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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 15, Issue 1, Article 7 (Jun., 2014) |
In this study a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodology was used to address the research questions. It was in quantitative nature that fortune lines drawn by the students were analyzed using fortune lines technique (Rush, 1998, cited in White & Gunstone), while it was in qualitative nature that the students’ views about fortune lines technique were analyzed through descriptive and content analysis techniques (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2000).
Participants were 38 ninth grade students in a Technical Vocational Girls High School, whom the first researcher of the study had been teaching as a biology teacher in Kocaeli, Turkey in the 2010-2011 academic years. Participants were selected through a convenience sampling method (Büyüköztürk et al., 2013). All of the female participants were 15-16 years old and were from mixed ability class. They come from diverse areas throughout Turkey and are from middle socio-economic backgrounds.
In this study a book titled ‘Probing Understanding’ (White & Gunstone, 1988) was a basic reference for implementation and analysis of fortune lines technique.
In the beginning of the study the students were informed that they were not given any marks. Participants were also informed about the purpose of the study and how fortune lines technique would be implemented in the classroom.
The preliminary study was implemented in the classroom to introduce fortune lines technique to the students. The teacher asked the students to draw fortune lines regarding four sentences about daily life. Then, an example activity called ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ was given to the students, and they were asked to draw fortune lines related to Little Red Riding Hood. The Little Red Riding Hood Story (White & Gunstone, 1998; Little Red Riding Hood) is divided into 10 chapters:
1. She leaves home,
2. She enters the forest,
3. She meets a wolf,
4. She goes to the forest to escape from the wolf,
5. She arrives at a shed of her grandmother,
6. The wolf asks what big eyes she has,
7. The wolf asks what big ears she has,
8. The wolf asks what big teeth she has.
9. The wolf tries to chase and eat her,
10. A woodcutter arrives and kills wolf,
11. Grandmother is rescued.
Figure 2 shows a graph of a student’s fortune lines regarding the story.
Figure 2. Fortune lines of a student about Little Red Riding Hood story (from White & Gunstone, 1988)
The core research was about the subject of enzymes. After the subject of enzymes was taught by the teacher (the first researcher of the study) through direct lecture and power point slides, the Enzymes Activity was implemented in the classroom. Then, the Fortune Lines Technique Questionnaire was given to the students in order to obtain students’ views about fortune lines.
Enzymes Activity: It was prepared by the researchers to obtain the students’ views about the usage of enzymes in daily life. After the subject of enzymes was taught, the activity sheets were handed out to the students. They included a reading text and 10 important items about usage of enzymes in human life. After each student read the text, they were required to indicate their views using fortune lines technique in 10 minutes.
Enzymes Activity
A living thing’s reaction duration time to various stimulates is on the level with which they require. A fly can escape your hands in 65 milliseconds, but it cannot escape from a hostile insect that is faster than a fly by about 5 milliseconds. According to biochemists, if enzymes that act as catalyst had a slower reaction time, life wouldn’t appear. There are 3000 different enzyemes in a cell. These enzymes control almost all biochemical reactions and affect all stages of the functions of a cell. That’s why they have several tasks from building of cell membrane to storing energy in nutrition molecules. Wilhelm Kuhne discovered in 1876 a biologic catalyst and it called enzymes that mean ‘it is in yeast’ in Greek.
Enzymes make reaction fast. For example, enzymes shorten duration in a hundred or thousand times that is necessary time for a sugar molecule fragmentation into CO2 to H2O.
Otherwise, we would have to wait for months perhaps years. Enzymes provide much usefulness not only in human body but also all aspects of life for human beings. Once upon a time it was called as iron storage however after people have understood an exagrated statement, looked down spinach appears in different fields. In the latest studies spinach is a source of A and B vitamin, and folic acid. Furthermore, it is found that some enzymes in its cell make strong explosives undangerous. Researchers reported that nitroreductase enzyme and other enzymes in our stomach and intestine digest nutritions and digest some explosives and turn them into undangerous. A group of researchers in USA refined nitroreductase enzyme and other natural compounds from the sap of spinach’s leaves. When it is investigated which substances are fragmentated by refined enzymes, it was determined that they are some explosives like TNT. It is observed surprisingly nitroreductase enzyme and other enzymes in our stomach and intestines digest nutritions, and digest some explosives and turn them into undangerous. It is also proved that the last product fragmented by enzymes is environmentally friendly. It could be possible that this undengereaus last product can be turned into some useful compounds that could be used in industry. Biotechnological method which uses enzymes is described as an undengereous digestion function for environment. The most important advantage of this project is that it can be destroyed a tens of thousands explosives economically and environmentally friendly particularly USA and other countries stored. It is said that only United States has 500 thousand tons of stored explosive.
