Understanding Of Size And Scale And Order-Of-Magnitude Reasoning In Secondary Science: A Teaching Experiment With Worked Examples As Educational Scaffold

TL;DR

This study investigates how using worked examples can improve high school students' understanding of size, scale, and order-of-magnitude reasoning in science, leading to better knowledge and transfer skills.

Contribution

It demonstrates that worked examples are an effective educational scaffold for teaching size, scale, and order-of-magnitude reasoning in secondary science education.

Findings

Significant improvement in students' procedural knowledge.

Enhanced conceptual understanding across diverse learners.

Effective transfer of skills to new contexts.

Abstract

Understanding size and scale (USS) and order-of-magnitude reasoning (OMR) are critical for scientific literacy. This study examines an educational approach to enhance these skills in high school science, considering the cognitive prerequisites and challenges. It explores worked examples (WEs) as an effective method to teach USS and OMR, comparing their impact on students' knowledge and transfer abilities with conventional tasks in a quasi-experimental study. The results indicate significant improvements in procedural and conceptual knowledge, effective for diverse learners regardless of prior knowledge.