MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI DIEM HANG DESIGNING AND USING A SYSTEM OF EXERCISES TO DEVELOP NATURAL SCIENCE COMPETENCE ACCORDING TO PISA APPROACH FOR
Trang 1MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY
NGUYEN THI DIEM HANG
DESIGNING AND USING A SYSTEM OF EXERCISES
TO DEVELOP NATURAL SCIENCE COMPETENCE
ACCORDING TO PISA APPROACH FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Major: Theory and Teaching Methodology of Chemistry
Code: 9140111
SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS OF SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION
NGHE AN - 2021
Trang 2The thesis was completed at Vinh University
Opponent 3:
The thesis may be searched at:
- National Library of Vietnam
- Nguyen Thuc Hao Information Center & Library, Vinh University
Trang 3PREAMBLE
1 Reason for choosing the topic
The education system in our country is gradually renovating in the direction of developing learners' capacity, keeping up with the educational trend of the world, meeting the urgent requirements of social development Implementing the guidelines of the Party, Government, and National Assembly, the 2018 General Education Program was built to form and develop learner's qualities and capacities Renovation of competency-oriented education requires changing educational goals and contents, teaching methods and forms, and methods of assessing students' learning outcomes, in which changing concepts and ways of building learning tasks, questions, and exercises are needed Exercises play an important role in training the quality and capacity of students and are also an effective tool in assessing students
The natural science curriculum is built based on integrating the knowledge and skills of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Earth Sciences to build a scientific worldview forming and developing the capacity of natural science for junior high school students In practice, it is not possible to solve problems with discrete scientific knowledge but must have links and complete systems However, the system of questions and exercises for the subject of Natural science is not much, mainly in the separate form of Physics, Chemistry, Biology subjects, in favor of repeating individual knowledge learned in school There are not many exercises that require students to apply their knowledge and skills in solving practical situations They have not trained and developed the natural science skills for students, so they have not fully assessed the students' natural science skills
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) aims to provide quality and reliable assessments of the effectiveness of the education system for students aged
15, mainly assessing students' ability in 3 areas of Mathematics, Reading, and Science The science field assesses the scientific ability, evaluates the ability of students to apply knowledge and skills in natural science The exercises in the PISA are typical examples
of the trend of building tests and assessing competency PISA's assessment age is consistent with the age of students finishing lower secondary education in Vietnam Vietnam participated in the PISA for the first time in the 2012 cycle and will continue to participate in the next cycles Realizing the suitability of the PISA with the educational innovation orientation in our country, the Ministry of Education and Training organized training sessions for secondary school teachers on how to apply the PISA assessment on innovation assessment in general education
Stemming from the above reasons, we chose the topic: "Designing and using a
system of exercises to develop natural science competence according to PISA approach for junior high school students" as our doctoral thesis
Trang 4- Investigate the current situation of using exercises according to the PISA approach
in teaching in secondary schools today
- Building a framework of natural science competence according to the PISA approach of middle school students
- Developing a toolkit to assess the capacity of natural science according to the PISA approach for secondary school students
- Design a system of exercises according to the PISA approach to develop and evaluate the capacity of natural science for secondary school students
- Pedagogical experiment (PE) to test the feasibility and effectiveness of the system
of exercises approaching PISA in developing and assessing the capacity of natural science for secondary school students
4 Research objects and subjects
- Research object: The process of teaching natural science in secondary schools
- Research subject: System of exercises to develop natural science competence according to PISA approach for junior high school students
5 Research scope
Content: The topics of substance and the change of substance in the curriculum of natural science at the lower secondary school level Location: Many secondary schools in the provinces in the North, Central, and South regions Time: 2017 - 2021
5 Scientific hypothesis
If designing a system of exercises to develop natural science competence according
to the PISA approach for middle school students and using the exercise system in
teaching activities of natural science subjects, will contribute to the development of
natural science capacity of secondary school students
7 Research Methods
Trang 5Using methods for theoretical research (analysis, synthesis, classification, systematization), practical methods (survey with questionnaires; interview, time attendance, experiment, expert method), and information processing method (mathematical statistics)
