An Assessment Study On Chemical Evidence-based Reasoning Ability Of High School Students Based On EBR Framework

In 2017,Curriculum standards of Chemistry for senior high schools in China listed "evidence-based reasoning" as one of the core qualities of the subject,requiring students to analyze evidences and reason based on evidences in order to solve problems.It can be found that the science education has always attached importance to the cultivation of students’ evidence-based reasoning ability,meanwhile the assessment study on evidence-based reasoning ability can provide some teaching and training suggestions for teachers to cultivate students’ ability.However,there is no assessment research on evidence-based reasoning ability in foreign educational circle,and the number of domestic research is relatively small which research perspective is limited.Based on the above research background,this study proposes a new perspective for evaluating chemical evidence-based reasoning ability of high school students,which is based on Evidence-Based Reasoning framework(EBR framework).EBR framework shows the key structural elements of evidence-based reasoning,visualizes the thinking process of evidence-based reasoning,provides a theoretical basis for constructing the assessment framework of chemical evidence-based reasoning ability.This study is divided into three parts:(1)Construction of assessment framework of chemical evidence-based reasoning ability.Based on EBR framework and combined with the characteristics of chemistry,this study obtained four dimensions of chemical evidence-based reasoning ability: data collection,evidence transformation,rule application,and claim construction.(2)Development of chemical evidence-based reasoning ability assessment tools.Based on the assessment framework,this study developed an assessment tool for high school students,"Chemical Evidence-Based Reasoning Ability Test Paper",and modified the test paper by consulting experts.Finally,this study obtains an assessment tool with high quality after verifying the reliability and validity of the test paper.(3)An assessment study on chemical evidence-based reasoning ability of high school students.This study investigated the current situation of chemical evidence-based reasoning ability of 270 students in senior one,senior two and senior three of 5 high schools in Shanghai,and conducted a differential study on the chemical evidence-based reasoning ability of high school students separately by grade and gender.The findings of this study are as follows:(1)The chemical evidence-based reasoning ability of high school students was low.(2)Students’ performance on the four dimensions of chemical evidence-based reasoning ability was variable,with the ability ranked from highest to lowest: claim construction > data collection > rule application > evidence transformation.(3)Male and female students have the same level of the chemical evidence-based reasoning ability and the four ability dimensions.(4)Three grades of high school students have different level of the chemical evidence-based reasoning ability,with the ability ranked from highest to lowest: senior three>senior two>senior one.There were significant differences between senior one and senior three,senior two and senior three in four dimensions of chemical evidence-based reasoning ability.While there were significant differences between senior one and senior two only in evidence transformation,and no significant differences in the other three ability dimensions,which is caused by the unbalanced distribution of samples.According to the above conclusions,this study provides three teaching suggestions for cultivating students’ chemical evidence-based reasoning ability:(1)Adopting inquiry-based teaching method to develop chemical evidence-based reasoning ability.(2)Training students’ chemical evidence-based reasoning ability in a certain dimension.(3)Attaching importance to individual differences and teaching process differences,implementing individualized teaching.