Functional Near-infrared Imaging Based Characterization Of Assessment For Preconceptions

Science education is responsible for the competitiveness of a nation,progress of social productive force,scientific literacy of nationals,and training of creative personnel.Scientific concept is the basis of communication and inheritance in science education,as well as the foundation of further modeling and theoretical study.The non-scientific concepts one has conceived based on experiences and instincts are known as preconceptions,and normally contradict to the scientific concepts developed through the academic process.The preconceptions are difficult to change,and therefore impede the establishment of scientific concepts.As a result,achieving conceptual change is one of the major challenges in science education,whereas preconception assessment is a crucial step to achieve the change.Traditional methods contribute greatly to diagnostic assessment,but they are limited in subjectivity and thus difficult to meet the requirement of objectivity.Non-invasive techniques,such as functional magnetic resonance imaging(f MRI),electroencephalography(EEG)and functional near-infrared spectroscopy(f NIRS),offer an opportunity assessing conceptual change using objective imaging.Compared to f MRI and EEG,f NIRS is portable,inexpensive,easy to operate and of good spatial-temporal resolution.More importantly,f NIRS can be better adopted into educational practice due to its insensitivity to body motion and good ecological validity.The focus of this study is to objectively distinguish two types of students with different preconceptions using f NIRS.The brain mechanism of conceptual change,as the foundation of performing objective and effective assessment,was first investigated.Then an indicator valid for the assessment was examined and used to characterize the differences in brain images.To conclude,the universality of this characterization was demonstrated.(1)Study of the brain mechanism in conceptual change.Existing studies on f MRI neither reflect the dynamic process of cognition,nor determine if the inhibition is a result of preconceptions,as they believe conceptual change is directly related to the inhibition from the prefrontal cortex,although this relationship is de facto shown to be indirect by other researches.This study analyzed the spatial distribution and the transactions from visual attention,as well as the activation of bilateral prefrontal lobes using both f NIRS and eye tracking techniques simultaneously.Results indicate that instead of fading away or being replaced,the preconceptions coexist with scientific conceptions after the conceptual change,and the inhibition of preconception interference is required for the success of transformation.Meanwhile,the viability of f NIRS in this assessment is validated.(2)Study of the indicator for preconception assessment.Permutation entropy(PE)based complexity was introduced,considering that the activation is not enough to detect the response to assignments of low difficulty.This study performed the analyses of activation and PE based complexity on the f NIRS signals from inferior frontal gyrus of experts(successfully transformed students)and novices(students failed to transform).The results indicate that the values for PE in experts are significantly lower than novices,while their difference in terms of activation is not obvious.The probability separating experts and novices can reach up to 80% if the values for PE are further processed using K-means clustering analysis.PE based complexity is clearly encouraging to assess preconceptions,especially in assignments of low difficulty,and can be used as a complement to the traditional activation.(3)Study of the universality of f NIRS in preconception assessment.This research studied the brain images under circumstances of scientific conceptions absence and lack of inhibition using variable control method.The results show similar behavior in brain images between the transformed and the untransformed,i.e.the activation from the transformed is significantly greater than the untransformed in the inhibitive areas,while the values for PE is lower.PE based complexity,however,responds more sensitively than the activation and therefore,enables the differentiation in more areas.This study also indicates that a good understanding of scientific conceptions determines if the inhibition can effectively function,which further suggests the importance of both inhibitive ability development and the study of scientific concepts in specific areas.This research combined pedagogy,psychology and brain science,and performed a comprehensive analysis of activity responses,eye movements and brain activities in the assessment of preconceptions using multiple mode methods.This study also explored a series of more ecological test pattern,and introduced a novel assessment indicator based on f NIRS,and studied the effect of scientific conceptions and the inhibitive control ability on the conceptual change by using a dual process theory of logic thinking.The study sets a foundation for research as such,delivers a methodological reference,as well as provides a theoretical guidance to promote conceptual change through educational practice.