從Kearney世界觀理論與Vosniadou架構理論探討科學概念的學習與發展—不同尺度地球科學主題之個案研究

Abstract

本研究目的在於探究不同年齡層個體對於晝夜變化、季節變化、地震與颱風四個不同尺度特性的地球科學現象所形成之預設、信念與心智模式，以及此三者之間的關係。利用修正後的Kearney世界觀理論中之「主體」、「客體」、「分類」、「關係」、「因果」、「空間」與「時間」七個共相組將Vosniadou架構理論中的本體論與認識論兩個向度擴展而成十四個預設向度，形成新的架構理論作為本研究的理論基礎。基於立意取樣與便利取樣，挑選台北市中心學校學習成就良好的學生作為研究對象，並根據現行學校地球科學相關課程的安排為基準，以尚未深入接觸地球科學的國小二年級、已接受完整自然科學之國中一年級、剛完成國三與高一地球科學課程的高一、接受完整國高中地球科學但已數年未再於學校正式課程中接受地球科學教育的物理與化學研究所四個年齡層為研究標的，每個年齡層16位學生，男女各半，合計64位受試者。本研究採取一對一半結構式晤談，晤談題目為研究者自行針對四個主題的預設、信念與心智模式而設計並經專家效度檢驗，每位受試者的晤談時間約為一小時，並提供模型（如積木、球等）及紙筆，全程錄音錄影。根據受試者的口語、繪圖及肢體表達資料，進行分析。 研究結果顯示，心智模式類型、信念與預設內容之分佈情形，皆存在主題與年齡上的差異。首先，在心智模式部分，前兩個「晝夜變化」與「季節變化」主題，受試者所持有的心智模種類較多，且屬於科學的心智模式比例較高；後兩個「地震」與「颱風」主題，則心智模式種類較少，且屬於科學的心智模式比例較低。隨著年齡增長，心智模式類型愈趨一致，且愈往科學的心智模式類型集中。其次，在信念部分，受到預設以及生活經驗豐厚度不同的影響，不同年齡所形成的信念也有所不同，其信任的出處也由權威人事物轉向證據。最後，在預設部分，隨著年齡的增長，受試者趨向於從主觀的角度轉為客觀的立場，對於外在事物的想法，不僅受知覺經驗的影響，科學定理也在個體的思維判斷上扮演著極為重要的角色。對於不同尺度特性的科學主題，影響其心智模式的預設向度也有所不同；然而，對於本研究的四個地球科學主題而言，「分類」、「因果」與「空間」三個預設共相組內涵皆具關鍵角色。未來科學教育應重視預設對於科學概念學習之影響，並針對不同特性的科學主題設計合宜的教學，而大眾傳播媒體更是潛移默化的教學管道；此外，在教科書的編撰上，也應考量圖表與專有名詞引介的方式，以利學生之科學學習。The purpose of this study was to examine different aged individual’s presuppositions, beliefs, mental models and the relationship among them to four geo-scientific topics with different scale features, including day/night cycle, season variation, earthquake and typhoon. Using Kearney’s seven universals “Self”, “NonSelf”, “Classification”, “Relationship”, “Causality”, “Space” and “Time” in his worldview theory to expand the original Vosniadou’s framework theory of ontology and epistemology to a new framework theory with fourteen-aspect presuppositions as the foundation of this study. High-achievement students were selected from Taipei County as research subjects for intended and convenient sampling. Taking the present geo-scientific curriculum as criteria, the researcher chose the 2nd graders receiving no formal geo-scientific training, the 7th graders completing basic elementary geo-scientific training, the 10th graders completing junior and senior high level’s, and graduate students with physics and chemistry majors. There were sixteen students from each level, eight males and eight females. In total, there were sixty-four students involved in this study. The researcher conducted one-to-one and semi-structural interview, in which each question was designed with the presuppositions, beliefs and mental models of four topics, and had been validated. Each student had been interviewed for one hour and been offered models (i.e. blocks, balls), pens and paper. The whole process was recorded, including the sound and the motion. In the end, the whole data including the protocols, the paintings, and the body motions were analyzed. The result revealed that there were differences in the distributions of mental models, beliefs and presuppositions in various topics and ages. First, for mental models, the students had more types of mental models and larger proportion of scientific mental models in the topics of day/night cycle and season variation. There were few kinds of mental models in earthquake and typhoon topics, and the proportion of scientific mental models in these parts was also small. Second, for beliefs, influenced by the density of presuppositions and living experiences, there were different beliefs formed by different ages of people. Furthermore, the source of trust changed from authority to evidences as the grades increased. Lastly, for presuppositions, as the growing of age, students tended to think less subjectively and more objectively. The concepts of external factors were affected by not only perceptual experiences but also scientific theories. Besides, the universals influence differently in beliefs and mental models in scientific topics with different scale features. Nevertheless, the universals of classification, causality and space played as the key roles in this study. In the future, it was recommended that science educators should pay more attention to the effects of presuppositions and beliefs on learning of scientific concepts, and design effective instructional strategies aimed at scientific topics with different scale features. In addition, we should take mass medium more seriously because of their unobtrusively and imperceptible influences. Finally, it’s necessary for editors of textbooks to provide valid graphs, tables and proper nouns to alleviate students’ learning.