Co-development of conceptual understanding
and critical stance
An essential condition for science learning
Laurence Viennot
PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité, University Paris-Diderot LDAR
laurence.viennot@univ-paris-diderot.fr
Multiple objectives …
• Engage students with physics
• Simplify
• Help students construct a first idea of NOS: inquiry,
reasoning
• Consistency as a goal (NOS), as a need (reasoning)
• Highlight links between phenomena, between theories and
phenomena
• Develop critical stance in students
• Beyond « Whaouh effects »
Multiple optimisms
-
… a pedagogy using an inquiry-based approach that succeeds in developing
excitement about science
EC-Rocard’s 07
- “(…) through science education that is based on inquiry, an approach that
reproduces in the classroom the learning process of scientists: formulating
questions, doing experiments, collecting and comparing data, reaching
conclusions, and extrapolating these findings to more general situations.
Allende 08
- (“Rocard “ et al.) argued that a ‘reversal of school science-teaching
pedagogy from mainly deductive to inquiry-based methods’ was more likely
to increase ‘children’s and students’ interest and attainment levels while at
the same time stimulating teacher motivation’ – a view with which we
concur. Osborne & Dillon « Nuffield » 08
Oversimplification: Some intrinsic risks
-Wish to show + belief that seeing is understanding
-« Echo-explanation » : mirroring students’ common ways of
reasoning
- Ignoring some variables, phenomena : conceptual reduction
- Uncontrolled generalisation
- « All-or-nothing » approach
-…
As a result: serious inconsistencies
Web site EPS-MUSE; Viennot 2014
« Seeing is understanding »
(NOT necessarily)
A ray box to ‘show’ rectilinear propagation?
Wanda Kaminski
As if rays could be seen : a common idea
Something went wrong?
Uncontrolled generalisation
A model sequence*: how to protect against cold?
A student:
Emergency blanket… aluminium
(all agree)
Some experiments
Ice cube
Hot water
Conclusion: With aluminium, you cannot protect against cold
(no comment)
Radiative process ignored
*DVD Acad. of sciences (FR), of Technologies, DGESCO, 2010
Explicit inconsistency
Oversimplification: intrinsic risks
Teachers’ and students’ critical faculty:
an essential condition to good quality learning
Perhaps the most difficult, and yet the most important kind
of event to create in the classroom is critical dialogue, which
recognises that inquiry proceeds by being critical of
proposed ideas. It cannot help that essentially no
examination questions ever require the student to offer a
criticism, even the simplest. Such a focus on being critical is
surely one of the greatest deficiencies that the movement
for inquiry based learning needs urgently to face.
Ogborn 2012
Moreover, a common view:
• Students’ « competences », in particular critical
faculty, is what matters
• It should be our primary goal
• Concepts will come after , as a secondary goal
Competences first, concepts later
Can we help students develop their critical faculty
without a conceptual basis?
Without an access to a conceptual structure, can
students understand that science aims at a unified (as
much as possible) description of the material word?
- There is a real danger that Inquiry-based learning presents scientific knowledge
as “knowledge in pieces”.
Ogborn 2012
-These students ...(France, end upper second. 2013) see physics as disordered and
anarchical. Zabulon 2013
-In our search for a possible explanation for the strikingly parallel decline in physics
achievements for the «specialist» at upper secondary school, we have established
a set of possible factors.(…) Several reports have pointed out that many students
