students started at significantly lower ability levels ih reading, verbal reasoning

392 Pages·2012·17.38 MB·English

RESUME
D )CUMENT
SE 005 690
ED 023 b14
24
By -Walton, George
Final Report.
A Small Project Research Proposal in Secondary School Science Education.
Western New Mexico Univ., Silver City.
Research.
Spons Agency-Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC Bureau of
Bureau No -BR -7 -G -045
Pub Date Aug 68
Grant -0EG -7 -8 -000045 -0020
Note -391p.
EDRS Price MF -$150 HC 41965
*Instruction, Low
Development,
*Curriculum
Descriptions,
*Chemistry, Course
Descriptors-Achievement,
Achievers, Science Courses, *Secondary School Science
Identifiers-New Mexico
for the nonscience malor or
A special chemistry course was designed and written
the laboratory
school student. Both the textbook and
non collegebound secondary
rural schools of southwestern New
Mexico;
manual were field tested in two small
Student populations involved
students from four similar schools served as controls.
experimental group
Pretest results showed that the
were of mixed ethnic groups.
ih reading, verbal reasoning,
students started at significantly lower ability
levels
knowledge. Despite this starting
abstract reasoning, numerical ability, and chemical
substantial gains on the standardized chemistry
position, the experimental group made
chemistry
by the control group on a special
test, and almost doubled the gains made
chemistry may be indicated based on
test. A possible predictive factor for success in
correlations obtained. (BC)
2tk
-9.14z
FINAL REPORT
Project No. 7G-045
Grant No. OEG 7-8-000045-0020-(O10)
A SMALL PROJECT RESEARCH PROPOSAL
IN SECONDARY SCHOOL SCIENCE EDUCATION
August 1968
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE
OFFICE OF EDUCATION
FROM THE
THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED
POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS
PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.
EDUCATION
STATED DO NO1 NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF
POSITION OR POLICY.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
Office of Education
Bureau of Research
FINAL REPORT
Project No. 7G-045
7-8-000045-0020-(O10)
Grant No. OEG
PROPOSAL
A SMALL PROJECT RESEARCH
EDUCATION
IN SECONDARY SCHOOL SCIENCE
George Walton, Ph.D.
Western New Mexico University
Silver City, New Mexico
August 30, 1968
performed pursuant to a grant
The research reported herein was
Department of Health,
with the Office of Education, U.S.
projects
Contractors undertaking such
Education, and Welfare.
encouraged to express freely
under Government sponsorship are
the conduct of the project.
their professional judgment in
stated do not, therefore, necessar-
Points of view or opinions
policy.
Office of Education position or
ily represent official
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
Office of Education
Bureau of Research
CONTENTS
Page
iii
Acknowledgments
1
Summary
4
Introduction
5
Methods
Results and Findings
9
16
Conclusions and Recommendations
18
References
19
Appendix
Eric Report Resume
ii
r
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Principal Investigator gratefully wishes to thank the
following people:
Dr. David M. Dennis, Director of Research for Western
New Mexico University, for his encouragement in this research
study, and for his active help on experimental design,
interpretation of results, and writing of the final report.
Dr. Robert R. Reilley (Western New Mexico University
Department of Education and Psychology) for his help in
selecting suitable test instruments and for administering
and evaluating differential aptitude tests.
Dr. Richard Williams (New Mexico State University English
Department) for his help in selecting, administering, and
evaluating a suitable reading test, and for measuring the
reading level of the course material produced for this study.
Charles M.
Mr. H. R. Overholt, Mr. Wesley Freeburg, Mr.
B. McAlister,
Ellis, Mr. John Gaines, Mr. Steinpreiss, Mr. B.
Martin and Mr.
Mr. Gerald T. Lee, Mr. Earl Hathorn, Mr.
and cooperation as
Henry Williamson for their encouragement
teachers, students,
school administrators in offering their
and school facilities for this field test.
for accepting
Mr. Richard H. Moore and Mr. Leon Samples
experimental course to
the responsibility of giving this
their students.
Mexico University for
Mr. Thomas T. Fellows of Western New
of data.
his advice on statistical treatment
Education and
Dr. Glenn E. Knight (Department of
University) and Jesse Bingaman
Psychology, Western New Mexico
University) for their
(Science Department, Western New Mexico
phases of this study.
encouragement and help on various
Education (Dallas Office)
Dr. Harold A. Haswell, Office of
this project.
for his encouragement and understanding on
Western New
The Southwestern New Mexico Media Center at
reproduction facilities and the
Mexico University for its
loan of equipment, films and transparencies.
Oxford, Ohio, for
Mr. Larry Prince, Miami University at
handling of our data and its
his advice on the computer
programming.
iii
INTRODUCTORY SECTION
SUMMARY
During the past decade or two enrollment in high school science
steadily declined.1
This
courses, including chemistry, has
For example, the
trend is the outgrowth of several factors.
great explosion in technology of the past twenty years has
introduced a body of knowledge which is substantially too large
The increased knowledge has also led
for one year of study.
