Model Of Educational Reconstruction Research Articles

Developing and implementing an Einsteinian science curriculum from years 3–10: A. Concepts, rationale and learning outcomes

Abstract There has been a growing realisation that school science curricula do not adequately reflect the revolutionary changes in our scientific understanding of the 20th century. This discrepancy between current school education and our modern scientific understanding has led to calls for the modernisation of the science curriculum. Although there have been attempts to introduce topics of Einsteinian physics (i.e. quantum physics and relativity) to school education, often at the secondary level, we still lack a seamless curriculum in which modern science concepts are gradually introduced in primary and middle schools. Guided by the Model of Educational Reconstruction and following a mixed-methods research design, the Einstein-First project aims to address this gap. Einstein-First has developed and implemented an Einsteinian curriculum from Years 3–10 (students aged 7–16) that resolves the disconnect between science in schools and modern scientific understanding. This paper presents the concepts and rationale for the Einstein-First learning approach, as well as a summary of learning outcomes in six Australian schools with 315 students across Years 3–10. Our generally positive findings lay the foundation for informed curriculum development and school education that provides all students with awareness and appreciation of the fundamental concepts that underpin the technologies of the modern world.

Reconstruction of Transformative CS Topics in Education: A Model Proposal for Artificial Intelligence

From an educational perspective, artificial intelligence (AI) poses new challenges for computer science education due to its unique nature. In addition to its highly complex content and strong social relevance, the topic has further characteristics that distinguish it from typical computer science topics. Although there are many learning materials on AI, there is a lack of systematic approaches that take a holistic view of AI from an educational perspective and analyze the unique features of the topic in more detail. We develop a model that analyzes the actors and layers of educational processes regarding AI and outlines their relationships. The subsequent comparison with the Model of Educational Reconstruction for Computer Science Education permits conclusions for its practical consequences. Furthermore, a process model for introducing topics like AI into the classroom is proposed.

A Characteristic Curve Remote Laboratory for School and University

Remote laboratories play a pivotal role in facilitating teaching and learning experiences, offering unique opportunities beyond traditional classroom settings. The project OnLabEdu (Online Laboratories for School Education) aims the development of remote laboratories for both, schools and university-level students, complete with the development of appropriate accompanying educational resources. This paper introduces a characteristic curve remote laboratory with a first-developed learning arrangement on RGB LEDs and the interplay of energy, forward voltage, and wavelength of light. Drawing from the model of educational reconstruction, the learning arrangement is based on a profound clarification of the scientific content and considering students’ perspectives. Against the background of a design-based research approach, the learning arrangement was already evaluated with high school students through probing acceptance interviews. Now we are interested if the learning arrangement also fits to tertiary level students. Therefore, we conducted six probing acceptance interviews with pre-service teacher students, hailing from physics (n=3) and non-physics (n=3) backgrounds. The primary objective of the evaluation was to identify potential barriers to learning and elements that promote a stimulating learning environment along with the operation of the remote laboratory for the tertiary level. The findings revealed similar challenges of tertiary-level students and high school students. We detected students’ challenges with technical terminology as well as explaining the term forward voltage and its connection to the concept of energy. These results give initial ideas for a re-design of the learning arrangement to address the identified issues and make the learning arrangement suitable for tertiary level students.

Educational reconstruction of physics of complexity within a creative writing classroom activity

Disciplinary identity is widely studied in physics (and science) education research. Great attention has been devoted to studying the role of sociocultural factors in students’ career choices and persistence, such as students’ participation or gender differences. However, few works within the literature have investigated the role of the cognitive-epistemic core of scientific disciplines in identity work. In the first section of the paper we discuss the state of the art about science-identity. Then, we discuss the theoretical frameworks that informed the construction of our idea of epistemic-personal consonance/dissonance: the “Reconceptualized FRA to NOS framework” and the “Model of Educational Reconstruction”. In section 4 we introduce a qualitative analysis of data collected within a classroom activity held in 2021 and discuss it according to our Research Question. The findings show that students used complex systems epistemology as scaffolding for the expression of personal needs; they reconceptualized personal demands by borrowing epistemological structures and practices of complexity as tools to change perspectives about personal issues. The findings of this first dataset call for the need for further data to analyze and enrich the discussion around physics epistemology and identity.

