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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 9, Issue 2, Article 10
(Dec., 2008) |
The implementation continued in both groups for 4 class hours (40 min.) a week for 4 continuous weeks.
Teaching Approaches Used with the Experimental Group: Some questions about certain concepts relating to the circulatory system were asked in order to disclose pre-instructional knowledge and instill interest by students; this is consistent with the engagement stage of the class plan designed according to the 5E instructional model. Students had previous knowledge about the concepts like blood, the heart, vessels and lymph nodes. An interesting image symbolizing the circulatory system was presented to the students. In addition, a story about the relationship among the heart, blood and vessels was read. Images were distributed for each group to assist them to prepare a heart model in the exploration stage of our activity. Then, each group was expected to create a heart model by combining these images. Blood structure was examined under the microscope in the following class. The students were given the task of researching the structure of heart and blood at the end of exploration stage. The heart model created by the students was reinforced using the overhead projector and the parts of heart were described in the explanation stage. Information was given about blood structure and vessels, and questions from the students were answered. Information about systemic and pulmonary circulation and the lymph system was given. A research task about the importance of blood donation was given in extension stage. Moreover, the students were asked to prepare and exhibit a drama representing the systemic and pulmonary circulation. It was attempted to determine whether or not the students gained target behaviors by using different methods in the evaluation stage.
Approached Used with the Control Group: Traditional instruction methods were used with the control group. The researcher used direct teaching and question and answer methods to teach related topics and basic concepts. Basic explanations and question and answer methods suited the traditional teaching approach where students are completely passive, were used while teaching the circulatory system unit. Teaching strategies consisted of the researcher’s explanations and textbooks. In this group, the researcher provided instruction through lecture and discussion methods to teach the concepts. The researcher structured the entire class as a unit, wrote notes on the chalkboard about the definition of concepts, and passed out worksheets for students to complete. The primary underlying principle was that knowledge takes the form of information that is transmitted to students. After the teacher’s explanations, some concepts were discussed, prompted by teacher-directed questions. Worksheets were developed specifically for each lesson. These required written responses and reinforced the concepts presented in the classroom sessions. They were collected and corrected by the researcher. Each lesson typically consisted of the researcher presenting the correct way to solve problems. The majority of instructional time was devoted to instruction and engaging in discussion stemming from the researcher’s explanation and questions.
The multiple choice achievement test composed of 15 questions applied at the beginning was also administered to both groups at the end of the unit as the post test. The t-test and percentage expressions were used in the analysis of research data. Significance level was considered as α = 0.05.
