The Research On Science Learning Progression: The Concept, Development And Cases

Science Learning Progression(SLP) is an important banner which guided the latest science education reform of America. The researches on SLP in our country have just begun, and the results are not sufficient. Through summarizing the results of the domestic and international researches on SLP, this paper reveals the connotation and value of SLP, the theoretical foundation and processes of the development of SLP, and analyzes the concrete case of “the Learning Progression for Energy in Socio-ecological systems”.SLP describes the pathways students are likely to follow to the development of important scientific literacy variables over multiple school years. It contains at least the following five elements: learning goals, progress variables, levels of achievement, learning performances and assessments. The function of SLP includes not only improving the quality of science standards, science curriculum and teaching, but also providing guidance for the development of high-quality evaluation tools. Based on the theories of cognitive development and zone of proximal development, the development of SLP follows a series of quality requirements. It’s the result of iterative cycles. Each design cycle moves through three components: development of a model of cognition, effective assessment and interpretation. The aim of developing a model of cognition is to identify leaning goals, progress variables and levels of achievement, and propose a SLP framework. The assessment and interpretation consist of designing assessment items, gathering and analyzing data from students’ performance, describing students’ levels of achievement and generating distribution graphs, testing learning progression and specific indicators for levels of it, and eventually revising the SLP framework. We find that the proposition, development and formation of the SLP are long-term and challenging processes, in which, each link needs multiple cycle of revising and the mutual participation of experts in different areas to ensure the scientificity, rationality and validation of a SLP. In order to provide guidance for the development of science curriculum and standards, the implementation of science teaching and assessment, and teacher training, science education in our country should make full use of these experiences in foreign and deeply study and develop SLPs adapted to the science education reality of our country.