The Energy Field Approach

Energy is an important crosscutting concept across middle and high school grades. However, studies show that students struggle understanding this concept. To address this problem, we started a design-based research project called “the energy field approach” (EFA). This project develops a teaching learning sequence (TLS) for high schools (grades 10-12). The design follows the model of educational reconstruction and builds on a clarification of the scientific content as well as on knowledge about students’ conceptions and misconceptions on the relevant topic. The result is a teaching concept and TLS that can be used by teachers for energy instruction. As a key feature, it traces traditional energy forms back to only kinetic energy and field energy. This simplifies the surface structure of the energy concept and makes sense of the meaning of energy forms like for instance chemical energy that have been “blackboxes” in traditional energy instruction before. This makes students more likely to draw back on energy ideas when reasoning about phenomena. The TLS is cyclically evaluated and re-designed by conduct and qualitative analysis of teaching experiments according to the method of probing acceptance. Results show that the concept and TLS are helpful for students to combine ideas about energy and fields and analyze processes from an energy perspective. The concept is found to be useful for a “deeper understanding” in the students’ perception. Further studies still have to be conducted to investigate the effects in a bigger setting and on further learning.

Are you teaching “distillation” correctly in your chemistry classes? An educational reconstruction

Abstract Distillation is often taught at secondary level in chemistry classes. There are, however, several pitfalls in teaching and learning the topic. First, there is not enough accessible research on students’ conceptions regarding distillation, which makes it difficult for teachers and teacher educators to teach accordingly in school or university. Second, the scientific explanation of distillation, especially the separation of liquid-liquid mixtures, is much more complex than represented in school books or other learning material. Third, teachers understandably rely on the representation in school books and other materials when teaching distillation, so that inappropriate concepts may be transferred to students. In this article, we follow the model of educational reconstruction and illustrate with reference to chemistry textbooks, school books, our own research results, and other studies on students’ conceptions the three pitfalls named above. Thus, this article aims to provide support for teachers and teacher educators to structure lessons on distillation based on scientifically appropriate information and with regard to students’ conceptions.

Investigating the Principle of Relativity and the Principle of Equivalence in Classical Mechanics: Design and Evaluation of a Teaching–Learning Sequence Based on Experiments and Simulations

We designed a teaching–learning sequence on relative motion in classical mechanics, based on the model of educational reconstruction and on the fundamental design principle of highlighting those conceptual elements which could be valuable in the future learning of special and general relativity. Thus, we propose an educational reconstruction strongly focused on the principle of relativity and the principle of equivalence. To highlight selected key concepts and motivate students in their exploration, we used a series of experiments based on video analysis and interactive simulations, which can be modified on the fly by the students. These tools are useful to stimulate autonomous investigation and to support the modelling of different physical situations. The sequence of activities was designed for students in introductory physics courses and was tested with a group of 24 undergraduate students in an online lab course, in which some distance learning techniques were also studied.

Analysis of the structure and content of the merdeka curriculum on green chemistry materials

This research aims to describe the compatibility between the structure and content of Merdeka’s curriculum on green chemistry based on the revised Bloom's Taxonomy, Dave and Dyers' Taxonomy, and chemistry textbooks. This research is descriptive with a qualitative approach with a content structure analysis research design derived from the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER). The data collection technique was carried out based on a literature study, while the data analysis technique was carried out based on the Milles and Huberman data analysis technique. The instruments used were standard content analysis tables and structural analysis tables. The standard content analysis table was prepared according to the revised Bloom's and Dave and Dyers' taxonomy. The content structure analysis table measures the breadth of the material, guided by the senior high school textbook from the Ministry of Education and Culture, and the depth of the material is guided by the Handbook of Green Chemistry and Technology by James Clark & Duncan Macquarrie. The research results obtained (1) Elements of chemical understanding were following the revised Bloom taxonomy, (2) Elements of process skills only dominated abstract skills, (3) Elements of the Pancasila student profile contained abstract skills and the realm of attitude. Whereas in content analysis, (1) the breadth of material on the learning outcomes of green chemistry is by high school books from the Ministry of Education and Culture, (2) the depth of material contained in high school chemistry textbooks published by the Ministry of Education and Culture has not explained in more detail less in presenting the questions, and some material is was not suitable to be placed for phase E high school based on the Merdeka’s curriculum.

