Introducing students to experimental design skills

Abstract

The results of an earlier empirical research study on modifying ‘step-by-step’ instructions to practical activities requiring one or more steps of the experiments to be designed by students initiated a longitudinal study to investigate the effectiveness of the approach for younger students and over a period of time. The longitudinal study that followed took the form of a four year research project that began in September 2016. Over 900 students have been involved. All were 12–13 years old in the beginning of the study. Each year they spend six lessons carrying out practical activities using worksheets we provide. This paper reports the findings of the first year, when the participating classes were allocated to one of three groups. Group 1 was the control group. Students simply followed the step-by-step instructions. Groups 2 and 3 were experimental groups. Group 2 students not only followed the same instructions, but also had to complete experimental design tasks on paper. Group 3 students followed the same instructions, but one or more steps were incomplete and students were required to design these steps. The impact of the intervention on the students’ experimental design skills, disciplinary content knowledge and attitude toward chemistry is measured by structured tests. After the first school year of the project it was clear that the type of instruction only had a weak significant positive effect on the results of the Group 2 students’ disciplinary content knowledge. No significant effect of the intervention could be detected on the changes in the students’ grades and attitudes toward the subject, which only seemed to depend on the ranking of their schools. This paper provides the interesting details of the results of the first year (pilot) of the research and discusses changes to the approach that have been made for the remaining three years of the project.

Guided inquiry-based learning in secondary-school chemistry classes: a case study

“…Even experienced teachers who have been using the method perceive the lack of resources as a serious restriction (Silm et al, 2017). We, therefore, need a selection of inquiry activities based on authentic problems that have been scientifically tested (Szalay, Tóth and Kiss, 2020).…”

“…In a further study, they carried out a four-year programme in which high-performing students participated in six inquiry activities each school year focusing on designing experiments. The students were attending sixyear secondary schools specialising in gifted education and had been admitted following a selection process (Szalay, Tóth and Kiss, 2020;Szalay, Tóth and Borbás, 2021). Our programme in contrast targets students attending ordinary four-year secondary schools, for most of whom chemistry education ends in the 10th grade.…”

Introducing Elements of Inquiry and Experimental Design in the First Year of an Undergraduate Laboratory Program

“…There is a growing body of work in this area, stemming from the influential work of Szalay and Toth in modifying single-session step-by-step school practicals. 11,12 The practicals thus modified must have certain features, such as a quick core loop that is amenable to experimentation, and here we extend prior work applying these principles to modify university level lab courses to contain "elements of inquiry". 13 ■ OUR CONTEXT AND DESIGN RATIONALE All first-year chemistry students at Strathclyde undertake a mandatory laboratory module in year 1, covering all areas of practical chemistry across both semesters of a two-semester year.…”

A Classroom-Based Activity to Teach Students How to Apply Organic Chemistry Theory to Design Experiments

“…18 Szalay et al developed a series of inquiry-based high school experiments requiring the application of fundamental chemical principles to design experiments. 19 Bouzidi and Gozzi introduced a factorial experimental design to students through a Grignard experiment where students optimize conditions by changing multiple variables. 20 Slade et al taught a project where students had to adapt literature procedures to learn experimental design skills.…”

“…Seery et al employed a scaffolding approach, where students first perform an expository procedure and then perform a similar inquiry-based experiment, which requires more planning . Szalay et al developed a series of inquiry-based high school experiments requiring the application of fundamental chemical principles to design experiments . Bouzidi and Gozzi introduced a factorial experimental design to students through a Grignard experiment where students optimize conditions by changing multiple variables .…”