The effect of writing assignments on achievement in college general chemistry

This study was designed to determine if student learning in college general chemistry could be increased through the addition of required writing assignments. Sixty-four students enrolled in the same section of a general chemistry II course were randomly assigned to two groups. Treatment group members were required to turn in written summaries of 8 class lectures. These summaries were graded and returned with mistakes in chemistry and writing noted. Feedback concerning errors in chemical content was shared with the entire class prior to the posttest. Analysis of covariance of the posttest results showed that the treatment group members scored significantly higher than the students who did not write the summaries (F = 6.78, p < .05). No interaction was observed between group membership and pretest scores. These results indicate that student achievement in chemistry may be enhanced through required writing assignments. The study results are inconclusive as to whether the gains in achievement were due to the processes involved in organizing and writing the summaries, or due to the additional study time required to write the summaries.     

Effects of conceptual assignments and conceptual change discussions on students' misconceptions and achievement regarding force and motion

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of conceptual assignments and conceptual change discussions on students' achievement and misconceptions about force and motion. The study was conducted with 6 physics teachers and their 18 classes, consisting of 396 high school physics students. The teachers administered the Force Misconception and Force Achievement Tests to their physics classes as a pretest. The results obtained were used to match the 18 classes statistically. Students assigned to the conceptual assignment protocol completed five conceptual assignments about force and motion. Students assigned to the discussion method participated in conceptual change discussions. At the end of the 8‐week treatment period, the same tests were administered to all students as a posttest. The data were analyzed by using multivariate analysis of covariance, followed by protected univariate F test and step‐down analysis. The statistical results showed that the conceptual change discussion was an effective means of reducing the number of misconceptions students held about force and motion. The conceptual change discussion was also found significantly effective in improving students' achievement in force and motion. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 1001–1015, 2002     

Differential effectiveness by gender of instructional methods on achievement in mathematics at tertiary level

In order to investigate the effect of methods of teaching on achievement in mathematics of first year National Certificate of Education (NCE) students in Nigeria, a sample of 165 students comprising 71 males and 94 females, was exposed to three methods of teaching in a second semester basic mathematics course. The three methods were the traditional lecture method, interactive method with individual use of materials and interactive method with group use of materials. Analysis of covariance showed a significant interactive effect of gender and method of teaching on student achievement. Further analysis showed that the use of interactive methods with group use of materials favoured males while interactive method with individual use of materials favoured females. Implications of the results for teaching of tertiary mathematics are discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The effect of laboratory and lecture teaching methods on cognitive achievement in integrated science

A sample of 210 class-two (grade 8) students from six randomly selected classes from six Nigerian schools was divided into two (experimental and control) groups. Using materials from some units of the Nigerian Integrated Science Project (NISP), the experimental group was taught by a laboratory method while the control group was taught by the lecture method. Data were collected using an Achievement Test for Integrated Science Students developed by the authors and student ability was measured by tests secured from the Department of Teacher Education, University of Ibadan. In analyzing the data, an analysis of covariance was employed. T-test statistics were also used to determine significant difference between means of different groups. High achievers of both groups had identical achievement, but the low achievers in the experimental group performed better than their counterparts in the control group. While the study showed that males in this study prefer laboratory method to lecture method when compared with their female counterparts, the study also revealed that females in the control classes performed better than males of the same group.     

Interactions between reasoning about complex systems and conceptual understanding in learning chemistry

“Complex systems” is a general-purpose reasoning scheme, used in a wide range of disciplines to make sense of systems with many similar entities. In this paper, we examine the generality of this approach in learning chemistry. Students' reasoning in chemistry in terms of emergent complex systems is explored for two curricula: a normative and a complexity-based one, so that the interaction could be examined under both the conditions. A quasi-experimental pretest-intervention-posttest comparison group design was used to explore student's learning, complemented with interview data. The experimental group (n = 47) studied the topic of gases with a complexity-based curriculum. A comparison group (n = 45) studied with a normative curriculum for the same duration. Students' answers to questionnaires were coded with a complexity-based approach that included levels (distinguishing micro- and macro-levels), stochastic particle behaviors, the emergence of macro-level patterns from micro-level behaviors, and the source of control in the system. It was found that students' reasoning about chemistry concepts in terms of complex systems falls into three distinct and coherent mental models. A sophisticated mental model included most of the above-described complexity features, while the nonsophisticated model included none. The intermediate model is typified by distinguishing between levels, but not by stochastic and emergent behaviors. The nonsophisticated mental model was used mostly in the pretest. In the posttest, the experimental group used the intermediate and sophisticated models; while the comparison group used the nonsophisticated and intermediate models. Discussion approaches the topics of the generality of the complex systems approach; and the unique forms of reasoning that a complexity approach may contribute to learning science.     

Locus of control,instructional mode and students' achievement

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among locus of control, instructional mode and achievement. Externally and internally oriented students were taught by the same instructor using two different teaching methods. The findings posited a definite relationship among locus of control, instructional style and achievement. Notably, students who were internally oriented appeared to attain higher levels of achievement under conditions where intrinsic reinforcers constitute the stimuli.     

Prior knowledge moderates instructional effects on conceptual understanding of statistics

This study investigated the effects of different teaching and learning methods for statistics for 2 levels of prior knowledge on cognitive load, propositional knowledge, and conceptual understanding. Teaching methods were whether or not to provide students with propositional information, and learning strategies were self-explaining the learning material and explaining in pairs. The results indicate that prior knowledge facilitates propositional knowledge development and leads to differential effects of teaching and learning methods on conceptual understanding: Only low prior knowledge students profit from additional information in the learning task and/or explaining in pairs. An implication of these findings is that low prior knowledge students should be guided into the subject matter by means of working in pairs on learning tasks that comprise additional information. Once students have developed more knowledge of the subject matter, they should be stimulated to work individually on learning tasks that do not comprise additional information.     

