David Fortus

Bio: David Fortus is an academic researcher from Weizmann Institute of Science. The author has contributed to research in topics: Science education & Goal orientation. The author has an hindex of 18, co-authored 49 publications receiving 2616 citations. Previous affiliations of David Fortus include Michigan State University & University of Michigan.

Developing a learning progression for scientific modeling: Making scientific modeling accessible and meaningful for learners

Abstract: Modeling is a core practice in science and a central part of scientific literacy. We present theoretical and empirical motivation for a learning progression for scientific modeling that aims to make the practice accessible and meaningful for learners. We define scientific modeling as including the elements of the practice (constructing, using, evaluating, and revising scientific models) and the metaknowledge that guides and motivates the practice (e.g., understanding the nature and purpose of models). Our learning progression for scientific modeling includes two dimensions that combine metaknowledge and elements of practice—scientific models as tools for predicting and explaining, and models change as understanding improves. We describe levels of progress along these two dimensions of our progression and illustrate them with classroom examples from 5th and 6th graders engaged in modeling. Our illustrations indicate that both groups of learners productively engaged in constructing and revising increasingly accurate models that included powerful explanatory mechanisms, and applied these models to make predictions for closely related phenomena. Furthermore, we show how students engaged in modeling practices move along levels of this progression. In particular, students moved from illustrative to explanatory models, and developed increasingly sophisticated views of the explanatory nature of models, shifting from models as correct or incorrect to models as encompassing explanations for multiple aspects of a target phenomenon. They also developed more nuanced reasons to revise models. Finally, we present challenges for learners in modeling practices—such as understanding how constructing a model can aid their own sensemaking, and seeing model building as a way to generate new knowledge rather than represent what they have already learned. 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 632-654, 2009

Design-based science and student learning

Abstract: Design-Based Science (DBS) is a pedagogy in which the goal of designing an artifact contextualizes all curricular activities. Design is viewed as a vehicle through which scientific knowledge and real-world problem-solving skills can be constructed. Following Anderson and Hogan's (1999) call to document the design of new science pedagogies, this goal of this article is twofold: (a) to describe DBS, and (b) to evaluate whether significant science knowledge was constructed during consecutive enactments of three DBS units. In this study, 92 students participated in the consecutive enactments of three different DBS units. The development of their scientific knowledge was assessed through posters and models constructed during the curricular enactments and by identical pre- and post-instruction written tests. The posttests showed considerable gains compared with the pretests, while the models and posters show application of this newly constructed knowledge in solving a design problem. These positive results support efforts being made to restructure school science around inquiry-based curricula in general and design-based curricula in particular. 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 1081-1110, 2004

Design-based science and real-world problem-solving

Abstract: Design-based science (DBS) is a science pedagogy in which new scientific knowledge and problem-solving skills are constructed in the context of designing artifacts. This paper examines whether the enactment of a DBS unit supported students’ efforts to construct and transfer new science knowledge and ‘designerly’ problem-solving skills to the solution of a new real-world design problem in a real-world setting. One hundred and forty-nine students participated in the enactment of a DBS unit. Their understanding of the curricular content was assessed by identical pre-instructional and post-instructional written tests. They were then given a new design problem as a transfer task. There was a statistically significant increase on scores from pre-test to post-test with an effect size of 1.8. There was a stronger correlation between the scores of the transfer task and those of the post-test than with those of the pre-test; we use this finding to suggest that the knowledge that was constructed during the unit enactment supported the solution of the transfer task. This has implications for the development of science curricula that aim to lead to the construction of knowledge and skills that may be useful in extra-classroom settings. Whether participation in consecutive enactments of different DBS units increases transfer remains to be investigated in more depth.

Adolescents' Declining Motivation to Learn Science: Inevitable or Not?

