A
It hasbeen pointed out that learning mathematics and science is not so much learningfacts as learning ways of thinking. It has also been emphasized that in orderto learn science, people often have to change the way they think in ordinarysituations. For example, in order to understand even simple concepts such asheat and temperature, ways of thinking of temperature as a measure of heat mustbe abandoned and a distinction between 'temperature' and 'heat' must belearned. These changes in ways of thinking are often referred to as conceptualchanges. But how do conceptual changes happen? How do young people change theirways of thinking as they develop and as they learn in school?
B
Traditionalinstruction based on telling students how modem scientists think does not seemto be very successful. Students may learn the definitions, the formulae, theterminology, and yet still maintain their previous conceptions. This difficultyhas been illustrated many times, for example, when instructed students are interviewedabout heat and temperature. It is often identified by teachers as a difficultyin applying the concepts learned in the classroom; students may be able torepeat a formula but fail to use the concept represented by the formula whenthey explain observed events.
C
Thepsychologist Piaget suggested an interesting hypothesis relating to the processof cognitive change in children. Cognitive change was expected to result fromthe pupils' own intellectual activity. When confronted with a result thatchallenges their thinking—that is, when faced with conflict—pupils realize that they need to think again about their own ways ofsolving problems, regardless of whether the problem is one in mathematics or inscience. He hypothesized that conflict brings about disequilibrium, and thentriggers equilibration processes that ultimately produce cognitive change. Forthis reason, according to Piaget and his colleagues, in order for pupils toprogress in their thinking they need to be actively engaged in solving problemsthat will challenge their current mode of reasoning. However, Piaget alsopointed out that young children do not always discard their ideas in the faceof contradictoryevidence. They may actually discard the evidence and keep their theory. D
Piaget'shypothesis about how cognitive change occurs was later translated into aneducational approach which is now termed 'discovery learning'. Discoverylearning initially took what is now considered the: 'lone learner' route. Therole of the teacher was to select situations that challenged the pupils'reasoning; and the pupils' peers had no real role in this process. However, itwas subsequently proposed that interpersonal conflict, especially with peers,might play an important role in promoting cognitive change. This hypothesis,originally advanced by Perret-Clermont and Doise and Mugny, has beeninvestigated in many recent studies of science teaching and learning.
E
ChristineHowe and her colleagues, for example, have compared children's progress inunderstanding several types of science concepts when they are given theopportunity to observe relevant events. In one study, Howe compared theprogress of 8 to 12-year-old children in understanding what influences motiondown a slope. In order to ascertain the role of conflict in group work, theycreated two kinds of groups according to a pre-test: one in which the childrenhad dissimilar views, and a second in which the children had similar views.They found support for the idea that children in the groups with dissimilarviews progressed more after their training sessions than those who had beenplaced in groups with similar views. However, they found no evidence to supportthe idea that the children worked out their new conceptions during their groupdiscussions, because progress was not actually observed in a post-testimmediately after the sessions of group work, but rather in a second test givenaround four weeks after the group work.
F
In anotherstudy, Howe set out to investigate whether the progress obtained through pairwork could be a function of the exchange of ideas. They investigated theprogress made by 12-15-year-old pupils in understanding the path of fallingobjects, a topic that usually involves conceptual difficulties. In order tocreate pairs of pupils with varying levels of dissimilarity intheir initial conceptions, the pupils' predictions and explanations of the pathof falling objects were assessed before they were engaged in pair work. Thework sessions involved solving computer-presented problems, again aboutpredicting and explaining the paths of falling objects. A post-test, given toindividuals, assessed the progress made by pupils in their conceptions of whatinfluenced the path of falling objects.
Questions28-30
ChooseTHREE letters, A-F.
The listbelow contains some possible statements about learning
WhichTHREE of these statements are attributed to Piaget by the writer of thepassage?
ATeachers play a big role in learning by explaining difficult concepts.
B Mentalchallenge is a stimulus to learning.
CTeaching should be consistent in order to easily acquire knowledge.
DChildren sometimes ignore evidence that conflicts with their original believes.
EChildren can help each other make cognitive progress.
FCognitive progress is mainly relied on children's own intellectual activity.
Questions31-33
ChooseTHREE letters, A-F.
WhichTHREE of these statements describe Howe's experiment with 8-12-year-oldschildren?
A Thedifference of learning progress between groups was obvious.
