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.     

Effects of active‐learning experiences on achievement,attitudes, and behaviors in high school biology

Active‐learning labs for two topics in high school biology were developed through the collaboration of high school teachers and university faculty and staff and were administered to 408 high school students in six classrooms. The content of instruction and testing was guided by State of Texas science objectives. Detailed teacher records describing daily classroom activities were used to operationalize two types of instruction: active learning, which used the labs; and traditional, which used the teaching resources ordinarily available to the teacher. Teacher records indicated that they used less independent work and fewer worksheets, and more collaborative and lab‐based activities, with active‐learning labs compared to traditional instruction. In‐class test data show that students gained significantly more content knowledge and knowledge of process skills using the labs compared to traditional instruction. Questionnaire data revealed that students perceived greater learning gains after completing the labs compared to covering the same content through traditional methods. An independent questionnaire administered to a larger sample of teachers who used the lab‐based curriculum indicated that they perceived changing their behaviors as intended by the student‐centered principles of the labs. The major implication of this study is that active‐learning–based laboratory units designed and developed collaboratively by high school teachers and university faculty, and then used by high school teachers in their classrooms, can lead to increased use of student‐centered instructional practices as well as enhanced content knowledge and process learning for students. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 960–979, 2007     

Student commitment and school organization in relation to on-task behavior and achievement

Three experiments considered student commitment to school, IQ, and school organization type in relation to student task behavior and to school achievement. The first two correlational studies indicated the relationship between student commitment and student task behavior; the third study used student task behavior, student commitment, IQ, and school organization to predict achievement. This prediction equation was quite robust with a final R² = .85. School achievement is predicted by intelligence and academic time on task in traditionally structured schools, and by intelligence and student commitment in open structured schools. Increasing the amount of teacher directed time would increase achievement in traditional schools, but decrease achievement in open schools.     

Cooperative learning and group educational modules: Effects on cognitive achievement of high school biology students

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of cooperative learning and Group Educational Modules (GEM) on the achievement of high school biology students. GEM materials are self-instructional packets designed for use with groups of biology students. Cooperative learning is a classroom learning environment in which students work in small, mixed-ability groups toward a common goal. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used in this study. The independent variables considered included (1) participation of students in the GEM project, and (2) use of cooperative learning techniques including heterogeneous grouping and group incentives. The dependent variables for all treatment groups were scores on the instrument developed for this study. A total of 11 teachers with 36 classes and 715 students were included in this study. All teachers involved covered the same general subject matter during the study period. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used as the data analysis procedure. Significant differences were found in the achievement of students using GEM materials and those using traditional instructional approaches. The use of cooperative learning also produced significant differences when compared to traditional classroom structures.     

高中生生物学习动机与成绩的关系研究

通过调查高中生生物学习动机的现状,将其与学生的生物成绩作相关性分析,得出二者相关系数为R=0.228,同时发现此系数在不同成绩段的学生之间具有差异性;学生的内部学习动机对成绩的影响起主要作用,最后根据调查结果提出三条建议来培养与激发学生的生物学学习动机。     

Learner instruction,attitudes during class and academic achievement of junior high school students in Korea: a panel analysis

This study examined changes in the structural relationship among learner-centred classes perceived by Korean junior high school students, attitudes during class and academic achievement. A linear change model was identified as optimal, showing a steady increase over time for each parameter. The higher the initial value for learner-centred classes, the higher both the initial value and rate of change was for attitudes during class and academic achievement. The initial values for attitudes during class also had a significant effect on initial values of academic achievement, suggesting that attitudes are important in increasing academic achievement. The rate of change of both learner-centred classes and attitudes during class significantly influenced the rate of change of academic achievement.     

高中化学竞赛对高中生化学思维能力培养的影响

化学竞赛学习的过程就是思维能力得到培养的一个良好过程.通过发挥学生的主体作用,从而达到培养学生思维能力的目的.     