8 New contributions of the thesis
- Systematize and clarify the theoretical and practical basis of the capacity, the capacity of natural science, the development of student's capacity, the PISA international student assessment program, the program general education 2018, subject program of natural science
- Proposed structure of natural scientific competence including 3 component competencies (Natural scientific knowledge, Natural inquiry, Application knowledge and skills) and 10 criteria for assessing this capacity Each criterion describes 3 levels of expression according to increasing cognitive level (recognize/detect; describe, analyze; explain, evaluate, apply)
- Proposed a system of 10 types, 80 exercises oriented to develop natural science competence according to 10 criteria of capacity to develop and evaluate the natural science competence of junior high school students from the point of view of PISA The exercises are built on practice and stick to the subject's objectives The questions/tasks of each exercise are built according to 3 levels of awareness and there is a description of the evaluation of the criteria according to the levels of PISA assessment through asking for answers to the questions in the exercise
- Using the system of exercises to develop the natural scientific competenceaccording to the PISA approach in teaching activities about the topics of substance and substance change in junior high school
- Built a toolkit to assess the natural scientific competence according to the PISA approach of junior high school students Using the built-in exercises to design a test that can assess the criteria of natural science competence according to the PISA approach, detailed instructions for evaluating answers according to 3 levels of each criterion with 3 answer options (complete, incomplete, and failure)
9 Structure of the thesis
The main content of the thesis is structured into 3 chapters:
- Chapter 1 The theoretical and practical basis of developing natural science
competence according to PISA approach for junior high school students
- Chapter 2 Design and use the system of exercises to develop natural science
competence according to the PISA approach for junior high school students
- Chapter 3 Pedagogical experiment
Trang 6Chapter 1
THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BASIS OF DEVELOPING NATURAL
SCIENCE COMPETENCE ACCORDING TO THE PISA
FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
1.1 Research problem overview
Each country is based on the current context, capacity development requirements, national and ethnic development goals along the trend of international capacity development to build a system of necessary competencies formation and development for learners In many countries with developed education such as Australia, Germany, UK, Netherlands, Japan, USA, Singapore, Taiwan science education has become a compulsory subject in schools from preschool level until completion of compulsory education
Many studies on scientific competence such as definition, structure, and expression are of interest to scientists and educational research organizations Sciencetific literacy has been built and developed by the OECD through evaluation periods PISA 2018 builds
a scientific literacy framework: Explaining phenomena scientifically; Evaluation and design of scientific research; Interpret data and evidence scientifically
Some authors have studied the contents and relationship between the program, the purpose of natural science education, the natural science teaching and learning environment, and the formation of natural science competence for students One research direction that is of interest to educators is the factors to increase the effectiveness of training natural science competence in teaching, the results show that the exercise system
is still considered an important resource in teaching science The need for research on natural science competence becomes clear when the world is increasingly interested in the competency approach, the popular international survey program to assess sciencetific literacy is the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) The exercise in the PISA assessment is a good example of a competency assessment
The Ministry of Education and Training in 2018 announced the natural science subject program to form and develop the natural science capacity for junior high school students The authors have proposed the specific elements and manifestations of the capacity of natural science: Natural scientific knowledge, Natural inquiry, Application knowledge and skills Since then, many educational researchers in the country have published studies on teaching development and assessment of natural science competence Author Do Huong Tra and colleagues have provided many theoretical foundations for capacity development-oriented integrated teaching and introduced some illustrative topics to help teachers have a basis to practice skills when teaching natural
Trang 7science subjects Ha Thi Lan Huong has provided the context to demonstrate why it is necessary to develop students' scientific research capacity through teaching the field of natural science in secondary schools, the structure of scientific research capacity, and the development of this capacity for students through teaching the field of natural science in secondary schools Chu Van Tiem, Dao Thi Viet Anh has proposed manifestations and designed a toolkit to assess the problem-solving capacity of secondary school students in teaching natural science Author Mai Sy Tuan and the research team introduce the book
