The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to provide valid and
reliable measures of misconceptions in the area of photosynthesis and respiration
among fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students in Thailand. A 17-item, two-tier
multiple-choice test was developed and validated using construct-related evidence to
determine the appropriateness of inferences from a set of test scores. The test was
administered to 4,346 students in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in schools
throughout Thailand. The study attempted to identify misconceptions held by Thai
elementary students in the area of photosynthesis and respiration, and to examine the
effects of grade level and gender on students' understandings of these concepts.
A two-way analysis of variance, with grade level and gender as independent
variables, was used to analyze test scores. Findings revealed that: (a) The two-tier
multiple-choice test was valid and reliable; (b) mean scores among grade levels were
significantly different (p=0.001); (c) mean scores between male and female genders
were not significantly different (p=0.180); and (d) there was a significant interaction
effect between grade level and gender (p=0.005).
From these findings, the following was concluded: (a) The two-tier multiple-choice
test provided valid and reliable measures of student misconceptions of selected
science concepts at the elementary school level in Thailand; (b) most Thai students in
grades 4, 5, and 6 held a large number of misconceptions of the selected concepts;
(c) a majority of the students answered the content questions correctly, but did not
understand the justification for the correct responses; (d) the higher the grade level,
the greater the understanding of the concepts; and (e) female and male Thai students
in grades 4, 5, and 6 did not differ significantly in their understanding of photosynthesis
and respiration. / Graduation date: 1994
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35661 |
| Date | 22 October 1993 |
| Creators | Tangmongkollert, Somsri |
| Contributors | Evans, Thomas P. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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