Analysis of the Structure and Content of the Independent Curriculum on Basic Law of Chemistry

The independent curriculum is a curriculum that applies due to learning loss that occurred in the 2013 curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers do not understand the concept of the curriculum as a whole so that the independent curriculum is difficult to understand and accept. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the depth and breadth of the material in the independent curriculum. This study aims to describe the suitability of the structure and content of the independent curriculum on the basic law of chemistry material based on the revised bloom taxonomy, Dave and Dyers taxonomy and chemical standard textbooks. This type of research is descriptive with a qualitative approach. This study used a content structure analysis research design derived from the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER). The results of the research obtained in structural analysis are: (1) the elements of chemical understanding are in accordance with the revised bloom taxonomy, (2) the element of process skills only dominates abstract skills, (3) the elements of the pancasila profile contain abstract skills and the realm of attitudes. Meanwhile, in the content analysis, namely: (1) the breadth of material in CP basic laws of chemistry is appropriate in the high school book from the Ministry of Education and Culture, (2) the depth of material there are some materials that are not suiTable based on the chemistry textbook written by Brady edition 7.

Integration of Raja Ali Haji’s Character Values in Developing Character Assessment Instruments in Indonesia

Raja Ali Haji is an important figure in the world of language and literature whose thoughts are influential in Indonesia. One of his works is Gurindam Dua Belas, which is a Malay poem created in 1847 AD. Gurindam Dua Belas has been used as a reference in instilling moral values in students. This research aims to develop a character assessment instrument that integrates Raja Ali Haji’s character values. The research carried out includes Research and Development (R&D) research, with a research design using the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER). The results of the research show that the integrated character assessment instrument of Raja Ali Haji’s character values is suitable for use.

A Scoping Review: Scoping Review: Appropriate Big Ideas of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology to Teach in Chemistry for Secondary School

In the last decade, the nanotechnology sector is rising to take over the manufacturing of consumer products including pharmaceuticals. Due to the rapid advancement of nanotechnology, Malaysia has also taken the lead by introducing nanotechnology to Form Five students in 2021 following the revision of curricula in 2017. While research on which big ideas in nanotechnology to teach is still lacking around the world, the goal of this scoping review was to identify appropriate big ideas of nanotechnology to include in the secondary school curriculum, as well as students' and teachers' perspectives on teaching and learning nanotechnology using the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER). The scoping review was conducted by adopting a framework with five stages which are (1) identifying the research question, (2) identifying relevant studies, (3) study selection, (4) charting the data, and (5) collating, summarizing, and reporting the results. From the 30 pertinent articles included in this paper, it was found that big ideas that were used in many of the included articles are size and scale, self-assembly, size-dependent properties, volume-to-surface area concept, and applications of nanotechnology. Students were most likely to perform well when they are given tasks after learning nanotechnology with one or two of the big ideas of nanotechnology. Students gave positive feedback when they learned this unit with hands-on activities, using models, and when they attend nanotechnology conferences, whereas teachers wanted more courses on teaching nanotechnology to be provided because most science teachers were trained before nanotechnology was included in science teachers' educational program. Overall, experts feel that while deciding the big ideas of nanotechnology to teach, teachers' perspectives on the appropriateness of nanotechnology's insertion point into the current curriculum should be considered.

Design of a Teaching-Learning Sequence and Its Effect on Self-Efficacy and Perceptions of Prospective Chemistry Teacher Students: An Educational Reconstruction Study of Fire-Retardant Bamboo

This research was conducted to reconstruct the sustainability-oriented learning stages’ design on fire-retardant bamboo and its effect on self-efficacy and perceptions of prospective chemistry teacher students. This study uses mix method with Exploratory Sequential Design, which is guided by the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER) with the following stages: (1) content structure analysis, (2) research on students’ pre-conceptions, and (3) learning design development. The instruments used were text analysis sheets, interview guidelines, validation sheets for the design of the learning stages, and questionnaires on student self-efficacy and perceptions. The topic used to develop the learning stages is the concept of ionic liquids as fire-retardant agents. The research data are scientific conceptions related to learning issues and chemical ideas. In addition, students’ pre-conceptions regarding learning topics were obtained, followed by results validating the design of learning stages as well as the ability of students’ perceptions and selfefficacy. The scientist’s conception was analysed using the content qualitative analysis method, resulting in a concept map. The result of students’ pre-conception on fire-retardant bamboo interview showed that the topic was new to the students. The percentage of students’ self-efficacy abilities increased to 88.9%, which is in the excellent category. The students’ perceptual abilities rate increased to 92.8%, which is in the agreed category. Thus, the design of sustainabilityoriented learning stages on fire-retardant bamboo can increase the self-efficacy and perceptions of prospective chemistry teacher students. The design of the learning stages can help prospective teacher students integrate chemical concepts with technological engineering in learning. Using sustainable materials in the learning stages can foster sustainability literacy in students and support the creation of sustainability-oriented education in the higher education environment