do not see the connection between the mathematics in the math class and the
mathematics they actually use in physics (…). Lie et al. 2012 Nordic Studies in Ed
Co-development of critical stance and
conceptual understanding:
a few research investigations
Reacting to a
teaching ritual
Analysing texts
from the internet
Two investigations about
a hot air balloon
An investigation about
radiocarbon dating
Viennot 2004
Mathé & Viennot 2009
Viennot & Décamp 2013
Décamp & Viennot 2014
Viennot 2004
A hot air balloon
A typical exercise:
pO
•
A hot air balloon …a total mass of…
•
Whatever the temperature of the air in
the balloon, its pressure will be the
same as the surrounding air.
(……….)
•
…Show that to achieve the lift off…must
be heated to about ….° C.
pO
pO
pO
For instance: Since the balloon is open to the atmosphere, the pressure in the balloon is the same as the pressure outside
the balloon. D.C. Giancoli, Physics (6th ed): Instructor Resource Center CD-ROM, Prentice Hall, 2005
Archimedes’ upthrust : a matter of weights
Wbasket+… + gM air-inside = gM air-outside-sameV
Tout
Tin
pin = pout = p 0
Mair-inside = rair-inside V
Mair-outside-sameV = rair-outside V
r=
W
Mmol p0/RT
But…
pO
pO
Serious consequences
pO
g
pO
Archimedes, where are you?
Global and local reconciled
pin > pout
r<r
in
Global
Archimedes OK
out
Dh
pin = pout
Dp = -r gDh
Dp = -r gDh
in
in
out
out
p
pin> pout
Aperture
W
Top Dh
Local
OK
Viennot 04
Investigation 1 , about preceding exercise
University students1st year, individual interviews* N=15
Students were not critical at first (idem for teachers N>100)
Then, after an exigent discussion
Important? Worth it? YES 15/15
p
pO
pO
O
p
O
…, you got me thinking, me, even if it’s difficult, it’s fine to
think…We learn much more…I have learnt a lot.
- Why is it the first time someone tells me this?
- You made me think: thank you
- Provided we are taught how to do it
* « Same » results in groups
Investigation 2
Students journalists' reactions …
…to a simulated popularisation paper
including the elements below:
“ ...The density of a gas depends on the pressure and
the temperature. As for the pressure, it is the same
inside and outside, because of the opening at the
bottom of the envelope, through which the air can
spread. As for the temperature, warming the air
makes it less dense, therefore less heavy ...”
Mathé-Viennot 2009
14 trainee science journalists interviewed.
.
Steps in students’ intellectual paths: Awareness of the incoherence and critical attitude
From the
start
Name and “scientific
origin”
First oral
question
about the
hypothesis
Nuno ()
C0
A/C
Ludovic ()
C0
A
Laurence ()
C0
A
Adeline ()
Argument of
symmetry
Step 1b
Local
explanation
Step 1b
A
Origin of
Archimedes’
upthrust and link
with the pressure
gradient
Step 1c
Plotting of
the graph
Steps 1d and
1e
A
A
A
A
A
A/C
A
When asked
if they felt
able to
explain
Step 2
A
C
Damien ()
A
C
Dima ()
A
A/C
Anna ()
A
A/C
A
A
C0
Laura ()
Thomas ()
p
O
A/C
Côme ()
Emmanuelle ()
O
A
A /C
C0
pO
C
Céline ()
()
p
pO
C
A
A/C
A
A
C
A
C
‘A’ indicates when the students clearly showed their awareness of the incoherence.
‘C0’ indicates some signs of a critical attitude from the start, not yet focused on the hypothesis (cf. Table 1, col. 4).
‘C’ indicates when the students first used their awareness of the incoherence to criticize the article or to retrospectively criticize their own attitude
during the interview
Mathé-Viennot 2009
Investigation 3
Students journalists' reactions: to sum up
IncreasedIncreased
conceptual mastery
conceptual
Originmastery
of
From the
start
Name and “scientific
origin”
First oral
question
about the
hypothesis
Awareness
C0
A/C
Ludovic ()
C0
A
Laurence ()
C0
A
Local
explanation
Step 1b
theeeen
A
Archimedes’
upthrust and link
with the pressure
gradient
