Previous studies have documented the promising results from student-constructed representations, including stop-motion animation (SMA), in supporting mechanistic reasoning (MR), which is considered an essential thinking skill in science education. Our current study presents theoretically and empirically how student-constructed SMA contributes to promoting MR. As a theoretical perspective, we propose a framework hypothesizing the link between elements of MR and the construction nature of SMA, that is, chunking and sequencing. We then examined the extent to which this framework was consistent with a multiple-case study in the domain of static electricity involving five secondary school students constructing and using their own SMA creation for reasoning. In addition, students' reasoning in pre- and postconstruction of an SMA was examined. Our empirical findings confirmed our framework by showing that all students identified the basic elements of MR, that is, entities and activities of entities, when engaging in chunking and sequencing. Chunking played a role in facilitating students to identify entities responsible for electrostatic phenomena, and sequencing seemed to elicit students to specify activities of these entities. The analysis of students' reasoning in pre- and postconstruction of SMA found that student-generated SMA has a potential effect on students' retention of the use of MR. Implications for instruction with SMA construction to support MR are discussed.

中文翻译：

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了解学生构建的定格动画如何促进机械推理：理论框架和经验证据

先前的研究已经记录了学生构建的表示（包括定格动画（SMA））在支持机械推理（MR）方面取得的有希望的结果，机械推理被认为是科学教育中的基本思维技能。我们当前的研究从理论上和实证上展示了学生构建的 SMA 如何有助于促进 MR。作为理论视角，我们提出了一个框架，假设 MR 元素与 SMA 的构建性质（即分块和排序）之间的联系。然后，我们检查了该框架与静电领域的多个案例研究的一致程度，该研究涉及五名中学生构建并使用他们自己的 SMA 作品进行推理。此外，还检查了学生在 SMA 构建前和构建后的推理。我们的实证研究结果证实了我们的框架，表明所有学生在进行分块和排序时都识别了 MR 的基本要素，即实体和实体的活动。分块在促进学生识别导致静电现象的实体方面发挥了作用，而排序似乎引导学生指定这些实体的活动。对学生在 SMA 构建前后的推理分析发现，学生生成的 SMA 对学生保留使用 MR 具有潜在影响。讨论了 SMA 结构教学对支持 MR 的影响。