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Re: [Phys-l] Physics First Revisited



You are correct, as I have looked at Foss before. I had forgotten that it
used 5E which is an bookended learning cycle. The research on reading
ability is certainly quite good, and it avoids criticism that it used a
researcher made test. The original description of the learning cycle used
the word application, as I recall, rather than discovery, so this disguises
the learning cycle approach in FOSS.

There is of course the question as to whether it improves thinking skills.
The Lawson test is not actually appropriate below age 10 because it
concentrates on formal operational tasks, with only a few concrete
operational tasks. Only 4 questions (8 on the MC version) are appropriate.
I would assume that with a strong learning cycle base there would be
improvement, but most of the quoted research seemed to concentrate on
reading skills using conventional tests.

And it is a science program with an integrated reading component, not the
reverse. I would say that this is important because students are learning
to read in context with content rather than in isolation. So far a purely
text approach to science seems to yield small gains similar to a didactic
approach but with small improvements when the text is written correctly.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


Ok, looking at all of the materials [Seeds of Science, FOSS, STC],... I
did not notice any mention of the text being structured into a learning
cycle.
=========================================

John-

You may find Larry Malone's (FOSS Co-director) discussion of FOSS and the
Learning Cycle to be informative:

<http://lawrencehallofscience.org/foss/newsletters/present/FOSS32.observat
ions.html>

Also, the FOSS stories are meant to be used in conjunction with FOSS
modules, not as separate stand-along readers.

There is abundant literature on FOSS effectiveness:
<http://lawrencehallofscience.org/foss/scope/research/index.html>

Larry Woolf
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Forum for Physics Educators
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