Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemStudents' ideas in chemistry classes : echoes of the past?( 1999)This study is an attempt to improve the teaching of chemistry by comparing the views held by students on the nature of substance with those held by thinkers throughout the history of the subject. Realizing that the concepts currently accepted by the scientific community were arrived at after thousands of years of observation, experiment, thought and discussion, the study will also seek to discover whether the history and philosophy of science can illuminate the path of concept development by students. The phenomenographic method was used to explore the different ways in which students understand concepts such as elements, ultimate particles, gases and combustion. These ways of understanding were posited into past studies of student views and other theoretical attempts to understand them. A scheme for comparing students' ideas with those found in the history of chemistry was developed. It has been argued that historical categories may be useful in understanding the misconceptions, in classifying them, and in finding ways to deal with them effectively. The development of scientific knowledge is seen as a socio-cultural experience in which classrooms become communities of discourse. The historical approach to understanding student ideas was then applied to the structuring of teacher-student discourse in the classroom. Examples of this type of discourse were recorded and included in the conclusion.
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ItemA cartoon chemistry text : the construction and testing of a novel chemistry text incorporating human values( 1990)This study examines current science texts and the concerns and objectives of Science-Technology-Society based courses. It indicates that they present the public image of the practising scientist (with inherent Mertonian values of Universalism, Communism, Disinterestedness, and organized skepticism) which is used to organize scientific concepts into a meaningful whole. Utilizing the notion that a value is anything important to a student, a hypothesis was proposed that meaning and interest generated from a text is dependent on the extent of overlap between text and student values. The implications of the interaction of different value systems with a Mertonian based text were considered. An attempt was made to develop a chemistry text that was meaningful to all students, by organizing concepts into a story form with non-Mertonian organization. This approach evolved into a cartoon format with specific features. Two cartoon text items were tested at two schools. The trial involved a survey item on 103 students and audio taped interviews with 20 students. The trial attempted to evaluate the cartoon as a student text, attitudes to issues content, and styles of resolving issues based conflicts. The results were interpreted by classifying the respondents into four categories of science likingness ( A, B, C, D) on the basis of Year 11 subject choice, and favorite subject. It was assumed that the accommodation of Mertonian values by a group reflected the science likingness of the group. The cartoon text was well received with most students wishing to see more cartoons, and being able to answer questions from the text. The B, C, and D groups expressed a preference for the cartoon text over their current science text. The proposed differential accommodation of values appeared to account for the greater enthusiasm of the B and C groups for the cartoons than the A and D groups. Perceptions of the amount of current social problems/ issues content in science teaching increased markedly with group science likingness. The amount of issues content desired decreased with increasing group science likingness. A belief that scientific solutions could resolve social problems/ issues, showed a marked decrease with decreasing science likingness. A value model of cognitive style was developed from the basic hypothesis and assumptions regarding the extent of accommodation of Mertonian and Humanist norms as personal values. This model seemed to account for variations in meaning generated for the various groups in response to both the standard and cartoon science text format.
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ItemA comparison of concept maps and cloze tests as revision techniques in senior high school chemistry: their effectiveness and influences on cognitive structures and deep-processing( 1990)A comparison of the effect of two revision techniques on the academic performance of students in senior high school chemistry was conducted. The underlying psychological theory had suggested that the technique which promoted the greatest amount of deep-level processing should be the one which created the most significant academic gains for the students who carried it out. It was also attempted to distinguish between the two revision techniques on the basis of the results they produced in both descriptive and quantitative material. Finally any sex differences in performance were also investigated for the two revision techniques. Statistical analysis found that significant differences existed between the two techniques as to the effects produced for quantitative material, the net gains made by students engaged in concept mapping and the relationship between academic performance and the student's ability on the revision exercises. This last result calls into question some of the underlying premises about the students' ability to construct concept maps.
