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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 9, Issue 2, Article 3
(Dec., 2008) |
From the results, it is revealed that non-science majors performed better after CA + modeling ability instruction and modeling ability only instruction, which both had significant difference from the control group. The good learning outcomes were based upon the evaluation regarding the concept of the battery, the general modeling ability questionnaire regarding the three dimensions of ontology, epistemology and methodology and the context-based modeling ability about global warming.
In the current science and technology-oriented society, conveying new scientific concepts and modeling competence are both the important aspects in achieving scientific literacy (Aikenhead, 1994; Gilbert et al., 2000; Halloun, 1996; Harrison & Treagust, 2000; Laugksch & Spargo, 1996). In this study, an efficient instructional design based upon CA and modeling ability was conducted and showed the good learning effect on not only students’ understanding of the concepts of battery, but also the knowledge of the model and modeling. A 200 minute topic-oriented instruction could really solve the problem of limited teaching hours which teachers may meet in school. The discussions and implications of this study are delineated as follows.
Modeling ability instruction is enough?
From the results, it is interesting to discover that there was no significant difference between students’ performance on concept tests, general modeling ability and context-based ability tests, in the two instructional design groups of CA + modeling ability instruction and modeling ability only instruction. On one hand, this result tells us that to increase students’ modeling ability, we could focus on modeling ability instruction, and make in-service teachers feel a bit released from cultivating students’ higher order thinking skills accompanying scientific concepts in limited teaching hours. Achieving good learning outcomes within short teaching hours is also revealed in Slotta and Chi’s study (2006), which proved that students could understand challenging topics like electric current better with brief ontology training; and in that study, it only took around two hours in total instruction time. In this study or Slotta and Chis’s study, both revealed that teaching hours is not a main focus of helping students learn better, but the instructional design is the key feature.
On the other hand, regarding the concepts of the battery were enhanced significantly in modeling ability only instruction; therefore, we need to seriously consider whether the concepts of battery conveyed in this study were simple, including the compositions and their functions of battery and not the complex scientific concepts or profound skills which need a long-term cultivation in a CA environment. This point corresponds to the idea in which Tilley indicated that CA fits the environment for teaching and learning about the complex skills and concepts (Tilley, 2001). Namely, if teachers want to improve students’ learning with regards to some complex concepts like chemical reaction (Chiu et al., 2002), it is essential to embed CA is in instruction. In addition, in terms of the low score on context-based modeling ability after instruction, as science educators we ought to endeavor to cultivate students’ modeling ability in specific science contexts.
The "video lab" is beneficial?
Engaging scientific concepts with life related and hands-on activity is found to be a critical factor to enhance learning interests in school education (Chang & Chiu, 2005). However, teachers very often mention the limited teaching hours in whichthey have to convey profound scientific conceptsmake them feel helpless; it often costs a lot of time in preparing experiments for students. The difficulty about embedding a hands-on activity for non-science major students to learn scientific concepts has also existed for long time, particularly at universities which are without any science related departments (not to mention letting students work in real labs). Therefore, a videotaped experiment to convey the concepts of the battery , whichalso shows the process of constructing the battery, is provided as a video lab in this study. From the results of concept tests and modeling ability tests, it reveals the good effect on students’ learning. Meanwhile, the video lab not only enlightened students’ modeling competence by showing the models of the battery, but it also presented the modeling process to show how expert thought constructed the battery model. The idea of the video lab fits the main feature of adopting cognitive apprenticeship through externalizing the process of experts’ thinking, and by letting students learn and think by observing it (Graeber et al., 2005). The most important thing is that teachers could save a lot of preparation time by using the video lab. Again, the concepts chosen to use in the video lab need to be well considered, and the retention effect needs to be investigated in the future.
In conclusion, a 200- minute topic-oriented instruction has an effect on achieving the goal of the scientific literacy though conveying the scientific concepts and cultivating modeling ability. The critical point of the instruction design is the modeling ability instruction. In addition, the presence of a video lab not only demonstrates good teaching materials and decreasing teachers’ teaching load, but could also represent the modeling phase of CA in the group of CA + modeling ability instruction. There is a Chinese old saying from Confucius that teaching students should be in accordance with their aptitude, and in this study, a similar ideas is also expressed that conveying concepts should be in accordance with their attributes. Although cognitive apprenticeship has been found to be a a good teaching environment, not every concept should be taught with it; for instance, in this study, non-science majors just need the modeling ability instruction and the video lab to learn the concepts of battery and also to promote their modeling ability.
