The Effect of conceptual change texts on chemical equilibrium achievement

IV ABSTRACT THE AFFECT OF CONCEPTUAL CHANGE TEXTS ON CHEMICAL EQUILIBRIUM ACHIEVEMENT (Ph.D. Thesis) Hüseyin AKKUŞ GAZI UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES December-2004 The purpose of this study was to prepare conceptual change texts which will facilitate the understanding of concepts related to chemical equilibrium and decrease the formation of the misconceptions and when students' ÖBT, MDGT, KDKT-i and TT score are controlled, to compare the effects of traditional instructions approach in which textbooks are used with constructivist approach in which conceptual change texts are used on 10th grade students conceptual achievement related to chemical equilibrium. This study was administered to a total 44 10 grade students who were being educated in two different science classes in Çağnbey Anatolian High school in Mamak during the second term of 2003-2004. One of the classes was assigned as control group and the other one was assigned as experimental group. In experimental group, chemical equilibrium subject was presented with the constructivist approach in which conceptual change texts were used, while in control group it was presentedwith traditional instruction approach in which textbooks were used. Before the application this study ÖBT, MDGT, KDKT-I and TT-i were assigned in both groups to control students' prior knowledge, group assessment of logical thinking, their prior knowledge related to chemical equilibrium and their attitudes to chemistry lesson. After application, this test was reapplied as CECT-p. Also, an achievement test was applied to measure the correlations between students' conceptual achievement attitude an algorithmic achievements. Also, in order to identify both students' and teachers' misconceptions related to chemical equilibrium, a true-false test which mostly consisted of students' misconceptions were applied. At the and of the study, interviews, each of them lasting 20-25 minutes, were made with total 18 students who were selected from experimental and control group according to the scores they took from concept test related to chemical equilibrium. The purpose in these interviews was to investigate students' conceptual understanding with chemical equilibrium. Students participated in this interview willingly and interview was recorded with the permission of students. At the and of interviews, students' episodes, strings, propositions and misconceptions existing after application and related with chemical equilibrium were identified. ANCOVA, t-test and correlations analysis was used to test study's hypothesis. The results showed that constructivist approach in which conceptual change texts were used more effective on students' conceptual achievements related to chemical equilibrium than traditional instruction approach in which textbooks were used. Although students' attitudes to chemistry lesson, their prior knowledge related to chemical equilibrium don't influence the understanding of chemical equilibrium concepts statistically, the effect of their logical thinking ability and their prior knowledge on their conceptual achievements related to chemical equilibrium is statistically significant and there is a significant relationship between students' attitudes to chemistry lesson and conceptual achievement.