Various food productions by enzyms and uses of these products in industry have been common for 10-15 years. Enzymes industry has 1.3 billion dolars market potential in the world, and it gets bigger %10-15 every year. Some enzymes are used in detergent industry as super cleaner, in beverage industry to obtain glucose from starch, and in textile industry for special cleaning of textile. By means of this discovery, enzymes will be used for annihilaion of explosives. When enjected enzymes solution is spreyed far away to bomb places, they annilihate all types explosives silently and explosives will be undengerous. To annilite these explosives in this way provide big advantages than the conventional methods such as blowing up, firing, annilite that is so expensive under high temperature and pressure in closed places. So during explosion, the risk of losing human beings’ lives and fire will decrease significiantly. Moreover, their co-products will be kept in environmentally friendly. They will be used in market; especially it will facilitate annilition of extra explosives in military under normal conditions. We don’t know with new enzymes and proteins obtained by future studies may recover which illnesses and will get useful products in industry and technology (from http://www.pnl.gov/news33, cited in Aydın, 1998).
Note: Please draw on the back of this sheet your positive or negative feelings, thoughts, and emotions about the text above with fortune lines technique. Please write the corresponding number from below next to each fortune line.
What Do You Think About The Following Sentences?
1. Management of enzymes all biochemical reactions.
2. The case of enzymes that work slower than normal speed.
3. The nitroreductase enzyme which found in spinach can annihilate explosives like TNT.
4. West products after explosives are annihilated by enzymes can be used in industry in order to recycling.
5. The nitroreductase enzyme facilitates digestion in our stomach and intestines.
6. The United States has 500 thousand tons of stored explosives.
7. The increasing usage of enzymes in industry.
8. The usage of enzymes in detergent and cleaning supplies.
9. Enzymes can work not only within cells, but also throughout life.
10. Future expectations about enzymes.
Fortune Lines Technique Questionnaire: 10 participants were given the Fortune Lines Technique Questionnaire including three open-ended questions:
1. What do you think about the fortune lines technique?
2. How efficient is this technique to express your emotions, thoughts, and feelings?
3. What are the pros and cons of this technique?
Two techniques were used for data analyses related to the Enzymes Activity: Fortune lines technique (Rush, 1998, cited in White & Gunstone) and content analysis technique (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2000). The students’ fortune lines about enzymes were first analyzed using fortune lines technique. Table 1 shows the symbols and meanings associated with the fortune lines technique.
Before analyzing the data, the students’ Enzymes Activity answer sheets were numbered from 1 to 38. A graph of fortune lines for 10 items was provided in each of the student’s sheets. These symbols found in the fortune lines’ graph were analyzed separately according to the symbols in Table 1 (developing fortune lines, changing fortune lines, unchanging fortune lines, and worsening fortune lines). Each graph was analyzed using symbols for each item, and percentages were calculated for each symbol. The results are shown in Table 2. The expected fortune lines were drawn by the researchers to compare with the students’ fortune lines for the Enzymes Activity, and they can be found in the last column of Table 2. Figure 3 shows expected fortune lines for the Enzymes Activity. The students’ developing fortune lines, changing fortune lines, unchanging fortune lines, and worsening fortune lines for the Enzymes Activity were compared with the expected fortune lines and presented in the findings section.
Figure 3. Expected fortune lines for the enzymes activity
Expected fortune lines for the Enzymes Activity were drawn again by the researchers and one biology teacher who had been teaching biology for 16 years by the end of the study. They analyzed some of the data from the Enzymes Activity and calculated the percentages. As there was no significant difference between the results of the researchers and the biology teacher for the Enzymes Activity, it is assumed that inter-rater consistency was established.
Moreover, data related to the Fortune Lines Technique Questionnaire were analyzed by descriptive and content analysis techniques (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2000). The students’ Fortune Lines Technique Questionnaires were numbered 1-10. Three questions in the Fortune Lines Technique Questionnaire were analyzed separately. The responses to the questions were divided into themes and sub-themes, and a table was created by calculating the sub-themes’ percentages. All of the results are summarized in Table 3. Students’ real names were not provided and numbers were assigned to each student. Notable responses were quoted and refered to by their assigned numbers.
Inter-rater consistency of themes and sub-themes about Fortune Lines Technique Questionnaire were supplied by the article writers.
