Enhancement of Quality in Chemical Inquiry by Pre-University Students

Our pre-university chemistry students face problems achieving sufficient quality in chemical inquiry. To try to enhance the quality of student performance in chemical inquiry, Dutch pre-university chemistry students (age 17) carried out an authentic research project on Diffusion of ions in distilled water. The learning materials for this student inquiry project, the teaching scenario and the website were designed in cooperation with five chemistry teachers. Three teachers from this network and two other teachers also implemented the project with 80 students to find out whether the emphasis on relevant concepts of evidence (CoE) improves the quality of student inquiry outcomes. This part – with its emphasis on the CoE – in the student inquiry task is based on four key features: the students feel motivated to explore, focus their attention on, give meaning to and reflect upon CoE. In teams students conducted a guide experiment, analysed a scientific article, did an inquiry and wrote a report, discussed CoE with peers on the Internet and rewrote their reports. All lessons were observed, field notes were made and analysed on whether the intended student activities had been realised. The Internet discussion was recorded in a database and analysed. The first and final reports of all teams were coded and analysed. Also the students appreciation of the activities was assessed. The teaching and learning activities were realized to a very large extent as planned in the design. The emphasis on CoE resulted in 65% of the students achieving a sufficient level of quality in their final reports.     

Developmental trajectories of externalizing behaviors in childhood and adolescence

This article describes the average and group-based developmental trajectories of aggression, opposition, property violations, and status violations using parent reports of externalizing behaviors on a longitudinal multiple birth cohort study of 2,076 children aged 4 to 18 years. Trajectories were estimated from multilevel growth curve analyses and semiparametric mixture models. Overall, males showed higher levels of externalizing behavior than did females. Aggression, opposition, and property violations decreased on average, whereas status violations increased over time. Group-based trajectories followed the shape of the average curves at different levels and were similar for males and females. The trajectories found in this study provide a basis against which deviations from the expected developmental course can be identified and classified as deviant or nondeviant.     

The acquisition of basic multiplication skills

Children learning the basic multiplications, use knowledge which they acquired in former stages. Certain additions, for instance the doubles, known by heart, can support the learning process for multiplication. It makes a great difference in cognitive achievement whether children know multiplication facts by heart or whether they are able to figure out basic multiplications. If education supports the development of informal thinking strategies, children become so skilled at this, that the border between figuring out and knowing by heart will gradually disappear. By using informal strategies children will acquire a flexible mental structure of multiplication facts instead of a collection of rules.     

Piaget,and beyond

The relevance for educational theory of Piaget's cognitive and developmental psychology is examined, especially as teaching of concepts and operations is concerned. Piaget's constructivism and his assimilation theory are found to be most useful. His equilibration concept and his one-step model of concept construction, however, limit the applicability of the theory. Related to these traits of Piaget's psychology is the tacit assumption that experiments simply uncover cognitive structures, which are said to build up during the child's spontaneous activities. An alternative conception of developmental processes and of cognitive learning is offered, in which an elaboration concept, language, and social stimulation are central.

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Résumé On a examiné la signification pédagogique de la psychologie du développement cognitif de Piaget, particulièrement en ce qui concerne l'enseignement de concepts et d'opérations. Les notions piagétiennes d'assimilation et de constructivisme se révèlent des plus utiles. Cependant, son concept de l'équilibre structural et sa notion de l'élaboration de concepts limitent l'applicabilité de sa théorie. Rattachée à ces aspects de la psychologie de Piaget se trouve l'idée que les expériences ne font que mettre à nu des structures cognitives qui se seraient construites au cours des activités spontanées de l'enfant. Cet article propose une interprétation différente des processus du développement et de l'apprentissage cognitif, où le langage, la construction de concepts, et la stimulation sociale occupent une place centrale.

     

Framework for Empirical Research on Science Teaching and Learning

In view of the research on education—and subject-related education in particular—that has been conducted in recent years, it would seem useful to describe the current state and future trends of research on science teaching and learning. In the present article, research findings are described, the deficits of science education are analyzed, and medium- and long-term research goals are specified from the perspective of an interdisciplinary cooperative effort between specialists in the fields of empirical educational research; the psychology of learning and instruction; and biology, chemistry, and physics education. Revised and supplemented version of Fischer, H. E., Klemm, K., Leutner, D., Sumfleth, E., Tiemann, R., and Wirth, J. (2003). Naturwissenschaftsdidaktische Lehr-Lernforschung: Defizite und Desiderata [Natural science-didactical learning research: Deficits and desiderata]. Zeitschrift für Didaktik der Naturwissenschaften, 9, 179–208.     

Factors that prevent learning in electrochemistry

Electrochemistry plays an important role in curricula, textbooks, and in everyday life. The purpose of the present study was to identify and understand secondary‐school students' problems in learning electrochemistry at an introductory chemistry level. The investigation covered four areas: (a) electrolytes, (b) transport of electric charges in electrolyte solutions, (c) the anode and the cathode, and (d) the minus and plus poles. Written tests were given to high‐school students in five cycles. The population from which random samples were drawn totalled 15,700 subjects. Students were asked to select the correct answers and to justify their choices. It was found that students based their reasoning on four alternative concepts: (a) During electrolysis, the electric current produces ions; (b) electrons migrate through the solution from one electrode to the other; (c) the cathode is always the minus pole, the anode the plus pole; and (d) the plus and minus poles carry charges. The results suggest a teaching strategy in which students first experience and learn about electrochemistry concepts. In the second step, appropriate concept terms are added, and students then are confronted with the alternative concepts described in this article. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 258–283, 2007