Enhancement of Quality in Chemical Inquiry by Pre-University Students

Abstract

Our pre-university chemistry students face problems achieving sufficient quality in chemical inquiry. To try to enhance the quality of student performance in chemical inquiry, Dutch pre-university chemistry students (age 17) carried out an authentic research project on 'Diffusion of ions in distilled water.' The learning materials for this student inquiry project, the teaching scenario and the website were designed in cooperation with five chemistry teachers. Three teachers from this network and two other teachers also implemented the project with 80 students to find out whether the emphasis on relevant concepts of evidence (CoE) improves the quality of student inquiry outcomes. This partwith its emphasis on the CoE -in the student inquiry task is based on four key features: the students feel motivated to explore, focus their attention on, give meaning to and reflect upon CoE. In teams students conducted a guide experiment, analysed a scientific article, did an inquiry and wrote a report, discussed CoE with peers on the Internet and rewrote their reports. All lessons were observed, field notes were made and analysed on whether the intended student activities had been realised. The Internet discussion was recorded in a database and analysed. The first and final reports of all teams were coded and analysed. Also the students' appreciation of the activities was assessed. The teaching and learning activities were realized to a very large extent as planned in the design. The emphasis on CoE resulted in 65% of the students achieving a sufficient level of quality in their final reports.

Teachers implementing context-based teaching materials: a framework for case-analysis in chemistry

“…For the empirical study the context-based teaching unit 'learning to inquire' (Van Rens et al, 2005) was selected. In this the students (age 16-17 years old) learn about the basics of scientific inquiry and have to produce a (pseudo) scientific paper.…”

“…Besides this, it was selected for several other reasons. First, it is well described in the literature (Van Rens et al, 2005) and this description includes key information such as design strategies and effects, and the emphasis implemented. This assures that enough information will be available about the cells of the upper row (Figure 1).…”

Student-teachers’ Dialectically Developed Motivation for Promoting Student-led Science Projects

“…Generally, this work was similar to an 'apprenticeship' approach described elsewhere (Bencze, 2000), in which control of procedures is shared between instructor and students (although conclusions remain open-ended). It is also similar to lessons instructors provide regarding concepts-of-evidence (e.g., meaning and use of variable control), which have appeared to help students achieve success with inquiry activities (Van Rens, Pilot, & Van Dijk, 2004). Evaluating Available Conceptions: In concert with the 'apprenticeship' activities and course-long project, student-teachers were encouraged to evaluate claims about science and science inquiry made available to them.…”

The Development of Understanding of Evidence in Pre-University Biology Education in the Netherlands

“…Attempts have been made to enhance students' procedural understanding, with varying results (e.g. Buffler et al 2001;Rollnick et al 2002;Trumbull et al 2005;Van Rens et al 2004).…”