Step 1c
Plotting of
the graph
Steps 1d and
1e
A
A
Critical stance
A
A
A
When asked
if they felt
able to
explain
Step 2
A/C
A
A/C
Adeline ()
A
A/C
Céline ()
A /C
Côme ()
A
C
Damien ()
A
C
Dima ()
A
A/C
Anna ()
A
A/C
A
A
()
C0
Emmanuelle ()
C0
Laura ()
Thomas ()
O
p
O
C
A
Carine ()
pO
C
A
A/C
A
A
C
A
C
Mathé-Viennot 2009
Nuno ()
Argument of
symmetry
Step 1b
p
pO
Question
To which extent
the way students’ critically analyse a very incomplete
explanation
is linked to , and/or develops along with
their comprehension of the topic ?
Co-development of critical stance and conceptual understanding
Reacting to a
teaching ritual
Analysing texts
from the internet
Two investigations about
a hot air balloon
An investigation about
radiocarbon dating
Viennot 2004
Mathé & Viennot 2009
Viennot & Décamp 2013
Décamp & Viennot 2014
Investigation 3
Analysing some internet texts
about radiocarbon dating
N=N0 exp (-t/t )
t=5730 years
N0 ???
No decay in the atmosphere?
Radio carbon dating : some crucial conceptual items …
beyond
N=N0 exp (-t/t )
t=5730 years
[14C ]living organisms+ atmosphere
uniform
[14C]living organisms+atmosphere
constant in time
?????
14C
Radioactive decay
Creation
14N + electron+ antineutrino
« Cosmic » neutrons +
Time rate decay 14C = time rate creation 14C
14N
 14C + proton
« same t-rate »
?????
Time rates V/s existing numbers,
Total number  [14C] + [14N]
Transitory phase
14C
dNC/dt= - NC (1/t ) exp (-t/t )
NT constant in time
adaptation through factor NC
Adaptation through factor N : an analogy
In a country
Number of people living in towns
Number of people living in countryside
U
C
Move from town to countryside
U+C= constant in time
10% per year
Move from countryside to town
40% per year
Steady state:
0,1 Uss = 0,4 Css  Uss = 4Css
Transitory states:
U > Uss 
U  Uss 
 U↓ and C
> 0,1 Css U and C↓
dU/dtexit > 0,4 Uss and dC/dtexit  0,1 Css
dU/dtexit  0,4 Uss and dC/dtexit
Investigation 3
Radiocarbon dating, beyond N=N0 exp (-t/t ) … ?????
A series of texts (T1, …, T6) from popularisation literature + web,
providing more and more elements of information to the reader.
Some texts about radiocarbon dating: more and more complete
T1
14C
decay after death; known law.
X
Need: N0 death known
x
14C/12C
x
X
Exponential decay law
X
14C/12C
X
in living beings is constant in time
T3 T4 T5 T6
X
Creation process: « cosmic » neutron on nitrogen
ratio is uniform in living beings
T2
X
Rate of creation (d14C/dt) is constant in time
X
14C
*
produces nitrogen
Decay vs creation: Same rate
X
Same rate -> Steady state
X
Transit. regime, adjustment
x
X
N and 14C : sum is constant in time
X
Multiplicative 14C decay rate. Adaptation through factor N0
X
Ten interviews
Prospective teachers, 4th year at university
Goal: observing their successive reactions after reading each of these texts
The interviews: overall structure
Phase
What students are asked for
source
Aspects of the discussion
Step 1
Did you hear about Radiocarbon
dating … Read T1 …
What do
you think? Need more?
T1
The interviewer is attentive to
students arguments, « mca »
reactions, questions. Low input
from interviewer
Step 2
Read T2 … What do you think? Need
more?
T2
Idem 
Step 3
Read T3 …Idem 
T3
Idem 
Step 4
Read T4 …Idem 
T4
Idem  + (if not previously raised) a
question : « same rate »:
coincidence?
Step 5
Read T5 …Idem 
T5
Idem 
Step 6
Read T6 …Idem 
T6
The interviewer is attentive to
students arguments, « mca »
reactions, questions. Strong input
from interviewer.
Step 7
Global evaluation of the design
Expressing feelings
27
Coding the interviews (thematic analysis)
•
Conceptual level
Extended list of conceptual statements
« cci »+ « emergent» ones ,
e.g.
14C 12C
+…
• Critical and meta cognitive-affective level (« mca »)
Agreement in the end of a step

