Worldview presuppositions and conceptions of force held by junior secondary school science students.
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Date
2003
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University of the Western Cape
Abstract
The central concern of this study was to determine 12-13 year old students' worldview about force and how such worldview presuppositions affect their conceptions of force. The study accepted the constructivists' view, viz. that students bring ideas based on prior experience to the classroom, and these ideas or beliefs affect the ways they respond to and interpret instruction in science.
A distinctive methodological feature of this study was the way the quantitative information obtained by structured observation and the class environment questionnaires were combined with qualitative data derived from obtained naturalist/interpretive procedures. The experimental design that was chosen for the pilot and main studies was the quasi-experimental model based on a modified Solomon-3-control group design.
A battery of instruments was used to assess the cognitive, affective, psychomotor and observational aspects of the study. The main instrument, the Performance on Force Test (POFT), consisted of questions designed to elicit the students' qualitative understanding of the concept force. The POFT was constructed to capture both conceptual and alternative worldviews of the subjects regarding force.
A sample of three comparable schools was used in the study. Two schools constituted the experimental (E) and true control (C1) groups and the third school served as the second control group (C2). The E and C2 groups received the experimental Curriculum on Force (COF) intervention; whereas group C1 received the tradition teaching approach. To minimise the effects of contamination, the treatment groups were chosen from different areas of metropolitan Cape Town. A total of three teachers and 91 students were involved in the study. To ameliorate the students' conceptions of force, the teachers were exposed to an exemplary instructional practice model for three weeks. Similarly, the students were exposed to exemplary instructional materials for six weeks.
A pretest, post-test and delayed post-test evaluative instruments on the selected dependent variables were administered to the subjects to obtain the data needed for analysis. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistics (analysis
of covariance and t-test).
Contrary to expectation, the induction programme that the teacher of group C2 went through with the teaching of the COF did not successfully crystalize in her class, unlike the teacher of the experimental class, E. Perhaps with more time, the teacher of group C2 could have implemented the teaching styles that the teacher of group E used successfully in teaching the COF emphasized during the induction programme.
All the hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance.
The major findings include:
1. The students involved in this study had already acquired some ideas about force before encountering the concept in the new science lessons. At the pretest level, the students in the experimental group (n = 30) had .x = 20.32, SD= 5.18 and the control group C1 (n = 26), x = 20.44 and SD = 4.63 with t = 0.37 at p = 0.05.
2. The post-test was administered after the students had been exposed to the exemplary instructional material known as the Curriculum on Force (COF) material. The achievement outcomes of the POFT at post-test level gave x = 26.19 and SD = 5.41 for the experimental group and for the control group C1, x = 24.54, SD = 3.71 and control group C2, .x = 23.42 and SD = 5.03 respectively. These mean scores were relatively close to the grand mean score of 24.72. However the mean of C2, where the students also received the
treatment, was somewhat lower than C1, where the students were not exposed to the COF treatment.
3. Pairwise comparisons of the post-test scores of the experimental and control groups showed that the difference between E and C1 was not statistically significant (t = 1.34, at p = 0.18). On the other hand, the post-test scores of E and C2 were statistically different (t = 2.18, at p = 0.03), whereas C1 and C2 were not statistically different (t = 0.89, at p = 0.37).
4. The outcomes of the performance on the POFT at the delayed post-test level gave the combined mean score for the three groups of 24.60 and a SD = 4.54. For the Experimental (E) group the mean score was 26.15 and SD = 3.87, whereas for the control groups C1 and C2, the means were 24.54 and 23.11 and the SD's = 3.72 and 5.14, respectively. Although the mean achievement scores of E and C1 were not statistically different (i.e., t = 1.43, p = 0.16 and t = 1.21, p = 0.23, respectively), those for E and C2 were statistically different (t = 2.31 and p = 0.02).
5. a) As regards gender on the subjects' conceptions about force, the females obtained a slightly higher mean than their male counterparts, although the difference was not statistically significant.
5. b) A one way t-test for comparing performance of 12 and 13 year olds on the POFT showed a significant difference in their performance (t = 3.50 at p < 0.05).
5. c) As regards the effect of language, there appeared to be a significant difference between the English and Xhosa speakers when their pretests and post tests were compared (t = 7.74 and p < 0.05).
5. d) The achievement differences between the two religious groups were not statistically significant in the pretest (t = 0.79 at p = 0.05), nor in the posttest (t = 1.29, p = 0.05).
6. As in many earlier studies, it is worth noting that alternative conceptions held by the students about force persisted despite the spirited effort made in the study to attain conceptual change.
No doubt, the instructional exemplary model used by the two teachers in both the experimental and control groups contributed to an overall increase in performance of the students on the POFT. The approach did not prove superior to the traditional approach used by the true control group (C1) teacher. The students in C2 obtained the lowest mean score. However, all three groups maintained their relative positions even at the delayed post-test. This probably indicates the retention of what had been learned by the students.
Different instruments were used to study classroom dynamics with the experimental and control groups. This was followed by interviews with teachers and their students
about various aspects of force. The aim was to obtain a robust picture of classroom transactions during the study period. An analysis of both the quantitative and qualitative data indicates an increased understanding of force by the subjects. However, it was evident that the instructional model would perhaps need to be refined and implemented over a longer period than has been done in this study before any significant impact is achieved. Whether other outcomes might have occurred, the failure to achieve significant conceptual change has once more demonstrated the complexity of the teaching-learning process. By the same token, it has generated a greater respect on the part of the investigator for the work of science teachers and an appreciation for their onerous tasks.
Finally, the implications of the findings for teacher training, curriculum and instructional practice, as well as areas warranting further investigations, were highlighted.
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Keywords
Worldview presuppositions, Conceptions of force, Junior Secondary school, Science students
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