Abstracts - Earli

Examining the effects of electronic mentoring prompts on learners’ scientific reasoning skills in anonline conferenceCharoula Angeli, University of Cyprus, CyprusNicos Valanides, University of Cyprus, CyprusThe purpose of the study was to develop an instructional framework for promoting learners’scientific reasoning skills in a text-based online conferencing system for science, and then toreport on its effectiveness. A review of the literature was conducted which identified threedifferent types of written prompts for promoting reasoning skills in science. They included (a)prompts for promoting conceptual understanding in science, (b) prompts for promoting generalthinking skills, and (c) prompts for promoting science-specific processes. Preliminary results ofthe study showed that the framework of electronic mentoring prompts was beneficial for thedevelopment of learners’ scientific reasoning skills, provided that the instructor properly andpersistently mediated students’ discourse in the online conference.Enhancing students’ views on the nature of science and their general thinking dispositions in thecontext of writing-to-learn scienceTili Wagner, Weizmann Institute of Science; Beit Berl College, IsraelTamar Levin, Tel-Aviv University, IsraelThe study examines the simultaneous development of students’ views on the nature of science(NOS) and their more general thinking dispositions (TD) in the context of writing-to-learn science.The study is a theory-driven study, inspired and informed by the constructivist view of learning,cognitive and social theories of the writing process, theories of critical thinking dispositions andviews on NOS. It responds to the need for further exploration of the pedagogical conditions thatenhance students’ desired views on NOS, and conceptualizes writing as a tool for learning andthinking, capable of generating educational experiences that promote science literacy. Since mostinterventions reported use mainly scientific genres of writing, and in response to calls to expandthe modalities of writing tasks in research, this study has used informal writing task assignments.The research provides hard evidence that the combined use of diversified types of informalwriting-to-learn tasks in science and reflection on the writing can enhance both eighth graders’views on the nature of science and their more general thinking dispositions. The study furthershows that epistemic views on science are most meaningful in predicting more general thinkingdispositions. The study renders an optimistic view of pedagogical opportunities for developingscientific literacy, suggesting an integration of explicit and implicit learning experiences. Thestudy suggests that writing experiences that offer a meaningful context for developing students’epistemological beliefs and thinking dispositions should be provocative, open-ended, stimulating,and creative, express complex questions concerning real world dilemmas, and should bearticulated in different genres.– 544 –