Effects of integrated video media on student achievement and attitudes in high school chemistry

This study explored the effects of an integrated video media curriculum enhancement on students' achievement and attitudes in a first-year general high school chemistry course within a multiculturally diverse metropolitan school district. Through the use of a treatment-control experimental design, approximately 450 students in Grades 9–12 were sampled on measures of chemistry achievement and attitude over the period of 1 academic year. The results revealed significantly higher achievement scores on standardized measures of achievement as well as on microunit researcher-designed, criterion-referenced quizzes for the treatment students who experienced a general chemistry course enhanced with an integrated use of a structured chemistry video series. Correlation of student achievement with logical thinking ability revealed that students with high levels of logical thinking ability benefited most from the video-enhanced curriculum. Treatment students also scored significantly higher than control students on the chemistry attitude instrument. These results along with qualitative supportive evidence suggest that this integrated video media curriculum intervention can positively affect student chemistry achievement and attitude across ability levels and across a diverse multicultural population. Furthermore, the data suggest that educational science video media in general, and the World of Chemistry video series in particular, are instructional tools that can be used effectively to bring the often abstract, distant worlds of science into close focus and within the personal meaningful realm of each individual student. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 617–631, 1997.     

Effect of instructional procedure and pupil locus of control on achievement and attitudes

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of instructional procedures differing in degree of student control on achievement and attitudes of pupils identified as having an internal or external locus of control. Two sixth-grade classes (N=47) were divided into internal and external locus of control groups. Half of the internals and externals in each class were randomly assigned a structured instructional procedure and half assigned a contract procedure. A two-week unit on nutrition was taught to all students, using a structured or contract method. There were no significant differences in achievement among any of the groups. However, the internal-contract group seemed to show a more positive attitude toward the unit than did the other three groups. These results suggest that instructional procedure may not differentially affect achievement of internal and external sixth graders over a short period, but that attitudes toward instruction may be affected.     

Effects of discovery and expository instructional methods on the attitude of students to biology

The effects of discovery and expository instructional methods on the attitude of students to biology was investigated. The sample consisted of 240 Form IV biology students randomly drawn from six selected secondary schools in the Oyo state of Nigeria. They were assigned into two groups—experimental and control. The experimental group was exposed to the discovery method, and the control group was taught using the expository method. The science class of Form IV in each of the six schools was selected intact for the study. A nonrandomized pretest-posttest control group design was employed. The major instrument was the 40–item Scientific Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ). It is a Likert-type questionnaire using five scales. Two hypotheses were tested. Analyses of the results showed that the experimental group evinced a significantly more favorable attitude to biology than the control group (t = 8.87, p < 0.01). It was also found that the high, average-, and low-ability groups in the experimental class evinced a more favorable attitude to biology than their counterparts in the control class. However, there was no significant difference in the attitude of male and female students exposed to the discovery and expository methods (F1,227 = 0.07, p > 0.999). The article concludes with a recommendation that science learning using the discovery method may enable the learner to evince more a favorable attitude toward problem recognition and problem solving than when learning is done by the expository method.     

Effect of cooperative learning strategies on student verbal interactions and achievement during conceptual change instruction in 10th grade general science

This study evaluated the effects of cooperative learning on students' verbal interaction patterns and achievement in a conceptual change instructional model in secondary science. Current conceptual change instructional models recognize the importance of student–student verbal interactions, but lack specific strategies to encourage these interactions. Cooperative learning may provide the necessary strategies. Two sections of low-ability 10th-grade students were designated the experimental and control groups. Students in both sections received identical content instruction on the particle model of matter using conceptual change teaching strategies. Students worked in teacher-assigned small groups on in-class assignments. The experimental section used cooperative learning strategies involving instruction in collaborative skills and group evaluation of assignments. The control section received no collaborative skills training and students were evaluated individually on group work. Gains on achievement were assessed using pre- and posttreatment administrations of an investigator-designed short-answer essay test. The assessment strategies used in this study represent an attempt to measure conceptual change. Achievement was related to students' ability to correctly use appropriate scientific explanations of events and phenomena and to discard use of naive conceptions. Verbal interaction patterns of students working in groups were recorded on videotape and analyzed using an investigator-designed verbal interaction scheme. The targeted verbalizations used in the interaction scheme were derived from the social learning theories of Piaget and Vygotsky. It was found that students using cooperative learning strategies showed greater achievement gains as defined above and made greater use of specific verbal patterns believed to be related to increased learning. The results of the study demonstrated that cooperative learning strategies enhance conceptual change instruction. More research is needed to identify the specific variables mediating the effects of cooperative learning strategies on conceptual change learning. The methods employed in this study may provide some of the tools for this research.     

Impact of instructional leadership on high school student academic achievement in China

Asia Pacific Education Review - The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of instructional leadership on high school students’ academic achievement in the Chinese context and to...     

Use of task-value instructional inductions for facilitating engagement and conceptual change

This study explored the relationship between task values, engagement, and conceptual change. One hundred and sixty-six under graduate students were randomly assigned to one of three task value instructional inductions (utility, attainment, and control) to determine whether induced task values would result in different degrees of engagement and conceptual change when reading a refutation text about the common cold. It was hypothesized that the participants in the utility, attainment, and control conditions would differ in their engagement, and degree of conceptual change.