Half-hearted agreement in the end of a step
≈
Question posed about a detail
dl
Question posed about a « crucial » point
cq
Satisfaction after additional information
m+
It is what I needed. I had forgotten. It’s more precise.
Frustration because of insufficient explanation
mI wanted an answer, it doesn’t tell us anything more. It doesn’t explain why … It
leaves more questions unanswered than before.
Some results
Presentation restricted to results about:
Critical attitude and meta cognitive affective aspects :
« mca »
S1
S2
S3
Prel

 m+- cq
m-
cq3
m+-
cq1
m-
cq3
Bela
≈ dl
 dl
cq
m-
cq3
m-
cq2
m-
cq1
m+

3
Lamb
≈ dl
≈
dl3
m-
m-
cq
m-
cq2
m+

3
Olli


m+

m-
cq
m-
cq2
m+

3


m+
 m+
cq
m-
cq
m+

3
Iago
≈ m- dl
≈ m- dl

m+

2
Boul
≈

 m+
m-
Vivi

 m- cq m+

≈
Tann
≈ dl
 m+ dl
 m+


Thib


 m- cq m+

()
notations
 OK
≈ OK
end of step
dl ask « details »
crucial question
cq unanswered
cq answered
m+ happy with a new
piece of information
m-
Mack
m+
S4
dl2
m-
S5
dl
S6
cq
≈
cq
m-
cq
m-
cq2
m-
m-
m+
m+



m+
m+
frustration
S7


Likert scale 1>4
4
2,5
3
4
4
Questions asked by students
S1
S2
Prel


cq
cq3
cq1
cq3

4
Bela
≈ dl
 dl
cq
cq3
cq2
cq1

3
Lamb
≈ dl
≈
cq
cq2

3
Olli



cq
cq2

3



cq
cq

3

2

2,5

3

4
Mack
dl
≈
S3
S4
dl3
dl
dl2
dl
S5

cq

cq
Iago
≈
Boul
≈

Vivi


cq

≈
Tann
≈ dl

dl


Thib



notations
 OK
≈ OK
end of step
dl ask « details »
crucial question
cq unanswered
cq answered
cq
S6
≈
cq
cq2


()
m+ happy with a new
piece of information
m-
S7
m+

frustration
Likert
scale 1>4
4
« mca » aspects
S1
S2
Prel

 m+ m-
m-
m+ m-
m-
Bela
≈

m-
m-
m-
m+

3
Lamb
≈
≈
m-
m-
m+

3
Olli


m+

m-
m-
m+

3


m+

m-
m-
m+

3
Iago
≈ m-
≈
m-

m+

2
Boul
≈

m+

Vivi

 m- m+

Tann
≈


Thib


 m- m+

()
notations
 OK
≈ OK
end of step
dl ask « details »
crucial question
cq unanswered
cq answered
m+ happy with a new
piece of information
m-
Mack
S3
S4
m-
m+
m+
S5
≈
m+
≈
m+
m-
m-
m-
m-


