A Study On The Learning Progression For Important Concepts And Scientific Explaining Of Electrostatic Field

In science teaching,the cultivating of Scientific Explanation can help students improve their understanding of scientific knowledge and enable them to participate in social hot issues.And in high school physics,Electrostatic Field is one of the most difficult concept,whose teaching and studying is very important.Therefore,this research studies the continuity of the concepts and the development process of Scientific Explanation of phenomena and problems in Electrostatic Fields based on the Integrated Development of science education and Learning Progression theory.This study chose three core concepts "Charges and the Laws" "Force Property of Electrostatic field" "Energy Property of Electrostatic Field",selected cognitive complexity as variables and developed the Learning Progression of concepts understanding,selected the model of Learning Progression for Scientific Explanation based on PTDR(phenomenon-theory-data-reasoning)and developed a five-level Learning Progression Framework of Scientific Explanation of Electrostatic Field.The measurement tools were compiled to empirically test and revise the pre-set framework.140 Senior 2 students from Shanghai,150 Senior 2 students and 150 Senior 3 students from Changchun were measured to test and revise the pre-set frameworks.The conclusions are as follows:(a)Five-level Learning Progressions for concepts understanding and scientific interpretation under the theme of "electrostatic field" were developed;At lower levels(level 1&2),concepts understanding and scientific explanation can achieve horizontal integration;At higher levels(level 3&4&5),it is more difficult to progress in scientific explanation than conceptual understanding.(b)In terms of concepts understanding,most students reached Level 4(concepts);The performance of Senior 2 students in “Physics Required” area is better than that of the “Physics Elective” area,and the performance of Senior 3 students is better than that of Senior 2 students,but neither of them carries significant difference.(c)In terms of scientific explaination,most senior 2 students reach Level 3,and most senior 3 students reach Level 4.The performance of Senior 2 students in “Physics Required” area is better than that of the “Physics Elective” area;Senior 3 students performed better than Senior 2 students,with extremely significant differences.Based on the results above,the following two suggestions were proposed: Strengthening of conceptual integration teaching across topics;Focus on the cultivation of students' scientific interpretation ability.