Teaching of Experimental Design Skills: Results from a Longitudinal Study

Autor/inn/en	Szalay, L.; Toth, Z.; Borbas, R.
Titel	Teaching of Experimental Design Skills: Results from a Longitudinal Study
Quelle	In: Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 22 (2021) 4, S.1054-1073 (20 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Szalay, L.) ORCID (Borbas, R.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1756-1108
DOI	10.1039/d0rp00338g
Schlagwörter	Science Process Skills; Research Design; Science Experiments; Instructional Effectiveness; Science Instruction; Science Achievement; Secondary School Students; Chemistry; Secondary School Science; Foreign Countries; Hungary + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Forschungsdesign; Unterrichtserfolg; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Sekundarschüler; Chemie; Ausland; Ungarn
Abstract	This paper reports the findings of the second and the third year of a four year longitudinal empirical research into the modification of 'step-by-step' instructions to practical activities which require one or more steps to be designed by the students. This method had been successfully applied for a short period for 14-15 years old students. However, the first year of the current longitudinal study, investigating the approach's effectiveness (a) for younger students and (b) over a period of time, did not produce the expected results. Therefore the research model was modified at the beginning of the second year which began in September 2017 with over 800 13-14-year-old students. Each school year they spent six lessons carrying out practical activities using worksheets we provided. The participating classes were allocated to one of three groups. Group 1 was the control group. Students simply followed the step-by-step instructions. Groups 2 and 3 were experimental groups. Group 2 students followed the same instructions, but from the beginning of the second school year their worksheets explained the principles related to the experimental design of the step-by-step experiments carried out. Group 3 students followed the same instructions, but one or more steps were incomplete and students were required to design these steps, as in the first year. However, from the second year onwards Group 3 students were taught the relevant principles of the experimental design before they started planning and carrying out the experiments. The impact of the intervention on the students' experimental design skills and disciplinary content knowledge was measured by structured tests. After the second school year of the project it was clear that both types of instruction (used in case of Group 2 and Group 3) had a significant positive effect on the results of the students disciplinary content knowledge and experimental design skills. However, the development seemed to stop in the third year of the project. In the third year, a student's achievement was influenced mostly by their school ranking. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Royal Society of Chemistry. Thomas Graham House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WF, UK. Tel: +44-1223 420066; Fax: +44-1223 423623; e-mail: cerp@rsc.org; Web site: http://www.rsc.org/cerp
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01