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Six roles for fiction insertions in chemistry instruction

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

During a pilot year the teacher employed science fiction excerpts in six distinct instructional roles: "Introduction of topics vis-à-vis discrepant fictional events", "exemplars of embodied concepts following traditional instruction", "fictional artifacts for small group student debates", complements to lecture, "venues for follow-up applications after teaching concepts", and "artifacts for student prompts facilitating formative assessments". Each fiction insertion in the intervention year was accompanied by an experiment or activity, and students were asked to critically examine the media even where depictions were scientifically inaccurate.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Each fiction insertion was accompanied by an experiment or activity, and fictional resources were evaluated and strategically planned for the instructional unit well in advance.

Constraints

  • The pattern was developed and observed in one teacher's college-preparatory chemistry classrooms in an urban Northeastern U.S. high school.

Target Learners

  • high school chemistry students in college-preparatory classes

Learning Goals

  • conservation of mass
  • chemical change and reactions
  • balancing products and reactants
  • reaction classification (single replacement, double replacement, synthesis, decomposition)

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Randy K Yerrick, Tiffany Simons. (2017). The Affordances of Fiction for Teaching Chemistry. Science Education International, Volume 28, Issue 3. https://www.stemedu.org/science-education-international/
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id six-roles-fiction-insertions-chemistry
title Six roles for fiction insertions in chemistry instruction
description During a pilot year the teacher employed science fiction excerpts in six distinct instructional roles: "Introduction of topics vis-à-vis discrepant fictional events", "exemplars of embodied concepts following traditio...
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-01
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — randy-k-yerrick-2017

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