Effects of concept mapping and cooperative learning experiences on achievement, transfer problem solving ability, and attitudes toward the instructional experience of middle school science students PDF
Preview Effects of concept mapping and cooperative learning experiences on achievement, transfer problem solving ability, and attitudes toward the instructional experience of middle school science students
THEEFFECTSOFCONCEPTMAPPINGAND COOPERATIVELEARNINGEXPERIENCES AONNDAACTHTIIETVUEDEMSENTTO,WTARRADNSTFHEERIPNRSOTBRLUECMTISOONLAVLINEGXPAEBRIILIETNYC,E OFMIDDLESCHOOLSCIENCESTUDENTS By HENRYPENELLO ADISSERTATIONPRESENTEDTOTHEGRADUATESCHOOL OFTHEUNIVERSITYOFFLORIDAINPARTIALFULFILLMENT OFTHEREQUIREMENTSFORTHEDEGREEOF DOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDA 1993 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Iwishtothankseveralpeoplefortheirhelpandsupportinmy effortstocompletemydoctoralprogramfrom4000milesawayinthe Netherlands. Mycommitteechairperson.Dr.MaryBuddRowe, providedinspirationwithherideasandsimplybycontinuingheractive roleasaleaderinthefieldofscienceeducation.Dr.PatAshtonandDr. LindaCronin-Joneswereverygenerouswiththeirtimeeditingmy lengthymanuscriptsandputtingmeintherightdirectionwhen improvementswereneeded. Dr.RoyBolducwasalwaystherewithhis supportandthoughtfulinput. Hisgeneroususeofcomputerspacewhen itwasneededisgreatlyappreciated.Inparticular,Iwouldliketothank Dr.LindaCrockerforgivinghoursofherprecioustimeandhelpingme tofocusinonthenecessaryadjustmentsintheformatandstyleofmy dissertation. TherewerealsomanypeopleontheothersideoftheAtlantic Oceanwhoprovidedagreatdealofsupportinmyeffortstocompletethis dissertation. TheadministratorsandcolleagueswithwhomIhavespent manyyearsineducationneverhesitatedtomakesacrificestohelpme whenitwasneeded.Iamforeverindebtedtothe8thgradescience teacher.BillBritt,whohelpedmeconductthisstudyovertwoveryhectic ii monthsandcontributedtremendousamountsofpost-studytimetohelp meanalyzetheresults. ThereisnoquestionthatIwouldhavenevercompletedthis projectwithoutthesupportofmywifeMariannewhotimeandagain readthroughmaterials,madesuggestionsforimprovement,and providedmewithsolitudewhenitwasrequired. MydaughterJennifer doesnotyetrealizethatshealsohelpedmetoachievemygoalsimply becauseIwantedhertobeproudofherfather. Finally,completingthisprojectfromsofarawaywasamajor undertakingcompletewithformidablebarrierstoovercome. Therewere timeswhenIwasreadytogiveitupandusemysparemomentsfor somethingotherthanreadingadditionalarticlesrelevanttomystudy. Duringthesetimes,mythoughtsturnedtomymotherandfatherand howproudtheywouldbeifthisprojectwascompleted. Throughout theirlifetimes,theyhaveprovidedmewithconstantloveandsupport andIamveryhappythatIwasabletosharethismomentwiththem. Ill r\1. TABLEOFCONTENTS gage ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT vi CHAPTERS I INTRODUCTION 1 StatementoftheProblem 2 Hjrpotheses 3 SignificanceoftheStudy 6 ConceptMappingIntroduction 9 CooperativeLearningIntroduction 13 nREVIEWOFLITERATURE 20 StatusofConceptMappingResearch 21 TheoreticalBasisforConceptMapping 30 StatusofCooprativeLearningResearch 38 TheoreticalBasisforCoperativeLearning 53 niPROCEDURESANDMETHODSOFANALYSIS 57 SettingandResearchParticipants 