以巢狀概念模式探究高中生之科學學習–科學認識觀、後設認知知覺、科學學習概念及其科學評量概念

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to deeply investigate students’ nested ecology regarding science learning from multidimensional perspectives (i.e., the interrelations among scientific epistemological beliefs, metacognition, conceptions of learning science, and conceptions of science assessment). To this end, this study performed the quantitative method to initially explore the interrelations among scientific epistemological beliefs, metacognitive awareness, and conceptions of learning science. Then, the qualitative method was conducted to deeply investigate the interplays among scientific epistemological beliefs, conceptions of learning science, and conceptions of science assessment and to clarify the nested ecology model. In addition, the role of metacognitive awareness on scientific epistemological beliefs and conceptions of learning science and science assessment were discussed through both quantitative and qualitative results. The quantitative part of the study was conducted with a sampling pool of 240 tenth graders. And, those students’ responses from three questionnaires were used to yield some quantitative indicators (i.e., scientific epistemological beliefs, metacognitive awareness, and conceptions of learning science) and to clarify the interplay between those variables. In general, the quantitative results revealed that students having more sophisticated scientific epistemological beliefs tended to show higher metacognitive awareness while learning science and to express more constructivist-oriented conceptions of learning science. In particular, as long as the students have more sophisticated beliefs about the justification of knowledge; they may tend to express much higher metacognitive awareness and to embrace the constructivist conceptions of learning science. For qualitative part of study, 60 representative students selected from the sampling pool were deeply interviewed about their scientific epistemological beliefs (including beliefs about the nature of knowledge and beliefs about the nature of knowing), conceptions of learning science, and conceptions of science assessment. This study found that most selected students expressed the empiricist beliefs about the nature of knowledge. Through the phenomenographic analyze of selected students’ interview responses, seven categories of conceptions of learning science (i.e., memorizing, preparing for tests, practicing the experiments, the increase of knowledge, applying, understanding, and seeing in a new way) and six categories of conceptions of science assessment (i.e., reproducing knowledge, rehearsing, revealing the learning status, improving learning, applying, and the justification of knowledge) were identified in this study. Moreover, the qualitative results seemed to reveal that, on the one hand, the selected students’ beliefs about the nature of knowing seemed to have greater power to explain students’ conceptions of learning science than their beliefs about the nature of knowledge. On the other hand, their beliefs about the nature of knowledge seemed to more relate to their conceptions of science assessment. This study also implied that students expressing more mature conceptions of learning science tended to hold more cohesive conceptions of science assessment. Furthermore, the qualitative part of this study identified three major forms of students’ nested ecology regarding learning science, that is the complete, partial, and divergent nested ecology. In particular, nearly half of 60 representative students were categorized as the complete nested ecology.