Handbook preparation as a tool for self- directed learning process: A case study on endocrine topic

Responds to Drawing Endocrine Glands and Writing Their Functions

The percentages of student teachers’ pre-test and post-test answers about endocrine glands’ functions are given in Table 2.

Table 2. The percentage of student teachers’ answers about endocrine glands’ functions.

Endocrine Glands	Categories	Pre-test (%)	Post-test (%)
Pituitary Glands	Blank	10	3.3
	Incorrect	-	-
	Partially Correct	16.7	36.7
	Correct	-	53.3
Thyroid	Blank	23.3	20
	Incorrect	-	-
	Partially Correct	3.3	46.7
	Correct	-	33.3
Parathyroid	Blank	6.7	20
	Incorrect	-	-
	Partially Correct	3.3	16.7
	Correct	-	46.7
Adrenal Glands	Blank	26.7	16.7
	Incorrect	Estrogen, progesterone (3.3)	-
	Partially Correct	6.7	60
	Correct	-	23.3
Pancreas	Blank	6.7	13.3
	Incorrect	-	-
	Partially Correct	-	3.3
	Correct	3.3	70
Testis	Blank	6.7	13.3
	Incorrect	-	-
	Partially Correct	-	33.3
	Correct	-	53.3
Ovaries	Blank	3.3	13.3
	Incorrect	-	-
	Partially Correct	-	46.7
	Correct	-	40

*40% of student teachers drew the endocrine glands, but not all of them wrote the functions, so the percentages in the first column of the Table do not total 100%.

After analysis of the pre-test papers, it was seen that 60% of the student teachers could not answer this question. As seen in the Table 2, 40% of the student teachers who drew endocrine glands had very little knowledge before the material development process. In the pre-test, the most frequently drawn endocrine glands were the thyroid, adrenal glands and pituitary gland. But respectively, 3.3%, 6.7% and 16.7% of student teachers wrote partially correct functions of these endocrine glands. Ten percent drew the liver and 3.3% drew the brain as an endocrine gland. Additionally, 6.7% had misconceptions about the function of the liver such as “liver secretes insulin and glucagon.” One of the student teacher's indicated that the “adrenal glands secrete estrogen and progesterone". Furthermore, 6.7% of student teachers had a misunderstanding about the name of the sexual glands, for example, calling them “reproduction glands,” and 3.3% wrote they had a reproductive function.

As can be seen in the pre-test column in Table 2, although student teachers drew endocrine glands, only a minority described their functions. But, as seen in the post-test column of Table 2, there is a significant increase in the ratio of the correct answers. After the handbook preparation process, the student teachers mostly gave the correct and partially correct answers. In the pre-test, only 3.3% had scientifically accepted knowledge about the function of the pancreas, whereas after the material development process, 70% wrote the correct answer. Similar situations are valid for the parathyroid glands, testis and ovaries. These results can be interpreted as student teachers remedy their lack of knowledge about the endocrine glands during the handbook preparation process.

Responds to Writing Descriptions of Concepts of Feedback, Hormone and Homeostasis

Analysis of the students’ papers showed that student teachers did not have problems about the concept of homeostasis. The student teachers' response to the concepts of feedback and hormone are given in Table 3.

As seen in the pre-test column of the Table 3, the student teachers had learning problems about the concept of feedback. Fifty percent of student teachers couldn’t explain feedback, and 20% wrote incorrect answers. In the pre-test, only 10% gave correct answers. After the material development process, they changed their incorrect knowledge and replaced it with scientifically accepted ideas; and the ratio of the correct answers increased to 90% in the post-test.

As can be seen in Table 3, 40% of the student teachers partially defined the concept of hormone as a “protein” or “steroid.” Ten percent made partial explanation, which contain one misconception such as “fluid" or “secreted by the organs”. As the percentage of correct answers was 40% in the pre-test, this ratio rose to 63.3% in the post-test.

Table 3. The percentages of the student teachers’ answers about the concepts of feedback and hormone.

