NSF Grant Number 1611742, 10/01/2016 - 9/30/2020
Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program
The main objective of this project is to help students develop critical thinking skills in addressing scientific problems. The approach will be to present students with a complex problem, and guide them through a systematic process of solving it by using an intelligent computer system, called sInvestigator (science Investigator). The sInvestigator cognitive assistant will be based on a computational theory of evidence-based reasoning in science, and will incorporate a significant amount of general knowledge about scientific reasoning with evidence. Students will work in teams and will be guided to approach the given scientific problem as ceaseless discovery of evidence, hypotheses, and arguments. They will generate competing hypotheses from their observations of events in nature, will use their hypotheses to generate new lines of inquiry and discover new evidence, and will test their hypotheses based on the evidence they are discovering, to determine the most likely hypothesis.
The instructor and sInvestigator will engage the students in understanding, extending, creating, critiquing, and debating evidence-based scientific argumentations in real-life scientific investigations, such as the adoption of the theory of plate tectonics in the 1950's and 60's, and in addressing questions, such as: Where did the Earth's water come from? Is Pluto a planet? How does the brain process images? Are there other Earth-like planets in the galaxy? Where will Washington DC get its energy in 2060? This will involve using science cross-cutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas, giving the students numerous opportunities to exercise imagination and creativity, and develop critical scientific practices, particularly: (1) Asking questions; (2) Constructing explanations; (3) Engaging in argument from evidence; and (4) Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating explanations.
Evaluation of this exploratory project will utilize a mixed-methods approach and involve both formative and summative components. During the initial implementation, student surveys and class observations will inform the iterative development of sInvestigator. A quasi-experimental research design will be used during the final implementation to determine the effect of using sInvestigator on student achievement, science motivation, and critical science process skills. Additional class observations, surveys, and interviews will be used to compare students using sInvestigator with students learning the same content in a traditional manner.
The intellectual merit of this proposal lies in the development of: (1) An inquiry-based approach to helping students develop critical thinking skills for solving scientific problems; (2) A computational theory of evidence-based reasoning in science; (3) A cognitive assistant, sInvestigator, which is not only an intelligent educational tool, but also a prototype of an advanced analytical tool for scientific investigations; and (4) Educational materials that provide the science teachers with a wide range of means and opportunities to use inquiry-based teaching and learning.
These contributions will be obtained through the development and synergistic integration of ideas, principles, methods, and techniques from science education (e.g., research on inquiry-based teaching and learning), science of evidence (e.g., evidence-based argumentation), artificial intelligence and knowledge engineering (e.g., cognitive assistants), logic (e.g., problem solving), and probabilities (e.g., probabilistic assessment of hypotheses).
While we will research and develop the approach to teaching critical thinking skills in science and sInvestigator in a specific STEM context (honors and general education courses for all students), the resulting theory and the freely accessible system, will be extensible to science majors, and to all STEM disciplines, not only for undergraduate students, but also for K-12. Moreover, the developed approach and sInvestigator will support the teaching and learning of evidence-based reasoning which is at the core of many problem solving and decision making tasks in a wide variety of domains, not only the STEM domains, but also law, intelligence analysis, forensics, medicine, history, archaeology, and many others. This is a core competency which is important for any person, in any area of activity.
Dr. Gheorghe Tecuci (PI) is Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Learning Agents Center in the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University.
Dr. Mihai Boicu (Co-PI) is Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology and Associate Director of the Learning Agents Center in the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University.
Dr. Nancy Holincheck (Co-PI) is Assistant Professor of Education in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University.
Dr. Dorin Marcu (Co-PI) is Associate Research Professor and Associate Director of the Learning Agents Center in the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University.
Dr. James Trefil (Co-PI) is Clarence J Robinson Professor of Physics at George Mason University.
Terrie Galanti is PhD student in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University.
Chirag Uttamsingh is PhD student in the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University.
Xiaohan Ding is MS student in the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University.
Mariama Bah is undergraduate student at George Mason University.
Anya Parekh is student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.
Alan Zheng is student at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.