A tale of two progressions: students’ learning progression of the particle nature of matter and teachers’ perception on the progression

Abstract

Learning progressions (LPs) provide researchers with a robust framework to describe the process of students’ cognitive development in science and provide teachers with an effective reference to help students’ competences develop. In physics education, the understanding of the particle nature of matter (PNM) is important, as it affects students’ conceptualization of matter and, over the long term, the entire view of science. Developing a systematic understanding of the PNM requires an effective instruction. Teachers’ instruction is heavily influenced by their understanding on students’ progression. Therefore, this study first tested and refined students’ LPs of PNM. Then, with the lens of LPs, we investigated teachers’ perception on the progression. The results show that students’ LPs of PNM in teachers’ minds are partly different from students’ actual situations, as most teachers have not been sufficiently informed of students’ conceptual understanding of PNM and especially lack the knowledge of students’ understanding in PNM at the lower level. When designing instruction, some teachers did not have an awareness of LP-based instructional design and sometimes neglected students’ conceptual development. This study ends with some suggestions for supporting teachers’ professional development.