Concepts	Categories	Pre-test (%)	Post-test (%)
Feedback	Blank	50	3.3
	Incorrect	The body absorbs the necessary matters before the excretion. For example, absorption of some of water in the urine (10) When it is necessary, the body use the storage and waste matters (6. 7) Absorption of some of the wastes to prevent the food lost (3.3)	-
	Misconceptions	3.3	-
	Partially Correct	16.7	6.7
	Correct	10	90
Hormone	Blank	10	3.3
	Incorrect	-	-
	Misconceptions	Fluid (3.3) Secreted by the organs (3.3) Protein structured matter, it’s secreted insufficiency of another matter (3.3)	Fluid (3.3)
	Partially Correct	40	30
	Correct	40	63.3

Students’ Views about the Learning Process

After completion of the study, the student teachers were interviewed to identify particular issues that emerged and concerning their perceptions effectiveness of the material development process on their self-learning. The results from these interviews generated seven advantages:

A1. The material development process forced the student teachers to be mentally active, and they also enjoyed the material preparation and learning. Some of responses from the student teachers as follow:

ST8: “We wrote poems, songs, drew pictures, prepared puzzles and educational games to make our materials more interesting and instructive. We played our games with our peers and sung our songs, it was very enjoyable.”

ST5: “I prepared a PowerPoint CD with my handbook. The CD had questions about the endocrine glands. I have never used the computer to prepare such a material, I wanted help of my friend as I learnt to prepare the PowerPoint programme; it was both very challenging and enjoyable.”

A2. The student teachers became more meta-cognitive with respect to the material development process involved in the construction of subject knowledge. They commented that they were aware of wrong ideas when they prepared their handbook. The following interview excerpt illustrates this:

ST1: “We didn’t know much more about the endocrine glands and the related concepts. When we were preparing our handbooks, we searched from books, newspapers, magazines and the Internet. We learned different and interesting things. We exchanged our incorrect knowledge.”

A3. The student teachers became more confident to teach endocrine system.

ST18: “This subject is really very difficult and I did not have self-confidence to teach this subject to my students before preparation of the handbook. But now, I believe that I had the basic knowledge and if I read once more before, I can teach this subject effectively in my class. I have also learnt many things about illnesses related with hormones.”

A4. The material development process changed the reliance of the student teachers on the traditional methods. The responses are typified by the following comments:

ST25: “We have not been taught like this, we have been familiar with listening and memorizing. If we have responsibility of our learning by using different methods, we do not easily forget. Before this study, I believed that the lecturing was the best way to teach some of biology subjects like endocrine system or nervous system and etc. I will use these kinds of student-oriented methods when I am teacher.”

A5. This process developed the social learning of the student teachers. During the material development process they were affected by their peers’ materials and tried to prepare themselves better. This increased their motivation. The following comment illustrates this:

ST30: “I prepared my handbook, but after I had seen my friends, I did not like mine and I changed it.”

A6. This method increased the student teachers’ oral presentation skills and problem solving abilities.

ST12: “As we were designing our materials we thought very much about how we could make these materials more instructive, which pictures, illustrations we should use and how much information we should give. This kind of study developed our creativity. I understood that teaching was a very difficult profession.”

A7. Handbook preparation method, broken the monotony of the topics and facilitated the student teachers’ memorizing.

In summary, the handbook preparation process activated the student teachers to participate in their own learning and this facilitated their learning. However, 13.3% of the student teachers stated that the material development process was not effective on their learning because of their learning styles and carelessness.

One of them mentioned that, “I read the information in the biology books and copied them into my material directly and I didn’t learn much, so that I forgot them easily.” Another commented that, “because I prepared my handbook the night before the deadline, I couldn’t do interesting things. We are not familiar doing homework.”

One also said that, “I paid more attention to the appearance of my handbook and its instructive aim fell behind. I only remember the messages which I wrote in the balloons or other striking things.”

These learners perceived the handbook preparation as a task or a demand and engaged in surface processing activities that resulted with very limited learning. However, they emphasized that they changed the beliefs about the practicality of the new teaching methods.