As the
teachers to stiffen the requirements of the course.
difficult, competition for grades has
course work became more
loday students of
increased and specialization has set in,
moderate or low ability tend to shun chemistry, and even high
caliber college-bound students shy away from this subject
unless they intend to major in a science field.
On the other hand, the increased technology makes it necessary
that every citizen have a fundamental knowledge of chemittry
in order to interpret and cope with today's world.
As an answer to the problem of dwindling enrollment, and to
supply the lack of a suitable course for the average student,
this Investigator proposed that a different kind of chemistry
This course would aim to provide the
course be devised.
student with a fundamental knowledge of chemistry so that as
with today's and
a citizen he could understand and cope
To have value
tomorrow's world on a more knowledgable basis.
fin:the average student, rather than for the science major or
college-bound, the standards in the course, the content, and
the textual materials would all have to be developed in terms
of the average student.
Such a special course was written and field tested during the
academic year 1967-68 in the following manner:
Two small rural schools in southwestern New Mexico
1.
offered the special course to twenty students comprising the
In one of these schools, the regular
Experimental Group.
Students were not informed regarding
course was offered also.
the offering of the special course until enrollment was closed
Thus students in the experimental
for the regular course.
chemistry normally.
course were those who would not have taken
Students taking the regular chemistry course in four
2.
high schools of the same geographical area comprised the Control
Group of 52 students.
All of the 72 students were pre-tested using a
3.
standardized chemistry test (Anderson-Fisk) and a special
chemistry test drawn to measure the objectives of the special
They also were given the Differential Aptitude Tests
course.
(Form L, Psychological Testing Corporation) and a test for
Schools were asked to submit
reading ability (Nelson-Denny).
grades for these students in English, Mathematics, and Science
final grades made in
as of September, 1967, as well as the
chemistry.
Each of the students was post-tested with another
4.
form of the Anderson-Fisk test, and with the Special Chemistry
test.
Analysis of the pre-tests revealed that students enrolled in
the Special course had less ability in all categories tested.
The data on reading ability was considered especially signif-
icant because students in the Experimental Group were on the
the Control Group.
average more than two grade levels below
On the basis of this finding, all textual material was
submitted to a reading specialist for analysis so that the
reading level could be designed to fall within the reading
While one of the objectives
level of the Experimental Group.
had been to design a course with a low enough reading level so
that any of the Experimental Group students could handle it,
this task was found to be a practical impossibility since the
lowest level of student reading ability was less than Grade 7.
In general, every effort was made to hold the reading level of
textual material to the lowest practical level.
Considering the gap in initial abilities, the Experimental
Group students accomplished a gain (67.1%) comparable to that
The Control Group students
of the Control Group (66.8%).
achieved an average very close to that of the national average
This fact would indicate that
on the Anderson-Fisk post-test.
the level of instruction in the small rural schools of this
study is comparable with that offered to students in large
urban centers.
The data regarding the Special Chemistry test was quite
While the actual gain made by students in the
revealing.
Experimental Group was higher than for the Anderson-Fisk
test, the percent of gain was less because of higher initial
On the other hand the Control Group students made a
scores.
smaller amount gain, and the percent of gain was only a little
by the Experimental Group.
more than half as great as made
Since the Control Group had initially made a higher grade on
the Special test, this finding would tend to indicate that the
objectives of the Special course were being attained if the
Special test is measuring the objective.
T-test scores were derived in order to determine the
2
In
statistical significance of differences in the means.
significance
general the t-test scores indicated that there was
between the two groups on
at the 1% level, although gains
of the post-
comparison of the pre-tests and on comparl,son
Correlations were
tests were greater than the 10% level.
Over one
calculated using the Pearson product moment method.
determine the
hundred correlations were drawn in an effort to
chemistry,
relationship of various factors to achievement in
The
both in the Special course and in the regular course.
be rather
correlations for the Experimental Group tended to
whereas
high for reading versus the Special Chemistry pre-test,
The
rather low.
the Differential Aptitude Tests correlated
all factors in
Control Group tended to correlate low on almost
Correlations on post-tests ran mudh higher, the
the pre-test.
Group.
