Scaffolding a Complex Task of Experimental Design in Chemistry with a Computer Environment

When solving a scientific problem through experimentation, students may have the responsibility to design the experiment. When students work in a conventional condition, with paper and pencil, the designed procedures stay at a very general level. There is a need for additional scaffolds to help the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of science education and technology 2014-08, Vol.23 (4), p.514-526
Main Authors: Girault, Isabelle, d'Ham, Cédric
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Complexity
Computer Science
Computer Uses in Education
Computers
Computers in education
Design of experiments
Education
Educational Technology
Error Patterns
Error rates
Experiment design
Experimental design
Experimental procedures
Experimentation
Feedback (Response)
Flasks
Humanities and Social Sciences
Learning procedures
Organic chemistry
Praxeology
Problem Solving
Research Design
Research Methodology
Scaffolding
Scaffolding (Teaching Technique)
Scaffolds
Science Education
Science Experiments
Science Instruction
Solvents
Students
Teaching Methods
Technology for Human Learning
Tutoring
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Summary:When solving a scientific problem through experimentation, students may have the responsibility to design the experiment. When students work in a conventional condition, with paper and pencil, the designed procedures stay at a very general level. There is a need for additional scaffolds to help the students perform this complex task. We propose a computer environment (copex-chimie) with embedded scaffolds in order to help students to design an experimental procedure. A pre-structuring of the procedure where the students have to choose the actions of their procedure among pre-defined actions and specify the parameters forces the students to face the complexity of the design. However, this is not sufficient for them to succeed; they look for some feedback to improve their procedure and finally abandon their task. In another condition, the students were provided with individualized feedbacks on the errors detected in their procedures by an artificial tutor. These feedbacks proved to be necessary to accompany the students throughout their experimental design without being discouraged. With this kind of scaffold, students worked longer and succeeded better to the task than all the other students.
ISSN:1059-0145
1573-1839
DOI:10.1007/s10956-013-9481-5