Addressing Misconceptions and Knowledge Gaps in the Restructuring of Atomic Bonding Course Content to Enhance Conceptual Change

Stephen J. Krause; Jacquelyn E. Kelly; Dale R. Baker

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Conference: 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Vancouver, BC
Publication Date: June 26, 2011
Start Date: June 26, 2011
End Date: June 29, 2011
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees
Page Count: 16
Page Numbers: 22.140.1 - 22.140.16
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--17421
Permanent URL: https://216.185.13.131/17421
Download Count: 558

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Paper Authors

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Stephen J. Krause Arizona State University

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Stephen Krause, Arizona State University
Stephen J. Krause is Professor in the School of Materials in the Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University. He teaches in the areas of bridging engineering and education, capstone design, and introductory materials engineering. His research interests are evaluating conceptual knowledge, misconceptions and their repair, and conceptual change. He has co-developed a Materials Concept Inventory for assessing conceptual knowledge of students in introductory materials engineering classes. He is currently conducting research with NSF sponsored projects in the areas of: Modules to Promote Conceptual Change in an Introductory Materials Course, Tracking Student Learning Trajectories of Atomic Structure and Macroscopic Property Relationships, and Assessing the Effect of Learning Modes on Conceptual Change.

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Jacquelyn E. Kelly Arizona State University

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Jacquelyn Kelly is doctoral student in Science Education at Arizona State University. Her Master's degree is in Materials Science and Engineering and her undergraduate degree is in Physics and Chemistry. Her principle research interests are situated in engineering education and include conceptual development, engineering academic language acquisition, and the role of motivation and emotion on these things. She is also invested and passionate about K-12 education as she teaches physics, chemistry, and science foundations at New School for the Arts and Academics, an alternative arts high school.

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Dale R. Baker Arizona State University

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Dale R. Baker is a faculty member in the MaryLou Fulton Teachers College. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. She is on the Advisory Baord of the Jounral of Engineering Education. Her research interests include, teacher professional development, science education, engineering education, and issues of equity.

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Abstract

Addressing Misconceptions and Knowledge Gaps in the Restructuring of Materials Course Content to Enhance Student Conceptual ChangeIt is generally acknowledged in science and engineering education research that students haveprior knowledge about how the world works, such as preconceptions and misconceptions, and, inorder create, develop, or restructure instructional materials and activities, they must be informedby that prior knowledge. In a sense, prior knowledge in a classroom setting also consists of,besides preconceptions and misconceptions, knowledge gaps, limited language skills, as well asvarying analytical, computational, and graphical skills. As found in science education, effectiveinstructional materials and classroom practice are informed and address information from broadformative assessment of foundational knowledge of students learning new content. Inengineering education, instruction must build on this idea to teach students not only aboutscientific phenomena, but application of scientific phenomena to engineering applications. In thisresearch, teaching and learning materials and activities to do this have been informed byassessment results that create such instructional challenges in an introductory materials course.Information from a concept inventory, pre-post concept question sets, team structured questionsand activities, and classroom dialogue have been used to create questions and activities intomaterials utilizing probing questions and cognitive dissonance to promote conceptual change,skill development, and effective dialogue and communication. Incorporating hard data and datamanipulation in "explain and predict activities" forces students to explain seemingly anomalousdata to address preconceptions, misconceptions, and knowledge gaps. Effective instructionalmaterials can not only address student issues, but also inform instructor practice to enhancehis/her pedagogical content knowledge. In one example, a graph might show the effect of alloyconcentration on tensile strength across a range of compositions of a binary alloy. Since themaximum strength of an example Cu-Ni alloy occurs between the two pure metals, students mustdevelop their own mental model to reconcile an answer to the question, "Why is it that adding asmall amount of a weaker metal (eg. Cu) to a stronger metal (eg. Ni) makes the stronger metaleven stronger?" Students using a traditional macroscopic "rule of mixtures" model must find analternative to explain such a phenomenon. As such, in order to give a rational answer, studentsmay consider adopting the more conceptually challenging atomic level model of "dislocationmotion barriers" to explain such phenomena. As such, it may then become possible to effectivelyrepair this misconception and revise the student's mental model of deformation and strength ofmetals. In this paper a variety of methods of implementing informed instructional materials,activities, and tools into the classroom are presented, discussed, and illustrated with examples.These will be presented and discussed in more detail in the full paper with the goal of providinga possible pathway to broader implementation of innovative pedagogy by more instructors andpossibly other engineering disciplines.

Citation
Format

Krause, S. J., & Kelly, J. E., & Baker, D. R. (2011, June), Addressing Misconceptions and Knowledge Gaps in the Restructuring of Atomic Bonding Course Content to Enhance Conceptual Change Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--17421

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -    Addressing Misconceptions and Knowledge Gaps in the Restructuring of     Materials Course Content to Enhance Student Conceptual ChangeIt is generally acknowledged in science and engineering education research that students haveprior knowledge about how the world works, such as preconceptions and misconceptions, and, inorder create, develop, or restructure instructional materials and activities, they must be informedby that prior knowledge. In a sense, prior knowledge in a classroom setting also consists of,besides preconceptions and misconceptions, knowledge gaps, limited language skills, as well asvarying analytical, computational, and graphical skills. As found in science education, effectiveinstructional materials and classroom practice are informed and address information from broadformative assessment of foundational knowledge of students learning new content. Inengineering education, instruction must build on this idea to teach students not only aboutscientific phenomena, but application of scientific phenomena to engineering applications. In thisresearch, teaching and learning materials and activities to do this have been informed byassessment results that create such instructional challenges in an introductory materials course.Information from a concept inventory, pre-post concept question sets, team structured questionsand activities, and classroom dialogue have been used to create questions and activities intomaterials utilizing probing questions and cognitive dissonance to promote conceptual change,skill development, and effective dialogue and communication. Incorporating hard data and datamanipulation in &quot;explain and predict activities&quot; forces students to explain seemingly anomalousdata to address preconceptions, misconceptions, and knowledge gaps. Effective instructionalmaterials can not only address student issues, but also inform instructor practice to enhancehis/her pedagogical content knowledge. In one example, a graph might show the effect of alloyconcentration on tensile strength across a range of compositions of a binary alloy. Since themaximum strength of an example Cu-Ni alloy occurs between the two pure metals, students mustdevelop their own mental model to reconcile an answer to the question, &quot;Why is it that adding asmall amount of a weaker metal (eg. Cu) to a stronger metal (eg. Ni) makes the stronger metaleven stronger?&quot; Students using a traditional macroscopic &quot;rule of mixtures&quot; model must find analternative to explain such a phenomenon. As such, in order to give a rational answer, studentsmay consider adopting the more conceptually challenging atomic level model of &quot;dislocationmotion barriers&quot; to explain such phenomena. As such, it may then become possible to effectivelyrepair this misconception and revise the student&#39;s mental model of deformation and strength ofmetals. In this paper a variety of methods of implementing informed instructional materials,activities, and tools into the classroom are presented, discussed, and illustrated with examples.These will be presented and discussed in more detail in the full paper with the goal of providinga possible pathway to broader implementation of innovative pedagogy by more instructors andpossibly other engineering disciplines.
AU  - Stephen J. Krause
AU  - Jacquelyn E. Kelly
AU  - Dale R. Baker
CY  - Vancouver, BC
DA  - 2011/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Addressing Misconceptions and Knowledge Gaps in the Restructuring of Atomic Bonding Course Content to Enhance Conceptual Change 
UR  - https://216.185.13.131/17421
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--17421
ER  -