The Thinking Frames Approach

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Felicity McLure

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The Thinking Frames Approach for Conceptual Understanding and Writing in Year 7-10 Science

How many of your students struggle to write explanations of scientific phenomena which link cause and effect and tell a scientific story based on the scientific model in question? This was certainly a problem that I encountered when teaching in both international and Australian schools. Students who are asked to explain their observations often write a single sentence, frequently repeating the question itself or simply describing what they saw.

In order to address this problem I found a constructivist approach that had been developed by a Consortium of science teachers and researchers in the UK, the Cams Hill Science Consortium, for engaging students of upper primary school in higher order thinking called the Thinking Frames Approach (TFA) (Newberry, Gilbert, & Consortium, 2011) and decided to adapt it for use in high school grades 8-10.

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TFA Principles

The first foundational principle behind the TFA is that students need to be made aware of their alternative conceptions (or misconceptions) before they are willing to consider and construct scientific explanations. This is achieved by first considering what the most common alternative conceptions are that students hold for a particular topic. For instance, in the topic of heat energy transfer (Year 9: ACSSU182) students hold a number of very persistent misconceptions such as that there is such a thing as ‘cold energy’, that metals are intrinsically cold or that supplying the same amount of heat energy to any material will raise its temperature by the same amount. They also generally do not recognise that energy is transferred through collisions between particles that have different speeds eventually resulting in thermal equilibrium or that, at the boiling point of a substance, the temperature does not increase because the energy that is being pumped into the system goes towards separating particles as they change state (Clough & Driver, 1985).

The second foundational principle behind the TFA is the power of student generated multiple representations in constructing explanations. Students are able to construct scientific understanding of a topic when scaffolded to do so through careful teacher questioning. The scientific explanations that they develop then become more coherent and elaborated as they produce those explanations in different modes or formats. In the TFA students produce verbal explanations, while working in small groups, which they present to the class and defend, elaborate and modify during teacher-student discussions. They then produce pictorial representations of their explanations, followed by transfer of ideas into summary dot-points. Finally, they produce an extended written explanation which they evaluate using a rubric which ranges from level 1 (simple descriptions of observations) to level 5 (detailed and persuasive explanation of cause and effect based on a scientific model of matter/energy).

a constructivist approach that had been developed... for engaging students of upper primary school in higher order thinking

In order to trial and evaluate the usefulness of the TFA for teaching science in Years 8-10, I developed a series of lesson plans based on the TFA for topics in Year 8 chemistry (kinetic theory of matter) and physics (energy transformation and conservation); Year 9 physics (energy transfer in thermal physics and electricity); and Year 10 physics (Newton’s laws) and biology (genetics & natural selection). To test whether students had gained deeper conceptual understanding using the TFA students completed conceptual tests before and after teaching and, in the cases of the thermal physics and Newton’s laws topics, six months after teaching to see if students had retained their understanding. These results were compared to pre/post tests from students who were learning science using more traditional methods. As an illustration of the TFA, in order to teach thermal physics to students I developed six lessons based on common misconceptions (Table 1). The final lesson drew together many of the concepts that had been learned during the previous lessons. Throughout the TFA lesson, I established mixed ability groups which the students worked in for every TFA lesson and in which they worked together to discuss and construct explanations.

Table 1. TFA lessons for Year 9

Lesson topic (misconception/s challenged)

Thermal equilibrium (thermal energy and temperature are the same thing; there is such a thing as ‘cold’ energy) Conduction (all materials conduct thermal energy in the same way)

Conduction (metals are intrinsically colder than non-metals; metals conduct ‘cold’ energy) Radiation and Convection (doesn’t recognise that thermal energy transfer by convection required particles while transfer by radiation does not; heat rises) Latent heat of vaporisation (As soon as water reaches 100 o C it turns into a gas)

Conduction, convection, radiation, specific heat capacity, latent heat of vaporisation

Thinking Frames Approach Question

Explain how the temperature changes when 1L of ‘hot’ water (77 o C) is mixed with 2L of ‘cold’ water (19 o C) Explain why drawing pins fall of the end of metal rods faster than off the end of a glass rod of the same length when heated at one end. Explain why ice on a metal plate melts faster than on a ceramic plate

Explain how a whole room can heat up if a radiator is put in the corner. How does double glazing keep the room warmer than single glazing?

