Cultivating Talents in Universities for the Future: Reform of Pre-Service Teachers’ Professional
　Development

Time：：民國100/4/1∼105/3/31年

Sponsor ：教育部

With the long-term achievements in professional development (PD), i-teach group in NTNU group intends to build up and refines a technology-infused PD program for pre-service teachers. This research- and evaluation- based practical teaching program endeavors to enhance pre-service teachers' science thinking and pedagogical knowledge (e.g., curriculum, assessment, technology), which believes to further promote students' knowledge of technology and science. In this project, we will develop and modify our PD model through providing pre-service teachers learning chances of scientific thinking, constructing their teaching beliefs in technology-infused scientific thinking, and examining the development of their technological pedagogical content knowledge. This study not only plans to infuse the PD model with technological curriculum, but also the teaching and assessment modules in decision making, experimenting, modeling, and argumentation.  

Main Project: The Development of a System of Simulation-based Assessments to Evaluate Students’ 　Inquiry Skills

Time：：民國100-103年

Sponsor：National Science Council

Inquiry learning plays a central role in current reforms in science education. Askingquestions, planning investigations, analyzing data, and explaining results have been identifiedas essential skills of classroom inquiry. It is crucial to develop appropriate assessments thatwould measure these skills and provide information needed by students, teachers, parents, and researchers to improve science teaching and learning. Paper-and-pencil assessments often fail to allow students to demonstrate these skills and computer technologies offer numerous advantages over traditional assessment formats. Interactive and manipulative questions in
computer-based assessments provide possibilities for students to engage in complex, realworld tasks. Thus, this three-year project, as the main one of an integrated project, aims at designing an online system of simulation-based assessments to evaluate students' inquiry skills and to apply the item response theory for scaling students' inquiry skills. Through a cross-year study, we will investigate eighth and eleventh graders' development of inquiry
skills. Additionally, little research has been done on science teachers' attitudes toward online assessments so this topic will also be examined in this project. Taken together, the purposes of this three-year project are to: (1) develop an assessment framework for asking, planning, analyzing, and explaining skills; (2) design and validate online simulation-based assessments; (3) construct and validate a scale to measure students' inquiry skills; (4) investigate eighth and eleventh graders' development of inquiry skills; (5) examine secondary science teachers' attitudes toward online assessments.

Keywords: Online assessment, simulation-based assessment, inquiry skills, teachers’attitude, item response theory

Investigating Students’ Inquiry Practices and Learning Strategies in Technology-Enhanced Learning 　　Environments

Time：2008∼2011

Sponsor：National Science Council

Abstract：

　As a longitudinal study, our research group will conduct an inquiry-based and technology-enhanced learning with a cooperative high school at Kaohsiung for 3 years. Five lessons in light, seasons, moon phase, rainbow, and air quality designed in last few projects and three new lessons with the aid of GIS software will be used in a class in order to examine students’ progress in conceptual understanding, inquiry skills and inquiry quality. The remarkable findings from this study will address possible solutions for outreach of inquiry-based learning in schools and provide insights about students’ inquiry-based learning with the aid of technology for relative research.

Keywords：E-learning Environment in Science, Scientific Inquiry, Science Learning

The Impacts of Scaffolded Modeling E-learning Environment of Students' Science Learning

Time： 2006∼2008

Sponsor：National Science Council

Abstract：

　Models and modeling have been regarded as necessary science literacy in many countries. Therefore, the objective of our study is to design a scaffolded modeling e-learning environment and to investigate how students demonstrate conceptual understanding and modeling practices in such environment. Multiple data including test scores, classroom observations, interviews, and computer records, will be collected and analyzed from the same sample so that each research group can interpret the data from their research interests and concerns and we can across-check the influences of the factors designed in different research groups. The integrating project will display the results from the macro level to see the changes of students’ conceptual understanding and modeling ability before and after the intervention. The research groups will show their findings from the micro level to discuss what modeling practices are supported by the modeling tool, sharing tools and scaffolds. Specially, the comparison studies will be used to examine the impacts of key functions in these tools and scaffolds in the third year.

Keywords：Modelling, Situated Cognition, Social Constructivism, Scientific Learning, Scaffolding Learning, E-Learning