"Guidelines for teaching natural science subject to the new general education curriculum"
to provide readers with content related to the 2018 general education program, a guide to design and implement teaching plans, problems of testing and assessing capacity in teaching natural science at the lower secondary level In 2020, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a guide to fostering modular core high school teachers using teaching and educational methods to develop the quality and capacity of natural science subjects The document introduced modern trends in teaching and educational methods and techniques to develop students' quality and capacity At the same time, the authors compile documents and offer many lesson plans to illustrate the process of teaching natural science topics in the direction of developing competencies and qualities of secondary school students
Vietnam joined the official assessment from the 2012 PISA cycle and continues to participate in the following cycles PISA's assessment age is consistent with the age of students finishing lower secondary education in Vietnam Up to now, there have been quite a few published documents, works, and articles on the problem of developing student's capacity, solutions for developing and assessing student's capacity from the point of view of PISA PISA Vietnam Office has also published many publications, training materials related to PISA and PISA questionnaire types Authors Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa, Le Thi My Ha, Nguyen Thuy Hong introduced the contents of the PISA, the advantages and disadvantages, and lessons learned from Vietnamese education when joining the program Nguyen Thi Viet Nga has determined the structure of scientific competence that needs to be formed for students, developed a set of criteria for assessing scientific competence, and proposed a process for developing questions to assess scientific competence from the point of view of PISA in teaching high school students Author Cao Cu Giac introduces an exercise to assess the capacity of natural sciences to approach PISA through many published works From 2014 to 2019, the Ministry of Education and Training organized a training session to apply the PISA assessment method to innovation in general education assessment, training on the process of building tests in high schools based on PISA test construction techniques
Thus, teaching and developing natural science competence is a common trend of global education to meet the development requirements of society The system of
Trang 8scientific exercises plays an important and effective role in the process of training and fostering natural science competence for students The design of exercises to develop and evaluate the capacity of natural science is necessary Through the study of works and documents of domestic and foreign authors, it is shown that the authors mentioned many issues related to teaching and developing natural science competence, but there has been
no research on this topic design and use exercises to develop the capacity of natural sciences according to the PISA approach for secondary school students
1.2 Orientation for reforming the general education program
1.2.1 Renovating the lower secondary education program
1.2.2 Orientation on the innovation of educational goals and contents
1.2.3 Orientation to innovate educational methods to form and develop qualities and capacities for junior high school students
1.2.4 Orientation to innovate methods of testing and assessing the learning activities of junior high school students
1.3 Some issues about competence, competence development, and assessment of student competence
1.3.1 Competence
1.3.2 Natural Science Competence
1.3.2.1 PISA Scientific literacy
Scientific literacy is defined by PISA 2006 as “Scientific knowledge and use of that knowledge to identify questions, acquire new knowledge, explain scientific phenomena and draw evidence-based conclusions about science-related issues Understanding of the characteristic features of science as a form of human knowledge and enquiry Awareness
of how science and technology shape our material, intellectual, and cultural environments Willingness to engage in science-related issues and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen”
The scientific literacy in the PISA 2018 assessment framework includes 3 component competencies: Scientific explanation of phenomena; Evaluation and design of scientific research; Interpret data and evidence scientifically PISA 2018 scientific literacy is assessed at three levels: Level 1 (Low): Carrying out a one-step procedure, such as recalling a fact, term, principle or concept or locating a single point of information from a graph or table Level 2 (Medium): Using and applying conceptual knowledge to describe or explain phenomena; selecting appropriate procedures involving two or more steps; organising or displaying data; or interpreting or using simple data sets
or graphs Level 3 (High): Analysing complex information or data; synthesising or evaluating evidence; justifying; reasoning given various sources; developing a plan or sequence of steps to approach a problem
Trang 91.3.2.2 Natural Science Competence
The general education program 2018 identifies natural science competence as one