Explain why the temperature of water increases from 0 o to 100 o C but then stays at 100 o C as heat energy is applied. Explain why a paper cup with water in it does not burn when placed over a Bunsen burner

TFA Steps

The steps in a TFA lesson are as follows:

The teacher poses a question which will challenge students’ thinking: What will happen when I place a paper cup full of water over a Bunsen burner? Will this be different to what happens when I place an empty cup over a Bunsen?

Students work in groups to predict what will happen with explanations of why they believe that will happen and each group presents their ideas to the class. In this case, all students predicted that the Bunsen burner would burn a hole in the paper cup and that the water would come out and extinguish the Bunsen burner. Their reasoning was that paper is flammable and since the water is inside the paper cup it won’t have an effect on burning from the outside.

The demonstration is then carried out and students observe that the paper cup without water in it burns rapidly, while the paper cup with water in it does not burn but that the water is heated and eventually boils.

Students return to their groups to discuss their observations and to construct an explanation of these surprising results based on what they have learned in previous lessons.

A student from each group then presents their explanation to the class and the teacher uses questioning to encourage elaboration of ideas and consideration of the scientific model. Questioning in this way is quite a challenging skill to develop as a teacher as the teacher’s questions should encourage students to consider alternatives, draw out ideas and gently lead them to recognise where their present explanations are inconsistent with the scientific model. Students need to feel that their ideas are valuable and listened to. 7. Once students have constructed explanations that are consistent with scientific understanding of the phenomenon, they then represent their explanation in a series of pictures, dot-points and a paragraph (or more) of writing. The teacher moves from group to group encouraging elaboration of ideas and challenging misconceptions by asking questions. An example of Giselle’s drawings to explain observations is found in Figure 1 on the next page.

Finally students evaluate their written explanations

Results Increased understanding of scientific concepts

Over two years using the TFA in biology, physics and chemistry topics in Years 8-10, students displayed significant improvement in their conceptual understanding as measured by responses to pre/post conceptual tests (McLure, Won, & Treagust, 2020a). The effect sizes obtained were high in all cases, ranging from 0.88 to 2.04. Hattie (2008) described the ‘hinge point’ for an intervention that has a greater than average influence on achievement as one with an effect size of 0.4 or above. By comparison, effect sizes comparing pre/post test results of the comparison classes were generally much lower. For instance, while students’ growth in conceptual understanding for thermal physics in the first year of the study had an effect size of 1.56 and a second class in the second year of the study had an effect size of 2.04, the comparison class showed no significant difference between pre and post-test results, or an effect size of less than 0.2. In the topic of thermal physics, students retained their gains in understanding over a six-month period (McLure, Won, & Treagust, 2020b).

More coherent and comprehensive written explanations

At first, students’ written explanations were mainly simple descriptions of what they had observed with little connection to any underlying explanation based on a

Figure 1. Giselle’s explanations of why a paper cup without water burns but one with water does not

scientific model, just as I had observed before beginning teaching with the TFA. Surprisingly, initially they seemed to be unaware that they had either not answered the question or that their answers were descriptive rather than explanatory, since they began by evaluating their written explanations at levels 4 or 5. I evaluated most of their written explanations, based on the rubric, at level 1 or 2. However, as students developed deeper understanding through the TFA lessons, their written explanations were observed to become more elaborated and include greater connections between cause and effect. Willa, for instance, began the year by writing very simple descriptions rather than explanations. However, in the lesson described above, Willa wrote a detailed scientific explanation of why the paper cup did not burst into flames. Although she did not fully understand the meaning of thermal equilibrium, she convincingly used her understanding of transfer of energy through radiation, conduction and convection, together with her understanding of thermal heat capacity and latent heat of vaporisation to explain why the paper cup filled with water did not burst into flames.

When a cup filled with water is heated by a Bunsen burner, thermal energy from the Bunsen burner is transferred to the paper cup through both radiation and conduction. The cup heats the water through conduction, and convection means that the water is heated [throughout]. Water has a high thermal heat capacity, and because of the water and the cup’s contact thermal equilibrium keeps the cup and the water’s temperature rising together slowly. When their temperature reaches 100 o C, the thermal energy is used for latent heat of vaporisation. The cup cannot light on fire because of thermal equilibrium and until the water is all evaporated the cup will not be able to reach its ignition temperature.