57 ResearchDesign 59 DescriptionofTreatments 61 Instrumentation 63 Procedure 84 DataCollectionandScoring 91 DataAnalysis 97 IVRESULTS 98 ExaminationofPre-TreatmentStatusofGroups 101 AnalysisofLow-LevelMeasures 101 AnalysisofHigh-LevelMeasures 107 AnalysisofAttitudinalMeasures 119 AnalysisofScoresFromConceptMappingEvaluation Procedures 122 V DISCUSSION SuccessfulMapping 137 InsufficientBasisforControversy 144 CreativeRepresentationsofConceptualIdeas 146 FactorsAffectingtheResults 148 SuggestionsForFurtherResearch 158 Conclusion 161 APPENDICES ARESEARCHSTUDYFLOWCPiART 164 BCOOPERATIVEGROUPEXPECTATIONS 167 CT-CHART 168 DTRANSFERPROBLEMSOLVINGMEASUREFORGENETICS UNIT 169 E TRANSFERPROBLEMSOLVINGMEASUREFORANIMAL FTRABNESHFAEVRIPORROUBNLIETMSOLVINGMEASURESFORUNITON 170 G TRASNOLSIFDESR,LPIRQOUBIDLSE,MASNODLVGIANSGESMEASUREFORUNITON 171 HCONACTEOPMTICMASPTPRIUCNTGUARTETITUDINALMEASURE 117732 IJKLMACCEPONOVRNOOAECPTLVEEEUARSPATATDTTAIXMITOTAVNARPEPECLIAHENTAAGMRRETENNVIFTANOLGxRUGAVAETITNTDIDIEOTEONURMDPEEIRMANOTSACELUERRDMAEUECRATEISOUNREFOR 111177779458 ANIMALBEHAVIOR 181 REFERENCES 182 BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH 188 AbstractofDissertationPresentedtotheGraduateSchool oftheUniversityofFloridainPartialFulfillmentofthe RequirementsfortheDegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy THEEFFECTSOFCONCEPTMAPPINGAND COOPERATIVELEARNINGEXPERIENCES ONACHIEVEMENT,TRANSFERPROBLEMSOLVINGABILITY, ANDATTITUDESTOWARDTHEEMSTRUCTIONALEXPERIENCE OFMIDDLESCHOOLSCIENCESTUDENTS By HenryPenello December1993 Chair:Dr.M.B.Rowe Cochair: Dr.LindaCronin-Jones MajorDepartment: InstructionandCurriculum Thepurposeofthisstudywastocomparetheeffectsonscience achievement,transferproblemsolvingability,andattitudestowardthe instructionalexperienceforstudentsusingconceptmapping,cooperative learning,andacombinationofconceptmappingandcooperativelearning inaunitofstudy. Aconceptmapisatwo-dimensional,visualrepresentation ofabodyofknowledge. Proficiencyinconceptmapconstructionfosters meaningfullearningandpositiveattitudestowardschoolandsubject. Cooperativelearningstrategiesarestructuringtechniquesforpromoting productivestudent-studentinteractionintheclassroombycreatinga situationwhereeachstudent'ssuccessisdependentuponthesuccessofall groupmembers.Thisstudywasaninvestigationofthepossibilitythata cooperativelearningstructurecanprovidetiiesupportnecessaryformiddle schoolsciencestudentstoexperiencesuccesswithconceptmapping. Inthis6-weekstudy,intactclassesofmiddleschoolsciencestudents constructingconceptmapsincooperativelearninggroupswerecompared withclassesconstructingconceptmapsindependentlyandwithclasses workingcooperativelywithoutconceptmapping. Attheendofone3-week unitofstudyinscience,andagainattheendofasecond3-weekunit,selected measuresofscienceachievementandtransferproblemsolvingabilitywere administeredtoallstudentstoevaluatetheeffectsofthedifferentclassroom structuresonthesedependentvariables. Ameasureofattitudestowardthe instructionalexperiencewasadministeredoncewhenboth3-weekunitswere completed. Analysesofvariance(ANOVAs)conductedforallcontentunitson pretestscoresindicatedthatthetreatmentgroupsweregenerallyequivalent onthesevariablesbeforetreatmentbegan. Analysesofcovariance (ANCOVAs)indicatednosignificantoveralleffectsoftreatmentorgender, butinspectionforeffectsofgender-by-treatmentinteractionshowedthat malesperformedbetterthanfemalesonGeneticsmeasuresofscience achievementandtransferproblemsolvingability,andfemalesperformed betterthanmalesonanAtomicStructuremeasureoftransferproblem solving. Conceptmapswerescoredusingaconceptmappingevaluation procedureestablishedforthisstudy.Comparativeanalysisrevealedthat vii conceptmapsconstructedincooperativelearninggroupswerelesslikelyto haveunconnectedconceptsorunlabelledpropositions. Theywerelesslikely tocontainerrorsincontent,haveconceptsoutofanacceptablehierarchical order,orlacklogicalconnections. Whenexaminedforreadability,maps constructedcooperativelywereeasiertofollowthanmapsconstructed individually,suggestingat^etteroverallunderstandingofunitconcepts. M. VIII INTCRHOADPUTCETRIION Gainsincontentacquisition,problemsolvingability,andattitudes towardscienceandtheinstructionalexperiencehavebeenattributedto studentsusingeitherthemetacognitivetoolofconceptmapping(Novak, Gowin,&Johansen,1983)ortheorganizationalstructureofacooperative group(Cohen,1986;Johnson&Johnson,1989). Themanyformsof cooperativelearninghaveenjoyedconsiderablesuccessinproducing academicandsocialgrowth,buttheconceptmappingtechniquehasnot beenassuccessful.Inthisstudy,thepossibilitythatacooperative learningstructurecanprovidethesupportnecessaryformiddleschool sciencestudentstoexperiencesuccesswithconceptmappingis investigated. Althoughthepossiblebenefitsofconstructingconceptmapsin cooperativestructureshavebeenbrieflydiscussedintheliterature (Novak&Gowin,1984),studiesinvestigatingtheeffectsoftheir combinedusehaverarelybeenconducted(Okebukola&Jegede,1988). Thepurposeofthisstudywastoinvestigatetheeffectsonscience achievement,transferproblemsolvingability,andattitudestowardthe instructionalexperienceforstudentsusingbothconceptmappingand cooperativelearningsimultaneouslyforaparticularunitofstudy. 1 Themethodologyemployedforthisresearchstudyhadthe followingcomponents: (a)threesectionseachof7th-and8th-grade scienceclassesinanoverseasAmericanmiddleschool; (b)two experiencedscienceteachers,onepergradelevel,followingaconsistent scriptandprocedurewheneverpossible;(c)selectedunitsofstudy appropriateforeachgradelevelwithrelatedtextualmaterials;and(d) measuresofrecallorlow-levelsciencecontentknowledge,measuresof high-level(applicationorabove)transferproblemsolvingabilityin science,andmeasuresofattitudestowardtheinstructionalexperience (oneinstrumentforconceptmappingandanotherforcooperative learning). Foreachgradelevel,studentsinonesectionconstructed conceptmapsofthematerialindependentlytohelpmasterunitcontent, studentsinasecondsectioncoveredthematerialincooperativegroups withoutconceptmapping,andstudentsinathirdsectionconstructed conceptmapsofthematerialincooperativelearninggroups. Theremainderofthisintroductionincludesinformationabout thepurpose,hypotheses,andsignificanceofthisresearchstudy. Introductoryinformationaboutconceptmappingandcooperative learningisalsoincluded. StatementoftheProblem ResearchfindingsbyNovakandotherssupporttheviewthat proficiencyinconceptmapconstructionfostersmeaningfullearning.
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