國中學生科學觀察與生物分類能力的教學案例探討

Abstract

本研究旨在探討國中生科學觀察能力的學習，及其對生物分類表現的影響。為深入探討以上主題，本研究採混合研究取向。研究者依據「科學觀察行為發展架構 (Eberbach& Crowley, 2009) 」與生物分類相關文獻發展「學習科學觀察」、「龜鱉目的生物分類」兩階段的課程與相對應之學習單，以新北市一所公立國中32位科學社團學生為研究對象，進行為期四週的教學與蒐料蒐集，並在課程實施完畢後進行學生課後訪談。本研究參考科學行為發展架構發展評分標準，針對學生注意與預期向度的表現評分，並對研究結果進行量性與質性的分析與討論。 研究結果發現：(1)學生注意、預期兩個向度的科學觀察能力在第一階段課程後顯著提升。(2) 學生在第二階段課程中的生物分類能力與科學觀察能力預期向度之間有顯著正相關，顯示學生科學觀察預期向度能力愈高，其生物分類能力也愈高，反之亦然。但研究者亦發現學生未必會運用其學科知識架構進行生物分類。學生作答與訪談質性分析顯示，連結學生日常觀察經驗的課程設計與促進科學對話的教學策略，可有效支持學生進行更加科學的觀察，由「日常觀察」轉變為「科學觀察」。然而，研究者反思，觀察機會與練習時間的不足可能限制了學生知識架構的發展，導致學生在進行生物分類時採用較直覺的分類標準，而未運用其學科知識。研究者認為良好的課程設計與教師支持為培養學生科學觀察能力，以及運用學科知識進行生物分類的關鍵。在學生科學觀察能力學習的基礎上，教師應明確引導學生以關鍵特徵進行生物分類，並提供學生足以遷移學習成果的練習時間與實作活動。

This study aims to explore middle school students' learning of scientific observation ability and its influence on their biological classification performance. This study adopts a mixed method approach. Based on the “Scientific Observation Behavior Development Framework (Eberbach & Crowley, 2009)” and related literature, the study developed a learning module including two phases: learning scientific observation and biological classification. This learning module was implemented in a science club course with 32 students, in a public junior highschool in New Taipei City. Data included students’ worksheets and student interviews. Focusing on noticing and expectation, the data was analyzed and discussed quantitatively and qualitatively.The results show that: (1) The students' noticing and expectation were significantly improved after the first phase of the learning module. (2) During the second phase, the students’ biological classification was significantly corelated with their expectation. This indicated that the students who had better expectation ability would perform better on biological classification. However, the results also show that when performing biological classification, students did not necessarily use disciplinary knowledge. The analysis of students’ performances and interviews shows that connecting to students’ everyday observation experiences and scientific conversations were useful for improving students’ observation ability, shifting from “ everyday observation” to “scientific observation”. Students’ use of multiple criteria including intuition when performing biological classification may be due to insufficient observation opportunities and practice. With limited learning opportunities, students may not be able to develop solid disciplinary knowledge foundation, and thus limits their ability to apply relevant knowledge to biological classification. The study suggests that well-designed curricula and teacher support are the key to cultivating students' scientific observation and biological classification abilities. Also, together with students' learning of scientific observation, teachers need to provide explicit guidance on how to use critical features to classify organisms and sufficient time and learning opportunities to achieve transfer of learning.