S6
m+
m-
m+
S7



m+
m+
frustration


Likert scale 1>4
4
2,5
3
4
4
Typical progression
At first, agreement expressed (strong or half-hearted agreement,
questions about « details », new pieces of information
welcome, (« I had forgotten », « it’s what I was missing »)
After the first crucial question, only crucial questions, no agreement ,
frustration expressed (I wanted an answer, it doesn’t tell us
anything more. It doesn’t explain why … It leaves more
questions unanswered than before.)
In the end, strong satisfaction expressed, anecdotal questions
explicitly left aside.
Co-development of critical attitude and conceptual
understanding
Questions about « details »
First crucial
question
Only crucial questions
Time
Question
To which extent the way students’ critically analyse a very
incomplete explanation is linked to , and/or develops along with
their comprehension of the topic ?
Research results suggest:
To a large extent: these two processes are strongly interdependent
In teaching practice
Interest of promoting a
Co-development of conceptual understanding
(including a math component)
and critical stance
Stressing
coherence and
links
(in particular)
The value of
« concept-driven interactive pathways »
Concept-driven interactive pathway
• Centered on conceptual development and critical attitude,
coherence
• Interactive: intellectual interaction with teacher and/or other
students
• Progressive: each step may serve to construct the next step
Examples in next talk
From subtractive to multiplicative
37
Concluding remarks
– Extreme conceptual reduction: There is a price to pay,
risks of inconsistency, of consistency not being valued.
– Keep simplification under control , need to be very careful in case of extreme p
pO
pO
O p
conceptual reduction, mind rituals
– Students’ reactions: They appreciate consistency, need to reach a threshold of O
comprehension before daring to express their frustration in this respect ,need:
co-development of critical thinking and conceptual comprehension .
Provided we are taught how to do it
– Goal: reconciling various reasons for liking science,
– Showing that science aims at a unified « description » of the world: value of
stressing conceptual coherence and links, role of math.
Concluding remarks …
– Nourish a more balanced discussion about the objectives (content/ competences)
and modalities of physics teaching (with MOOCs, critical dialogue to be preserved)
– In particular, see « active learning » as compatible with several types of learning
activities, including critical dialogue.
You made me think
– Relativise the merits of any « method », choices to be content-related, thorough
discussions needed, banish rigidity
– Need to propose various approaches and means to be used in class practice, thus
enlarging the range of teachers’ choices.
ex: “More Understanding with Simple Experiments”
www.EPS.org
Education, MUSE
Springer 2014
Thank you for your
attention
Un grand acteur de développements curriculaires (UK)
Thus in the UK, the issue became how to develop science courses genuinely designed for the whole school
population. This became something of a national obsession, not shared by other countries. One slogan devised for
this was “Relevance”.
Complex issues need complex solutions, but they generally get simple slogans to
encapsulate and make memorable these solutions: “Relevance”, “Ask Nature”,“Science
for All”, “Hands On”, “Science Workshop”, “Learning by Doing”. MaoZedong had a genius
for inventing them, in a very different context. Be wary of these slogans. They are
needed, even essential, to help people remember the point and perhaps to focus
energy and enthusiasm. But they rarely speak plainly. I remember being asked near the
start of my second development project Advancing Physics, what its slogan would be. I
was at first embarrassed to find that I had no good answer. Maybe “Variety”, I said – if
you want to appeal to more people you have to offer more ways of being attractive. The
answer suggests its own limits. It cannot be right to focus a whole course on being attractive, at any cost. So there must be a basic
truthfulness to the nature of the subject – in this case physics. But now this is not a slogan, but the statement of a complex problem. I cannot
In fact, I am
suspicious of any educational development that passionately believes in its own slogans.
I do not much believe in one-shot solutions – ‘magic bullets’.
I conclude that a theory that provides guidance on producing teaching materials will
suffer the same difficulty: that simple slogans encapsulating its ideas are needed, but
are also dangerous.
say that I am sorry, even if it makes it hard to tell people what is the ‘essential new idea’ behind Advancing Physics.
Ogborn, J. 2010. Curriculum development as practical activity In K. Kortland (ed.): Designing TheoryBased Teaching-Learning Sequences for Science Education. Utrecht: Cdβ press,69-90.
41
MUSE - more understanding with simple
experiments
The main goals
• to go beyond excitement by helping students to get more
understanding from simple experiments;
• to propose teachers various approaches and means to be
used in class practice thus enlarging the range of their
choices.
The target audience includes:
• In-service teachers
• Pre-service teachers
• Physics education and physics education research
communities
Alarming reports
On the linking between secondary teaching and higher education
in physics and chemistry
Thomas Zabulon
Still worth, most of the students think that there is no link between mathematics and