Abstract: There is a growing awareness that science education should center not just on knowledge acquisition but developing the foundation for lifelong learning. However, for intentional learning of science to occur in school, out of school, and after school, there needs to be a motivation to learn science. Prior research had shown that students' motivation to learn science tends to decrease during adolescence (Anderman and Young (1994) Journal of Research in Science Teaching 31: 811-831; Lee and Anderson (1993) American Educational Research Journal 30: 585-610; Simpson and Oliver (1990) Science Education 74: 1-18). This study compared 5th through 8th grade students' self-reported goal orientations, engagement in science class, continuing motivation for science learning, and perceptions of their schools' and parents' goals emphases, in Israeli traditional and democratic schools. The results show that the aforementioned decline in adolescents' motivation for science learning in school and out of school is not an inevitable developmental trend, since it is apparent only in traditional schools but not in democratic ones. The results suggest that the non-declining motivation of adolescents in democratic schools is not a result of home influence but rather is related to the school culture. 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., J Res Sci Teach 48: 199-216, 2011

Adolescents' declining motivation to learn science: A follow-up study

Abstract: This is a mix methods follow-up study in which we reconfirm the findings from an earlier study [Vedder-Weiss & Fortus [2011] Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(2), 199–216]. The findings indicate that adolescents' declining motivation to learn science, which was found in many previous studies [Galton [2009] Moving to secondary school: Initial encounters and their effects. Perspectives on Education, 2(Primary-secondary Transfer in Science), 5–21. Retrieved from www.wellcome.ac.uk/perspectives; Osborne, Simon, & Collins, [2003] International Journal of Science Education 25(9), 1049–1079], is not an inevitable phenomenon since it appears not to occur in Israeli democratic schools. In addition to reinforcing previous results in a different sample, new results show that the differences between the two school types are also apparent in terms of students' self-efficacy in science learning, students' perceptions of their teachers' goals emphases, and students' perception of their peers' goals orientation. Quantitative results are accompanied by rich verbal examples of ways in which students view and articulate their own and their teachers' goal emphases. Content analysis of students' interviews showed that students in traditional schools are directed more towards goals that are external and related to the outcome of learning in comparison to democratic school students who are motivated more by goals that are internal and related to the process of learning. Structure analysis of these interviews suggests that democratic school students experience a greater sense of autonomy in their science learning than traditional school students do. Implications for research on students' motivation are discussed, such as considering not only the teacher and the classroom but also the school culture. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 1057–1095, 2012

A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas

Abstract: 1 On behalf of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, this lesson was prepared by Arizona State University’s Mars Education Program, under contract to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology. These materials may be distributed freely for non-commercial purposes. Copyright 2014; 2012; 2010; 2000. Last edited: April 24, 2014 Marsbound! Mission to the Red Planet

Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses.

Abstract: Many people in "literate" societies, when asked to define literacy, almost always do so in terms of reading and writing abilities This narrow interpretation of literacy, an offspring of reductionist psychology, has reigned supreme in many academic and educational contexts for decades, greatly shaping literacy theories and classroom practices Within the past ten years, however, a large body of multidisciplinary research has begun to undermine the authority of this perspective by situating literacy in larger social practices

Mental Representations A Dual Coding Approach

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Developing a learning progression for scientific modeling: Making scientific modeling accessible and meaningful for learners

Abstract: Modeling is a core practice in science and a central part of scientific literacy. We present theoretical and empirical motivation for a learning progression for scientific modeling that aims to make the practice accessible and meaningful for learners. We define scientific modeling as including the elements of the practice (constructing, using, evaluating, and revising scientific models) and the metaknowledge that guides and motivates the practice (e.g., understanding the nature and purpose of models). Our learning progression for scientific modeling includes two dimensions that combine metaknowledge and elements of practice—scientific models as tools for predicting and explaining, and models change as understanding improves. We describe levels of progress along these two dimensions of our progression and illustrate them with classroom examples from 5th and 6th graders engaged in modeling. Our illustrations indicate that both groups of learners productively engaged in constructing and revising increasingly accurate models that included powerful explanatory mechanisms, and applied these models to make predictions for closely related phenomena. Furthermore, we show how students engaged in modeling practices move along levels of this progression. In particular, students moved from illustrative to explanatory models, and developed increasingly sophisticated views of the explanatory nature of models, shifting from models as correct or incorrect to models as encompassing explanations for multiple aspects of a target phenomenon. They also developed more nuanced reasons to revise models. Finally, we present challenges for learners in modeling practices—such as understanding how constructing a model can aid their own sensemaking, and seeing model building as a way to generate new knowledge rather than represent what they have already learned. 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 632-654, 2009