Guiding Students towards an Understanding of Climate Change through a Teaching–Learning Sequence

In this paper, we put forward a proposal for the design and the evaluation of teaching–learning sequences (TLSs) on the greenhouse effect (GHE), relying on the educational reconstruction model (MER). The first design, which starts from a critical analysis of textbook treatments of the GHE, is followed by a cyclic, recursive process, which consists of theoretical reflection, conceptual analysis, design, and test of a sequence. At each iteration, the analysis of the students’ learning progression provided relevant information for addressing the persistent hurdles and misunderstandings that affect it. Our findings show how design choices can support the learning of the GHE, leading to the formulation of design principles that help foster understanding. The iterative approach strongly improved the design and evaluation and allowed for a significant refinement of the TLSs. The implementation and evaluation process, which went on from 2017 to 2021, involved undergraduate students attending a course on “experimental physics laboratory” at the University of Trento in those years. The results indicate that, in the end, students can reach an effective understanding of the physical grounds of the GHE.

Students’ conceptions of keeping fattening pigs and dairy cows: an exploratory interview study with elementary school students in North-West Germany

ABSTRACT The topic of keeping livestock is very well suited to addressing the ecological, social, and economic aspects of the sustainable production of our food in school lessons. However, the production of animal-based foods is mainly outside the personal experience of children and young people. To derive relevant implications for teaching, this paper explores the following research question: ‘What conceptions do elementary school students have about keeping fattening pigs and dairy cows on farms?’ In more detail, this study examines students’ conceptions of stock sizes, husbandry practices, and feeding of fattening pigs and dairy cows and how these differ between urban and farm students. For this purpose, six elementary school students (MAge = 8.8 years, SD = 0.4 ; 83% female) from Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia were interviewed. Three of the subjects were growing up on a conventional farm with fattening pigs. The study is informed by the Model of Educational Reconstruction. To elicit students’ conceptions, we used semi-structured guided interviews, during which students made a drawing of a farm that they described in detail. The data were evaluated with the help of qualitative content analysis. The study results show a wide range of conceptions, ranging from naive and unbiased conceptions to clear conceptions of modern, conventional livestock farming.

Transforming Physics Content into Content Physics for Instruction through the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER)

This study discusses how to transform physics content into instructional content using the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER). The MER is a popular method of lesson design because it gives equal attention to the content of physics to be learned other than students’ cognitive, affective, and learning processes. This model is from the German-Didaktik tradition, which is influenced by constructivism and is nearly unknown in Malaysia. According to this perspective, knowledge is derived through human reconstruction, and every young learner has intuitive knowledge prior to entering a formal classroom. As a result, in order to meet students’ needs in a balanced manner, teachers must elementarize physics content and integrate it with students’ alternative conceptions. This study focused on energy concepts to determine how effective MER is. With the complexity and difficulty of the dual meaning of energy, physics teachers must devise efficient teaching techniques to bridge the gap between energy in everyday language and scientific concepts. Thus, the researchers evaluated 15 significant papers to determine scientists’ understanding of energy; interviewed 12 secondary school physics students to get their alternative conceptions; and re-analyzed 23 earlier studies on the same topic. This paper is exclusively on natural concepts and energy fundamentals, and it found physicists and students had a significant understanding gap. As a result, the contradiction in understanding of the energy concepts must be applied to the development of an energy lesson plan by narrowing the gap between physicists’ and students’ understanding.

Test Instrument to Measure Student’s Level of Chemical Literacy in Macromolecules Topic

The science literacy level of students can be determined using a measuring instrument, namely a test instrument that includes four aspects of chemical literacy in each item. This study aims to develop a test instrument that is used to measure the achievement of a student's chemical literacy level. The research method used is the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER). The limited trial of the test instrument was implemented for twelve students in the senior high schools. Data collection was carried out based on validation sheets of test instruments from expert validation, pretest and posttest. Data analysis for the test instrument is based on validation of the test instrument using Aiken’s V formula. Based on the correlation coefficient analysis of the test instrument resulted in 20 valid question items with a correlation coefficient value of 30.8% having moderate validity criteria, 7.7% having high criteria and 12.8% having very high criteria. The reliability test shows that the test instrument is reliable and has a high correlation with the Cronbach Alpha value of of 0.920. The difficulty level of the question and the discriminatory of the question were determined. The results of the student response questionnaire to the test instrument have an average percentage of 79% with practical criteria. This research concludes that the test instruments can be used to measure the level of chemical literacy of students. The chemical literacy level of students at the low level and the nominal level of scientific literacy is the highest level the students can achieve.