of the specialized competencies in the core competence system that needs to be formed and developed for students through teaching natural science subjects The 2018 natural science competence includes three components: Natural scientific knowledge, Natural inquiry, Application knowledge and skills Through research and analysis scientific literacy of PISA 2018 and 2018 natural science competence, we found that: Two competencies in the PISA 2018 assessment framework are Scientific research evaluation and design; Interpreting data and evidence scientifically has similar connotations to the natural inquiry capacity of the 2018 natural science competence The Scientific interpretation of phenomena under the PISA 2018 science literacy framework requires students to apply appropriate knowledge to explain real-world phenomena through activities such as using models, assumptions, and predictions, this component of competence is close to the ability to apply knowledge and skills However, in the 2018 natural science competence framework, this capacity also requires students to show higher levels with the proposal and implementation of solutions to solve problems of natural protection, attitude under the requirements of environmental protection and sustainable development In the scientific literacy framework PISA 2018 does not separate the capacity for scientific knowledge as in the 2018 natural science competency framework (Natural scientific knowledge capacity) but three competencies for Scientific explanation of phenomena; Evaluation and design of scientific research; Scientifically interpreting data and evidence both requires scientific knowledge The general education program in natural science has listed the manifestations of three competencies in the 2018 natural science competency framework but has not described the criteria, level of expression, and no tools for assessment The PISA science literacy framework has described three levels of development: Recognition/Information Gathering; Connect and integrate/Analyze and interpret; Feedback and reviews Therefore, it is necessary to build
a framework of capacity for natural science with the components of the competence described by specific manifestations and criteria and to provide levels of assessment of the development of the capacity From there, we propose the concept of natural science competence according to the PISA approach:
“The competence of natural science according to the PISA approach is the ability
to synthesize knowledge, skills, and other personal attributes such as interest, belief, will, to identify scientific objects and implement them successful activities of understanding the natural world and using scientific evidence to solve real-life situations effectively and responsibly” In our opinion, the competence of natural science according
to the PISA approach includes the following components: Natural scientific knowledge, Natural inquiry, Application knowledge and skills We will proceed to describe the manifestations, criteria, and levels of expression in the next sections
Trang 101.3.3 Some theories have a basic as a basis for developing students' capacity
1.3.4 Some teaching methods to develop students' ability
1.3.5 Assess student's ability
1.4 Natural science exercises
1.4.1 The role of exercises in teaching natural science
Exercises are questions, problems, and tasks that, after completing them, students acquire certain knowledge or skills or complete them
Natural science exercises are questions, problems, and tasks that require students to apply knowledge and skills learned along with attitudes and responsibilities ready to learn, explore and apply knowledge about the natural world to deal with real-life situations Natural science exercises help students deeply understand scientific concepts, systems and expand knowledge, practice scientific skills, apply knowledge to solve practical problems, build scientific working style as well as develop the scientific working style, such as being passionate about scientific research, contributing to the formation of natural science competencies for students Natural science exercises is an effective means for teachers to conduct all stages of the teaching process Exercise is a tool to consolidate knowledge, a way to form new concepts, a means to develop theoretical knowledge when studying new documents, and a means of assessing students
1.4.2 General requirements when using exercises in teaching
1.4.3 Orientation to build a system of exercises to develop natural science competencies for junior high school students under the 2018 general education program
1.5 Overview of PISA
1.5.1 General information about the PISA
1.5.2 Structure of exercises in the exam of PISA
1.6 The current situation of using the PISA approach exercise system to develop students' natural science competence in teaching at junior high schools today
1.6.1 Perceptions of junior high school teachers about competency-based teaching and assessment of students' abilities
1.6.2 Competencies that need to be formed and developed for junior high school
students through studying natural science subjects
1.6.3 The level of understanding of the PISA approach exercise of teachers teaching natural science subjects at secondary schools
Trang 11SUB-CONCLUSION CHAPTER 1