Experimental Group tending to be higher than the Control
effort to determine
The correlations were analyzed also in an
basis of
whether or not any predictions could be made on the
This analysis revealed that prediction
the pre-test scores.
the correlation figures for Experimental
may be possible since
identical in several
students and Control students were almost
cases.
in reading
Correlations made for the Experimental Group students
showed
ability versus gaits on the standardized chemistry test
(r = .60), indicating the necessity for good
a fairly high value
Similarly,
this test.
skill in reading to make a high grade on
(.50 to .69) were obtained
reasonably high correlation values
Abstract Reasoning
for Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Ability and
This shows that for this standardized
versus the same gain.
high degree of ability in
instrument students require a fairly
these areas in order to make a high test gain.
that a course has
The conclusion drawn from this research is
typical high school
been devised which meets the need of
of textual material,
students as measured by the reading level
ability to cope with some
the amount of progress made, and the
measured by the
of the problems of the modern day world, as
Whereas Experimental
special test developed in this study.
with Control Group
Group students had made comparable progress
the
students on the standardized test, their progress on
A further indication
special test was almost twice as great.
that both of the experimental
of the value of sudh a course is
and in addition,
schools have requested that it be repeated,
initiate the
another three larger schools are planning to
During the school year a
of 1968.
course during the Fall
both courses were
number of students in one school where
offered asked to be transferred to the Experimental program.
(This was not allowed.)
INTRODUCTION
The stated purpose of secondary school education in the United
States is to educate students to become useful, well informed
In some areas, particularly in chemistry, there has
citizens.
The fault lies
been a long-term drift away from this objective.
with the tremendous progress made in this science in the past
and
two decades which requires a constantly enlarging scope
depth of teaching for the science major.
Students who are not science majors or who do not require a
chemistry course for a possible college career either
disqualify themselves from taking chemistry, or are discouraged
from doing so by the teachers or school administrators guiding
A student who is competing for a college
their programs.
scholarship or even admittance is reluctant to take a course
which might threaten his overall grade point average.
Our modern world is so largely shaped by chemistry and its by-
products that a person can no longer function adequately as a
In addition,
citizen without some knowledge of this discipline.
person's life experience.
a knowledge of chemistry can enrich a
It can give him a better appreciation and understanding of our
It even can contribute to a sense of
common environment.
greater security; indeed, increased understanding in this
More than ever before, the citizen
field can unlock many doors.
of the future will be called upon to support science socially
and politically, to contribute to it, and to interpret, apply,
and utilize its results.
Since chemistry is responsible for such a large portion of our
everyday life, a knowledge of chemistry potentially can make
safer gas station attendent,
a student a better dishwasher, a
It can confer an increased basis of
or a better mother.
understanding for almost any task.
Since in general the non-science major and the non-college-bound
student will have neither the ability, background, or interest
special
required to take and pass the regular chemistry course, a
requirements is indicated.
course drawn to his ability level and
This must not be merely a "watered down" version of the regular
specially created to fulfill his
course, but it must be one
stated needs, and to enable the student who takes it to play a
Thlis study was
society.
more informed and understanding part in
devised for the purpose of developing such a course.'
if
The hypothesis upon which this research is based assumes that
such a student is presented with a properly designed course, and
if he brings sufficient interest and ability to bear upon it, he
4
equivalent to those
he will pass the caurse with grades roughly
An objective of this study is to
he makes in other courses.
knowledge and applicational
impart to the student a degree of
the
ability of the science of chemistry so as to encourage
approaches of science to other
student to apply the methods and
experience.3
problems in his daily
METHODS
lack, this research
To fulfill the above apparent curriculum
and laboratory
study included the writing of a chemistry text
non-science
manual for secondary school students who were
The assumption was made that
majors or non-college-bound.
of lower ability in
such students would on the average be
impart
The course was deliberately written to
certain skills.
manner.4
understanding in the simplest possible
a maximum of
design was the
The first problem encountered in the course
In the interests of brevity,
selection of suitable material.
theory were
all historical information and all obsolete
less depth
Sutject matter was treated in considerably
omitted.
chemistry courses; however,
than in the regular or traditional
understanding
deliberate attempts were made to broaden basic
from everyday experience.
by relating concepts to examples chosen
fundamental concepts and
The course placed teaching emphasis on
It included some audiovisual materials,
their application.
difficult to teach, and the
particularly as related to concepts
The
possible.
inquiry method was used to as great an extent as
and opportunity for a certain
course included time, place,
amount of re-teaching.
study was written as simply
The Special course for this research
the
Indeed, the attempt was made to urite it at
as possible.
possible.
reading level of Grade 7, but this did not prove
kept constantly in
However, this goal of readability was one
help with the
mind, and a reading consultant was hired to
laboratory work,as a
This Special course also included
problem.
of the attempts to attract student interest
very important part
Especially
possible.
and involve them to as great an extent as
probably be his last
for the student for whom this course would
felt desirable
scholastic contact with a science course, it was
to as great an extent as
to engage all of his five senses
Laboratory work was selected
possible in the learning experience.
Questions
the course.
carefully and performed before inclusion in
designed to be rather open-ended,
on each Laboratory Unit were
and possible application rather than
to stimulate further thought
to call forth cut-and-dried answers.