Pengembangan Butir Soal Literasi Kimia pada Materi Kesetimbangan Kimia Kelas XI SMA/MA

This research aims to develop chemical literacy items on chemical equilibrium material that can be used to measure students chemical literacy skills. The items in this study were designed based on four aspects consisting of aspects of content, context, HOLS and attitudes. The preparing chemical literacy items in this study used the Model of Educational Reconstruction (MER) design. The assessment criteria of chemical literacy items carried out by the Subject Matter Expert (SME) include the aspects of content, construct, language and graphics. Chemical literacy questions consist of fifteen questions, it is divided into six themes. The score obtained from the validation process is analyzed using the Facet application. Based on the research result, fifteen chemical literacy questions on chemical equilibrium topics are valid and had a reliability value of 0,92.

Games for Teaching/Learning Quantum Mechanics: A Pilot Study with High-School Students

The teaching of quantum physics is challenging, not the least because teachers must overcome the traditional narrative approach, students must gain a conceptual understanding of fundamentals, and citizens must become aware of quantum technologies. Quantum games are powerful tools to overcome obstacles and push one’s limits without fear of failure. We report on a pilot study involving twenty high-school student volunteers, consisting of a compact intervention module on the concepts of quantum states, properties, measurement, superposition, and entanglement within the framework of the Model of Educational Reconstruction, followed by playing a game, quantum TiqTaqToe. The outcomes of this research-based learning environment are discussed via the qualitative analysis of students’ answers to two open questionnaires. We find that students grasped the concepts of superposition and, with special awareness, entanglement, the game proving effective to help students experience their implications in quantum behavior. The informal and stimulating tournament atmosphere favored intertwining of the game with learning goals. Our central message is that the use of quantum game tools fits a teaching/learning environment in manners often not well understood in the literature; it enhances awareness of the nature of new and non-intuitive concepts, increases complementarity with other languages within the process of thinking about physics, boosts student engagement, and improves intervention efficiency and effectiveness.

Atwood’s Machine and Electromagnetic Induction: A Real Quantitative Experiment to Analyze Students’ Ways of Reasoning

We report a research-based proposal on electromagnetic induction within the theoretical framework of the Model of Educational Reconstruction. The proposal is based on a sequence of inquiry-based experimental activities centered on hands-on materials and Real-Time quantitative experiments, through which students explore the phenomenology of electromagnetic induction. The sequence was planned to address Faraday-Neumann-Lenz law analyzing the involved physics quantities and constructing quantitative relationships between them. Our hypothesis was based on the idea that phenomenological explorations performed through online sensors promote a functional understanding of electromagnetic induction and help students to face the conceptual knots highlighted by international literature about these phenomena. The educational sequence was proposed to a sample of 87 high school students with the aim of analyzing the evolution of the educational processes employing a set of inquiry-based tutorials. The qualitative analysis of students’ answers demonstrates that students increased their knowledges in the analysis of electromagnetic induction phenomena recognizing the fundamental role of time-variation of the magnetic field flux in the Faraday-Neumann-Lenz law.

Upper secondary students’ thinking pathways in cell membrane biology – an evidence-based development and evaluation of learning activities using the Model of Educational Reconstruction

ABSTRACT This study reports on the theoretical- and empirical-based design and evaluation of cell membrane biology learning activities within the Model of Educational Reconstruction and experiential realism. First, we designed analogy-based learning activities by considering students’ and scientists’ conceptions as described in the literature. Secondly, we carried out two video-taped teaching experiments to study students’ learning processes when interacting with the learning activities. Interpreting students’ conceptual development as thinking pathways enabled us to identify and understand the roots of their learning difficulties. Due to inherent ontological and epistemological presumptions, the students had difficulties in understanding that cell membrane structure determines their two-fold function: to separate and to connect environments in order to maintain living processes. The multiple analogies we employed helped foster conceptual development because they highlighted aspects of the concrete everyday experiences the students already had, but had not thought about. As a result of the learning activities, the students revised their conceptions regarding the terms barrier, gatekeeper and environment and connected these to a more coherent conceptual structure of cell membrane biology. Methods and outcomes of the study may contribute to a better understanding of how this important concept can be brought to science classrooms.