Please join us on Monday, November 24, 2025 at 1:30pm in the CREATE seminar space to welcome visiting scholar Qian Wu.
Using Explicit Scaffolding Strategies to Foster Knowledge-in-Use of Crosscutting Concepts:
The importance of supporting students in developing knowledge-in-use of CCCs has been increasingly emphasized in the science education literature. However, despite this focus, research has shown that opportunities for students to learn CCCs has often remained peripheral, implicit, or fragmented. We conducted a quasi-experimental study to investigate sixth-grade students’ conceptual understanding and use of CCCs during a five-week project-based learning (PBL) unit implemented at a public elementary school in central China. This research shows explicit scaffolding of CCCs within a PBL context led to significantly greater improvement in students’ knowledge-in-use compared with implicit instruction. I will discuss the explicit scaffolds used, describe the reaserch methodology, and discuss the importance of explicit CCC scaffolding in helping students transform fragmented ideas of CCCs into integrated understanding that supports knowledge-in-use.
Qian is a visiting scholar working with Dr. Joe Krajcik. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction (Science Education) at East China Normal University. She holds an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Beijing Normal University and a B.S. in Chemistry from Tianjin Normal University. Qian’s research focuses on innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to science teaching and learning. She is skilled in using quantitative research methods and is committed to advancing research-based instructional practices in K–12 science education.