Increased confidence in constructing and writing scientific explanations

One consequence of developing writing skills in this way was that the majority of the students interviewed at the end of the year noted that they felt much more confident in both understanding scientific concepts and being able to explain those concepts to others. Peter, a very reluctant writer when we first began using the TFA, began to gain confidence in understanding and writing and by the Semester 2 of Year 9 started writing

such detailed and comprehensive explanations that he would ask for more paper. Peter: “Over the course of the year, drawing stuff, especially the thermal physics and the electricity, it really helped when I was drawing it because then labelling it with arrows really helped. With the thermal energy it really helped me know how the particles of water would heat and move.”

Another student, Josh, who was previously disengaged in school science, commented on the benefits that he obtained from working in a small group that supported his learning and helped him to construct his understanding of phenomena.

Josh: “Well last year I didn’t pay attention in many classes. But this year I’ve started paying attention in every other class and I reckon getting separated from Cameron was actually a good decision. At first, I was like ‘Oh that’s not very nice.’ But now it has actually improved my grades in a lot of subjects. I reckon how you made the table order, seating thing [small group]. I’m not sure how you did it but it just seems to work.”

Gains for students of all abilities

Another observation over the two years of the study was that students of abilities ranging from gifted to lower achieving students gained greater conceptual

I used to find science a bit boring but now I find that I really enjoy it!

understanding in topics, including students with special educational needs. For instance, Wayne, a student with complex special needs began to engage enthusiastically drawing his explanations. He had previously been unable or unwilling to complete most written tasks. However, he began to write explanations independently and was able to get a C on unmodified topic tests, where he normally would only be expected to complete simplified assessments (McLure, 2020).

Increased interest in science and desire to continue studying science in Years 11 and 12

One of the most encouraging aspects of using the TFA was the number of students who reported that they were now more interested in science and felt that they were capable of continuing to study science in Years 11 and 12.

Jane: “I used to find science a bit boring but now I find that I really enjoy it and I’ve found that I’m actually good at it and might even consider having a career in it because that would be awesome!”

Challenges in implementing the TFA

I wouldn’t like to imply that the TFA is without difficulties in implementation. It does take time to work out common student misconceptions and devise appropriate demonstrations to challenge those ideas. It also takes time and persistence to get students used to the process and willing to persist with it. Some students would groan when I said that we were having a TFA lesson. I asked one student why this was.

Warren: “Every time we get a TFA [lesson] we know that it will be a stressful, hardworking lesson and that’s really tiring. But it is definitely the most that we will learn. Because we have to work through the whole lesson and our brains don’t stop and we have to write a whole lot.

Usually in other lessons we get small breaks in our heads where we won’t be using as many thought processes. It is a good thing to push us but our initial response would be ‘oh no!’ But it is definitely good.”

In the year following the completion of this study, three students from Grade 9 approached me to request that I ask their teachers to use the TFA as they realised how much they had learned using the TFA in the previous year. Ironically two of the students were students who

had complained about doing so many TFA lessons in Grade 8. I would encourage other science teachers to try out this approach as I believe that they will be encouraged by the improvement in both critical thinking and writing skills in their students.

About the Author

Dr Felicity McLure has taught Science at an international school as well as being a Head of Science at an independent school in the ACT. She completed a PhD in 2018 and now works on several research projects in Science Education at Curtin University. Her three sons are all keen science geeks.

References

1. Clough, E. E., & Driver, R. (1985). Secondary students’ conceptions of the conduction of heat: Bringing together scientific and personal views. Physics Education, 20(4), 176. 2. Hattie, J. (2008). Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement New York: Taylor and Francis. 3.

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6. McLure, F. (2020). The Thinking Frames Approach: A case study of inclusion using student-generated multiple representations. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 20(1), 3-13. doi: https:// doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.12456 McLure, F., Won, M., & Treagust, D. F. (2020a). A sustained multidimensional conceptual change intervention in grade 9 and 10 science classes. International Journal of Science Education, 42(5), 703-721. doi: https://doi.or g/10.1080/09500693.2020.1725174 McLure, F., Won, M., & Treagust, D. F. (2020b). Teaching thermal physics to Year 9 students: the thinking frames approach. Physics Education, 55(3), 035007. doi:10.1088/1361- 6552/ab6c3c Newberry, M., Gilbert, J. K., & Consortium, C. H. S. (2011). The thinking frames approach. Retrieved from https://pstt.org.uk/resources/ cpd-units/the-thinking-frames-approach

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