Dissertation Defense Announcement Ph.D. in Education Program: Mariel O’Brien “Using Simulations and Log Data to Examine Students’ Exploratory Learning Processes of Lunar Phases and Eclipses: Implications for Learning the Sun-Earth-Moon System”

Science education has moved toward engaging students in the practices of science, including asking questions, developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, and constructing explanations, as articulated in the NGSS (2013). The NGSS includes topics in astronomy, including some of the most universally observed yet misunderstood phenomena – lunar phases and eclipses. Because the interactions that produce these phenomena cannot be observed directly from Earth, students frequently develop alternative conceptions that conflict with scientifically accepted explanations. Traditional tools such as textbooks, physical models, and kinesthetic activities are static, not to scale, and do not allow students to manipulate the variables involved, limiting support for NGSS practices.

While lunar phases and eclipses both arise from interactions within the Sun-Earth-Moon (sEm) system, they are distinct phenomena, occurring over different timeframes and are driven by different causal variables. Both are addressed within a single NGSS Performance Expectation, yet no instructional order is specified. This raises the question of whether understanding one phenomenon supports students’ exploration and learning of the other, and whether a preferred order better supports development of a coherent mental model of the sEm system.

This study used a mixed-methods approach to examine whether the order in which middle school students investigated lunar phases and solar eclipses using Inq-ITS’ interactive simulations influenced their inquiry processes and their mental model development, as measured by inquiry competency scores, fine-grained interactions within the simulations, and written explanations.

Quantitative analyses indicated that the order of the two topic activities did not significantly affect students’ performance on NGSS-aligned inquiry practices. However, qualitative analysis of students’ interaction sequences and written explanations revealed multiple pathways of conceptual growth, within and across topics, including a progression from surface-feature-based reasoning to mechanistically grounded, spatially integrated explanations of the sEm system. These findings point to the value of simulation-based environments and the log file data they generate for characterizing, assessing, and supporting students’ understanding of astronomical phenomena, and have implications for how lunar phases and eclipses are sequenced and scaffolded in middle school science instruction.