Preparation, application and evaluation of a new guide material for gas state of matter

The overall objective of this research project was to analyze the effects of anew developed Guide Material, which was included active learning methods andtechnique, for the unit of ?Gas State of Matter? on 10th grade students?sperformances, recalling levels and attitudes to chemistry lesson.At the first stage of the study; the misconceptions about the unit of ?GasState of Matter? were determined in the light of literature review. Then, thechemistry textbooks used in the Turkish secondary schools with approval of TurkishMinistry of Education and foreign sources were also analyzed. At last, GuideMaterials for both students and teachers were developed for ?Gas State of Matter?Unit according to active learning methods and techniques.In this research project, semi-experimental design by pre-test post-testcontrol group was used to solve the problems and sub-problems of the study. Thesubjects of the study consisted of 57 10th grade students from two science classes inzmir Buca High School. Students were divided into two groups: 29 students inexperimental group and 28 students in control group. Prior to the treatments, pre-testand attitude scale to chemistry lesson were administrated to the sample and nodifferences was found between both groups. While the students in the experimentalgroup were trained according to the new developed Guide Material including activelearning methods and techniques, teacher-centered traditional methods wereconducted in the control group. All the students from two groups were taught by thesame component chemistry teacher during the eighteen teaching periods in threeweeks.The results of the research project showed that the Guide Material based onactive learning was much more effective than traditional teaching methods in thefields of student performance, remediation of misconceptions, recalling level andattitude to chemistry lesson. Especially while the mean score of the control groupwas 54.29 it was founded that the mean score of the experimental group was 85.83(p< 0.05).Furthermore, results of the semi-structured interviews with students andteachers indicated that active learning methods and techniques helped students toenhance critical thinking, analyzing, evaluating and communicating abilities, madethem more active and self-confident learners.Keywords: Active Learning, Guide Material, Gas State of Matter,Misconceptions in Chemistry.