Natural science competence is a professional capacity that needs to be trained and developed for junior high school students in the context of a society that requires human resources capable of adapting to the constantly changing world To develop the competence of natural science for junior high school students, it is necessary to have many synchronous measures such as gradually transitioning to the curriculum for capacity development, rational and flexible use of active teaching methods and techniques, control examine and evaluate students' learning outcomes in the direction of capacity assessment, access to international student assessment programs During the research process, we are interested in using exercises to develop the competence of natural sciences according to the PISA approach for junior high school students in the process of teaching as well as assessing students
Based on the analysis of the survey results on the awareness status of 164 middle school teachers about competency-based teaching and students' understanding of the natural science competence, we found that the teachers had a certain understanding of competency-based teaching as well as the role of testing and assessment in teaching However, they are still facing many difficulties in innovating teaching methods as well as methods of testing and assessing students' ability Most of the surveyed teachers agree with the component competencies of the natural science competence proposed by us and their specific manifestations In addition, some manifestations have not been appreciated because teachers are gradually switching from teaching methods to impart knowledge to teaching methods to develop learners' competencies, so they are facing many difficulties
in identifying skills component forces of natural science competence and their manifestations The results of the survey on the ability to design and use PISA approach exercises in teaching natural science subjects in junior high schools show that teachers have an understanding of the PISA approach exercise and see the effectiveness of this type of exercise in the process development and assessment of natural science competence for students However, the level of use in teaching is still limited because teachers do not understand the process, design techniques, and how to use PISA approach exercises, so there is a need for a full study on this issue
The above is the theoretical and practical basis related to the problem of designing and using the exercises to develop the natural sciences competence according to the PISA approach for middle school students, which is an important basis for us to propose the contents in this chapter 2
Trang 12Chapter 2
DESIGN AND USE SYSTEM OF EXERCISES TO DEVELOP
NATURAL SCIENCE COMPETENCE ACCORDING TO THE PISA
FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
2.1 Find out the structure of the natural science curriculum in junior high schools according to the 2018 general education program
2.1.1 Objectives of the natural science curriculum in junior high school
2.1.2 Structure of the content of the natural science education program in junior high school
2.2 Building a natural science competence framework of junior high school students accessing PISA
2.2.1 Scientific basis
2.2.2 Rule
To build a framework of natural science competence for junior high school students, we follow the following five principles: (1) Ensure accuracy and science; (2) Ensure objectivity; (3) Ensuring practicality; (4) Ensure pedagogy; (5) Ensure comprehensiveness
2.2.4 Procedure
Step 1 Research documents survey teachers' opinions on the structure and expression of natural science competence Step 2 Identify component competencies and performance criteria Step 3 Develop a detailed description of the levels corresponding
to each expression in the competency framework: After proposing the competency components, describe the criteria/manifestations of each competency with levels specifically expressed Based on the levels of assessment of scientific literacy of PISA, for the natural science competence of secondary school students, we propose 03 levels: Level 1: Recognizing/Collecting information; Level 2: Connect and integrate/Analyze and interpret; Level 3: Feedback and evaluation Step 4 Discuss with experts about the competency assessment criteria table Step 5 Edit, supplement, and complete the competency framework, the competency evaluation criteria table
2.2.5 Structure of natural science competence framework according to PISA approach for junior high school students
Trang 13Figure 2.1 Structure diagram of natural science competence according to PISA approach of
junior high school students Table 2.1 Criteria table, level of development of natural science competence according
to PISA approach of junior high school students
Criteria
Level of development of natural science competence
of junior high students
Degree 1 Degree 2 Degree 3
1 Natural scientific knowledge Criterion 1
Present the characteristics,
properties, and roles of scientific objects according to a certain logic
Analyze all aspects
of scientific objects
Compare, select and classify scientific objects according to different criteria
Detect and correct errors of scientific objects
Explain the relationship between scientific objects and phenomena Calculating related problems between scientific objects and related factors
related to natural science knowledge
Fluently use terms, symbols, formulas, diagrams, charts,
to express scientific problems in oral and written form
Identify keywords in scientific texts Proficiently apply scientific language in specific situations
2 Natural inquiry Criterion 3
Evaluate learning situations related to some objects and phenomena in the