In this study, a comparison of the effectiveness of conceptual change oriented instruction with traditionally designed chemistry instruction and an investigation of the effect of gender difference were made on ninth grade students&rsquo / understanding of phases and phase changes concepts. In addition, the effects of these instructional methods on students&rsquo / attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject were compared.
In this study 56 ninth grade students from two classes of a chemistry course instructed by the same teacher from Ankara Atatü / rk Anatolian Lycee in 2003-2004 educational year&rsquo / s first semester took part. The classes were randomly assigned as control and experimental groups. The experimental group was instructed by conceptual change oriented method with conceptual change texts supported by demonstration, whereas the control group was instructed by traditionally designed method over a period of three weeks. Both groups were administered to Phases and Phase Changes Achievement Test as pretest and posttest in order to assess students&rsquo / understanding of phases and phase changes concepts. Additionally, Science Process Skills Test was given before the treatment to measure students&rsquo / science process skills and Attitude Scale toward Chemistry as a School Subject was given after the treatment to determine their attitudes.
The hypotheses were tested using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), paired samples t-test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results of this study indicated that conceptual change oriented instruction caused a significantly better understanding of phases and phase changes concepts / that males had fewer alternative conceptions than females on phases and phase changes / and that science process skills were strong predictors of understanding in phases and phase changes concepts. On the other hand, no significant difference between conceptual change oriented instruction and traditionally designed chemistry instruction / and no effect of gender difference on students&rsquo / attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject were found.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/2/12605317/index.pdf |
Date | 01 September 2004 |
Creators | Celebi, Ozgur |
Contributors | Geban, Omer |
Publisher | METU |
Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | M.S. Thesis |
Format | text/pdf |
Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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