B Themost active children made the least progress.
C Thechildren were evaluated on their abilities to understand a physics phenomenon.
D Theteacher aided the children to understand a scientific problem.
E Atotal of three tests were given to the children.
F Allthe children were working in mixed-ability groups.
Questions34-37
Do thefollowing statements agree with the hypothesis of the psychologist Piaget?
In boxes34-37 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE ifthe statement is true
FALSE ifthe statement is false
NOTGIVEN if the information is not given in the passage 34facing incompatible problems in different disciplines, students may be requiredto rethink their approach to solve the problem
35Pupils learn new solutions by keep questioning their original ways of thinking.
36 Withclear instructions, students could acquire new concepts with few problems.
37 Youngchildren are less likely to change their concepts in problems of science thanin mathematics.
Questions38-40
Choosethe correct letter. A, B, C or D.
Writethe correct letter in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.
38 TheTone learner' route is an educational approach which
A is themain approach for discovery learning in many teaching now
Brequires help from the pupils' peers.
C relieson how the teacher guides the students heavily.
D missedan important part for discovery learning.
39 itcan be inferred from the passage as experiment in paragraph E
A thatchildren acquire more when learning in groups.
B Thatchildren opposing each other would learn slower.
CResearches should check feedback right after the first test.
D Therecan be a satisfying result thanks to the duration of it.
40 Howeset out the pair work experiment in order to
A studyhow 12-15-years old pupils learn scientific concepts.
B assesswhether teammates would have the features of exchange ideas.
Cinvestigate pupils the ability of solving physics problems.
Dpredict and explain the path of falling objects.
题目类型：
题号定位词文中对应点题目解析
28-30Piaget段落CA选项：教师通过解释难的概念在学习中扮演重要角色。原文没提到。
B选项：智力挑战促进学习。段落C倒数第三句。
C选项：为了容易获得知识，教学必须一致。原文没提到。
D 选项：儿童有时会忽略与其原始理念违背的证据。段落C倒数两句。
E选项：儿童可以相互帮助达成认知进步。原文没提到
F选项：认知进步主要依赖于儿童自我的智力活动。段落C第二句。
31-33Howe8-12段落EA选项：两组学习进步的差别很明显。E段落倒数第二句。
B选项：最积极的学生进步最少。原文没提到
C选项：儿童被评估理解物理现象的能力。E段第二句理解斜坡上的移动。
D选项：教师辅助学生理解科学问题。有问题，原文没提到。
E选项：总共三个测试给到学生。原文没提到
F选项：所有的儿童在有各种能力层次的组中学习。原文没提到
34Facingproblem段落C第三句面对不同原则下的不同问题，学生可能要重新考虑解决问题的方法。对应段落C第三句，当面临挑战他们想法的结果，即面对冲突时，学生必须意识到他们需要重新思考解决问题的方法。因此答案为true.
35Questioningoriginal way段落C第三句学生通过质疑原始的思维方式习得新的解决方案。同上。因此答案为true.
36Clearinstruction 有着清晰的指导，学生在习得新概念时问题更少。有问题，原文没提到，答案应该是not given.
37Challengeconcepts段落C第三句相比数学，学生在面对科学问题的时候更不可能改变其观念。regardless of whether…science,不管是数学还是科学，所以比较错误。答案应该是false.