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ItemThe mole concept: teaching and learning( 1982)Historically, teachers were responsible for the accurate teaching of prescriptions delineated in courses, textbooks and examinations. Recent developments in chemistry education assume a broader responsibility of teachers to become involved in the process of learning itself. This thesis is an account of one teacher's explorations of the relationship between the teaching and learning of a central concept in Chemistry; the Mole concept, through the surprisingly rich and varied literature that exists in this important scientific idea. The problem of teaching the Mole is a practical curriculum problem and as such is as much concerned with the problem of understanding the current theory in the scientific literature and understanding the perceptions of students as it is with the logical presentation of material as indicated by the text. The confusion surrounding the nature of the scientific language itself in professional literature and textbooks is weighed and the thinking of eight students recently introduced to the Mole is explored through structured interview. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of some teaching strategies and techniques of diagnosis of learning problems in this area of chemistry.
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ItemSenior school chemistry in Victoria: syllabus prescription and pressure for change( 1984)A few key ideas have dominated the senior school chemistry syllabuses in Victoria. Despite pressures for change, and disclaimers to the contrary at various times, the Victorian course developers have shown a constant commitment to chemistry as an academic discipline, to the exclusion of most if not all of the societal, cultural, historical and economic aspects of the subject. In this thesis, an understanding of present courses in terms of past practice has been sought through a study of the ideas which have influenced syllabus design at various times. Some purchase on the exercise of change in school syllabuses, on the possibilities and limits to change, was obtained, although no prediction of future directions could be attempted. At the outset a decision was taken to concentrate the investigation on materials published principally for the direction of teachers whose task it was to prepare their classes for an externally set and assessed examination in chemistry. Thus, in this thesis, attention has focussed on the expressed intentions of the course developers in Victoria, as outlined in syllabuses, Course of Study and Scope of Course statements, and commentary in Circulars to Schools. Data extracted from these documents was supplemented with material from the recommended textbooks and Reports of Examiners. The former provided an extended coverage of material prescribed in the syllabuses, offering more insight into teaching sequence and depth than could, at this remove, be fairly inferred from syllabus documents alone. Commentary in the Reports of Examiners revealed more of the expectations of examiners and course developers than was apparent from the syllabuses alone. The correctives suggested by the examiners for a range of perceived shortcomings gave an indication of what was seen at various times as appropriate in schools courses. The examination papers themselves were not analyzed except for a few specific items. Although examinations have without doubt served to direct and limit teaching practice, this has not been their primary function. Selection of content, and methods of teaching specific items of content, and trends in course changes, were compared with contemporary practice in England and the United States. Chemistry method textbooks proved useful here as those available were spread approximately evenly across the whole of the period of the survey. Journal articles, except for those few which reported historical material, tended to be concentrated in the latter quarter of the century, 1955 to 1980, thus affording a much better coverage of ideas extant during that period than was the case for the earlier years. The syllabus in action, in terms of classroom practice, facilities and management, was not considered as part of this study. These factors assumed significance only in so far as they imposed limitations on the course developers. Those decisions taken revealed, in the syllabus but more so in commentary documents, the rationalization of an idealized conception of the discipline of chemistry into a form fit for school use. The view taken in this thesis was neither strictly historical nor chronological. No attempt was made to fully document the development of chemistry as a school level subject in this state. Past practice, and current overseas practice, were used rather to construct a context in which the most recent course changes in Victoria could be explained. In commenting on syllabus change, it has proved easier to identify past shortcomings than to point to a direction for the future. Trends, even though well established, can be and have been reversed. An aim shared by course developers in different countries is susceptible to quite disparate interpretations, resulting in courses with little in common. Further, as this research has been limited to publicly expressed intentions in official documents, it allowed only indirect reflection on purposes and reasons for decisions. A study complementary to this thesis in which particular periods were dealt with in greater detail, could examine the hopes and frustrations of those individuals who assumed the responsibility for the development of school level chemistry courses in Victoria. From both sorts of consideration of the studies a society chooses to impose on its children, some insight into the nature of that society and its culture could be gained.