physics, a domain in which all the results are easily obtained (without any work or
reflection!) and “with the hands”. An example: students who had to choose freely
a topic for scientific investigation in a scientific module where surprised and
disappointed to discover than the notion of worm’s hole necessitated to call on
physical concepts and mathematical tools presently out of their reach, that they
would see at best in Master 1 or 2.
In practice, it would seem that the “intuitive” approach, that was thought motivating
because modern, turned into a disaster on several respects. It leads the less
brilliant students to believe that physics can be understood without any effort,
just with words. This induce students into building by themselves intuitive models
(most of the time erroneous) to apprehend various physical phenomena, without
giving them a view of physical concepts as organized in a hierarchy. These students
don’t have even the bases that their predecessors previously acquired, and they
see physics as disordered and anarchical.
61e National Conference of Union of Physics and Chemistry Teachers
(UdPPC)
Reports on round tables BUP, Dec. 2013, pp-2011-2016
Interpreting the Norwegian and Swedish trend data for physics
in the TIMSS Advanced Study
In our search for a possible explanation for the strikingly parallel decline in physics
achievements for the «specialist» at upper secondary school, we have established
a set of possible factors. Through various methods of analyses we can to some
extent find possible explanations. In Norway, it is difficult to single out any one
pronounced factor within the advanced physics courses themselves, with regards
to enrolment and to the selection of students taking the courses, or the way in
which physics is taught. However, the somewhat larger decline in Sweden can be
partly explained by curriculum factors, since the most advanced mathematics
course is no longer obligatory for those students who are studying advanced
physics. Consequently, the interdependence between mathematics and physics is
weakened in the present curriculum in Sweden compared to 1995 (Skolverket,
2009). And, as pointed out in the introduction, the scientific literacy and «science
for all» movement might have weakened the use of mathematics in physics. The
need for good mathematical competence for being able to master the actual
physics courses has been addressed in this paper. Several reports have pointed out
that many students do not see the connection between the mathematics in the
math class and the mathematics they actually use in physics (e.g.Taber, 2006).
S.LIE, C. ANGELL & A. ROHATGI 2012 Nordic Studies in Education, Vol. 32, pp. 177–195 Oslo
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Viennot L. 2006. Teaching rituals and students' intellectual satisfaction, Phys. Educ. 41,
400-408. http://stacks.iop.org/0031-9120/41/400.
p
p
Mathé, S., & Viennot, L. 2009. Stressing the coherence of physics: Students journalists' p OO
and science mediators' reactions, Problems of education in the 21st century. 11 (11), 104O p
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Viennot, L. 2009. Physics by inquiry: beyond rituals and echo-explanations, In New Trends
in Science and Technology Education, G. Santoro (Ed.): “New Trends in Science and
Technology Education” Conference, Modena, CLUEB, Bologna
Viennot, L. 2010. Physics education research and inquiry-based teaching : a question of
didactical consistency, In K. Kortland (ed.): Designing Theory-Based Teaching-Learning
Sequences for Science Education. Utrecht: Cdβ press, 37-54.
Viennot, L. & de Hosson 2012. Beyond a dichotomic approach, the case of colour
phenomena. International Journal of Science Education, 34:9, 1315-1336.
Viennot, L. 2014. Thinking in Physics, The pleasure of reasoning and understanding in
physics. Springer/Grenoble Science.
Viennot, L. & Décamp, N. 2013. Analysing texts about radiocarbon dating: codevelopment of conceptual understanding and critical attitude, ESERA 2013. (+ Viennot
FFPER 2013)
More Understanding with Simple Experiments, Koupilova, Müller, Planinsic, Viennot :
http://www.eps.org/ education, MUSE
See also in French https://grenoble-sciences.ujf-grenoble.fr/pap-ebook/viennot/
Ogborn, J. 2012. WCPE Istanbul, keynote address, Curriculum Development in Physics: Not quite so
fast!
Zabulon, T. 2013 On the linking between secondary teaching and higher education in physics and chemistry 61e
National Conference of Union of Physics and Chemistry Teachers (UdPPC)
Reports on round tables BUP, Dec.
2013, pp-2011-2016
Lie, S., Angell, C. & Rohatgi, A. 2012 Interpreting the Norwegian and Swedish trend data for physics
in the TIMSS Advanced Study , Nordic Studies in Education, Vol. 32, pp. 177–195 Oslo
Editorials, reports
Léna, P. 2009b. Europe rethinks education, Science, 326, 23-11-2000
Rocard, Y. 2007, Science Education Now, Report EU22-845, European Commission, Brussels,
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/report-rocard-on-scienceeducation_en.pdf
Osborne, J.. Dillon, J. 2008. Science Education in Europe : Critical Reflexions. Nuffield Foundation, ,.
www.nuffieldfoundation.org/fileLibrary/pdf/Sci_Ed_in_Europe_Report_Final.pdf
Allende, J.E. 2008. Academies Active in Education, Science, 321, 29-8-2008.
Editorial.“(…) through science education that is based on inquiry, an approach that reproduces in
the classroom the learning process of scientists: formulating questions, doing experiments, collecting
and comparing data, reaching conclusions, and extrapolating these findings to more general
situations