidence"—and four related skills: "making a claim," "using graphs to support explanations," "using language to support explanations," and "evaluating the quality of an explanation." Multiple sources of quantitative and qualitative data (e.g., video recordings of learning activities, interviews, questionnaires, and pre/post tests) were collected from two science classes with a total of 58 sixth graders. The statistical results show that overall the students' ability to construct scientific explanations was significantly improved after they did the series of inquiry-based learning activities. Among the three core skills, skill in "identifying a causal relationship" could be most easily developed while skill in "using data as evidence" was the least improved. Growth patterns in the related skills were also varied. Based on the findings, this study provides suggestions for developing students' scientific explanation capacity. Directions for future research are also discussed.