Problem-solving skills of high school chemistry students

What strategies do high school students use when solving chemistry problems? The purpose for conducting this study was to determine the general problem-solving skills that students use in solving problems involving moles, stoichiometry, the gas laws, and molarity. The strategies were examined for success in problem solving for 266 students of varying proportional reasoning ability, using interviews incorporating the think-aloud technique. Data were coded using a scheme based on Polya's heuristics. Results indicated that successful students and those with high proportional reasoning ability tended to use algorithmic reasoning strategies more frequently than nonsuccessful and low proportional reasoning students. However, the majority of all students solved the chemistry problems using only algorithmic methods, and did not understand the chemical concepts on which the problems were based.     

The effects of strategy training on high school students’ learning from science texts

This research examines the effects of a reciprocal teaching intervention aimed at providing high school students. with a repertoire of strategies to integrate text and visual aid information (graphs, diagrams) while learning in science. Experimental subjects received an hour of instruction each week for 7 weeks using SLIC (Summarise, Link, Image, Check) strategies to integrate the written word with the visual aid while Controls were taught under normal class teaching methods using the same materials. Post test ANOVA’s with Treatment (Experimental, Control) and Reading Ability (Average, Below average) as the factors showed superior recall of details by average ability students in the Experimental group but no significant differences in main idea recall nor on comprehension questions. All Experimental students included a graph in their recalls and they also significantly included more linking information in their texts on the graphs. The quality of their recall graphs was superior to those of the Control group. The results of a far transfer test showed no effects of training on transfer. Implications for future research and for teaching are discussed.     

Gender and high school chemistry: student perceptions on achievement in a selective setting

This paper reports on research undertaken in a middle-class Australian school. The focus of the research was on the relationship between gender and students’ engagement with high school chemistry. Achievement data from many OECD countries suggest that middle-class girls are achieving equally as well as, if not better than, boys in many subjects. This has led to claims that the ‘girls and science’ agenda is no longer necessary, and indeed may have been detrimental to boys’ achievements in science subjects. The data collected from students at this site indicate that at this school this agenda is far from a completed one. These data indicate that whilst girls’ achievement levels are comparable with those of the boys, for many students chemistry is still perceived as a masculine subject. Hence, the girls in the chemistry classrooms at this school construct themselves, and are constructed, as outsiders in the subject.     

高中生成就动机与学业情绪、学业成绩的关系研究

为探讨高中生成就动机与学业情绪、学业成绩的关系,采用问卷对285名高中生进行调查.结果显示,趋近动机(Ms)与积极学业情绪和学业成绩呈正相关,且对两种积极学业情绪和学业成绩均有正向预测作用,对消极低唤醒学业情绪有负向预测作用;回避动机(Mf)与积极学业情绪和学业成绩呈负相关,而与消极学业情绪呈正相关,并能正向预测消极低唤醒学业情绪,负向预测积极低唤醒学业情绪和学业成绩.积极低唤醒情绪和消极低唤醒情绪在成就动机和学业成绩之间起部分中介效应,积极高唤醒情绪只在趋近动机和学业成绩间部分中介效应.     

The process,dialogues, and attitudes of vocational engineering high school students in a web problem-based learning (WPBL) system

This study aims to explore how high school students collaboratively solve problems in a web problem-based learning (WPBL) system in an 8-week digital logic course using discourse analysis. Employing in-depth interviews, this study also investigated the students' attitudes toward the WPBL system. The number of teaching assistants' responses had a negative relationship with the number of peer responses. Regarding dialogue quality, extended questions and brainstorming stimulated each other. Elaboration facilitated problem solving, whereas organizing knowledge from books or websites decreased reflection. Students affirmed the usefulness and effectiveness of the web system because it created an interactive, flexible, comfortable and collaborative learning environment.     

Junior high school science teacher preparation,teaching behavior,and student achievement

The findings challenge both practices and prejudices in junior high school science teacher preparation.