Development of Elementary School Students' Cognitive Structures and Information Processing Strategies under Long-Term Constructivist-Oriented Science Instruction

Autor/inn/en	Wu, Ying-Tien; Tsai, Chin-Chung
Titel	Development of Elementary School Students' Cognitive Structures and Information Processing Strategies under Long-Term Constructivist-Oriented Science Instruction
Quelle	In: Science Education, 89 (2005) 5, S.822-846 (25 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0036-8326
DOI	10.1002/sce.20068
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Low Achievement; High Achievement; Grade 5; Science Instruction; Elementary School Students; Metacognition; Cognitive Processes; Cognitive Structures; Constructivism (Learning); Teaching Methods; Taiwan + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Unterdurchschnittliche Leistung; School year 05; 5. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 05; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Meta cognitive ability; Meta-cognition; Metakognitive Fähigkeit; Metakognition; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Cognitive structure; Kognitive Struktur; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode
Abstract	The main purpose of this study was to explore the effects of long-term constructivist-oriented science instruction on elementary school students' process of constructing cognitive structures. Furthermore, such effects on different science achievers were also investigated. The subjects of this study were 69 fifth graders in Taiwan, while they were assigned to either a constructivist-oriented instruction group or a traditional teaching group. The research treatment was conducted for 5 months, including six instructional units, and students' cognitive structures were probed through interviews coupled with a "metalistening technique" after the instruction of each unit. The interview narratives were transcribed into the format of "flow maps". In addition, the information processing modes shown in the flow maps were also investigated through a series of content analyses. The findings showed that the students in the constructivist-oriented instruction group attained significantly better learning outcomes in terms of the extent and integration of their cognitive structures, metacognition engagement, and the usage of information processing strategies. Moreover, it was also revealed that both high achievers and low achievers benefited from the constructivist-oriented instructional activities, but in different ways. For example, both high achievers and low achievers in the constructivist-oriented instruction group attained better usage of information processing strategies than their counterparts in traditional teaching group did; but only high achievers displayed better usage of higher order information processing modes (i.e., inferring or explaining) than their counterparts in traditional teaching group did. The results in this study finally suggest a four-stage model for students' process of constructing cognitive structure under the constructivist-oriented science instruction, including "cognitive structure acquisition," "metacognition enrichment," "cognitive structure integration," and "cognitive structure refinement." (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10