38Lonelearner段落D第二句第二句开始介绍lone learner. 讲到发现式学习最初采用现在被认为是“单独学习者”的方法。在这种情况下，老师在没有学生同伴时，挑战学生的理解。
A选项：是现在许多发现式教学的主要方法。没有大的问题，故比较下来选A。
B选项：需要来自于同伴的帮助。矛盾，故不选。
C选项：十分依赖于老师指导学生的程度。没提到，故不选。
D选项：遗漏了发现式学习很重要的一步。矛盾，故不选。
39段落E中实验段落E段落E讲了比较两组学生的进步情况，一组为争议大，一组为无争议，得出争议大的组进步大这一结论。但是因为并没有在实验后马上检验，没有证据支持。
A选项：组团学习的儿童获得更多知识。两组都有组团，故不选。
B选项：相互反对的儿童学得更慢。矛盾，故不选。
C选项：研究者应该在第一次实验结束后马上检测反馈。对
D选项：由于实验的持续性，应该有一个满意的结果产生。没提到，故不选。
40Pairwork experiment 段落F第一句通过研究12-15岁学生理解物体降落的进步，调查通过通过交换意见是否有助于取得进步。实验前，先做了评估，再去检测进步。
A选项：研究12-15岁学生学习科学概念。研究内容而不是目的，故不选。
B选项：研究队员是否有交换想法的特点。
C选项：研究学生解决物理问题的能力。研究内容而不是目的，故不选。
D选项：预测和解释下降物体的途径。研究内容而不是目的，故不选。
参考译文：
(儿童)数学与科学的学习原理
A已经有研究指出，学习数学和科学不像学习思考一样那么直观：也有人强调，学习科学知识的时候，人们往往不得不改变他们在普通的情况下的思维方式。(1题)例如，为了理解如热量和温度这样简单的科学概念，温度作为热量的衡量单位的思維方式必须被抛弃，‘温度’和‘热’之间的区别也必须学习。这些思维方式的变化通常被称为概念上的变化。但概念上的变化是怎么发生的呢?在青年人发展脑部和在校学习的时候，他们是如何改变思考方式的呢?
B以传统的教学方法告诉学生现代科学家的思考方式似乎并不很成功。(2题)学生可以学习定义、公式和术语，但仍然维持其先前的概念。这个困境已经被说明很多次。例如，当被告知关于热能和温度后的学生受访时，教师往往发现同学在课堂上应用科学概念是会出现困难的。(10题)学生可以重复使用公式，但他们在使用公式背后的概念来解释观察到的现象时就不是很成功。
C心理学家Piaget提出了一个在儿童认知转变的过程中的有趣的假设。认知转变被认为是自身智力行为的结果。当学生面临着一个挑战自己的想法的结果时，也就是说发生思想冲突的时候。不论这个是数学还是科学上的问题，学生就会发现他们需要重新思考他们解决问题的方法。(35题)他假设，冲突带来了不平衡，并触发了一个平衡过程，这也最终产生了认知转变。(3题)出于这个原因,Piaget和他的同事们认为学生为了让他们的思想进步，他们需要积极参与解决问题，挑战他们目前的推理模式。(9题)然而，Piaget还指出，在面对矛盾的证据时，年轻的孩子并不容易放弃自己的想法。实际上，他们还可能会放弃证据，并保持他们本来的理论。
DPiaget的对于认知转变的假说后来被转化成现在被称为“发现学习”的教育方法。最初“发现学习”走了一条现在被称为“孤独学习”的道路。(4题)教师负责设定情况以挑战学生的推理能力，而其他同学是没有任何实质的角色的。然而，很多人随后提出人与人之间的冲击，尤其是同龄的人，可以对认知转变发挥到重要的作用。(39题)这一假说由Perret-Clermont(1980)和Doise与Mugny(1984)作了进一步研究，而这假说也被很多目前的科学教育所采用。
EChristineHowe 和她的同事给予了小孩观察一些关于几个科学概念的事件时，对比了小孩们的认知进度。其中一个研究中，Howe在一群8到12岁的儿童理解什么因素影响山坡运动的进度时进行了对比。(5题)为了确定小组内会存在冲击,他们根据预测把小孩分成了两组：其中一组的孩子有不同的意见，另一组则抱有差不多的观点。Howe发现了支持他们观点的证据。(6题)组中儿童的不同看法使他们的培训课程比那个看法相似的组别更有效果。然而，Howe未能发现任何证据来支持孩子们是在课堂辩论中学到新的概念，这是因为后来的测试未有在第一时间进行，而是在小组讨论后的四个星期。(40题)
F在另一项研究中,Howe着手调查两个人一起学习是否能够借交换意见来推进学习进度。(7题)他们调查了 12-15岁的学生在理解物体坠落的路径的过程。这个主题在概念上很容易出现认知困难，为了把学生分成一对一对在概念的程度上相异，Howe在学生分组前为学生的预测和解释物体坠落的路径进行了评估。学生的学习课程中需要解答在电脑上展示的难题，这也一样需要预测和解释物体坠落的路径。最后，学生会单独进行一个课后测试，评估他们对于什么影响到物体坠落的路径的概念上的进展。
参考答案：儿童数学教育
28.B 29.D 30.F 31.A 32.C 33.D 34T.rue 35.True
36.False 37.Not Given 38.D 39.C 40.B
