Effects of guided and semi-guided investigations on sixth grade students' conceptualization levels

Abstract

The present study attempts to understand the effect of two different types of investigation techniques on sixth graders’ conceptualization levels related to the concepts of physical and chemical changes. The study was carried out with the six graders in a public primary school located in an economically disadvantaged district of Istanbul. There were totally 156 sixth graders in the school. 80 students were selected as the sample of the study and two homogeneous groups (n=40) were formed by matching subjects with their science grades and science attitude scores. However, 27 of the students in the first subgroup and 23 of the students in the second subgroup have completed the treatments. Science Attitude Scale (SAS) (Togrol, 2000) was used in order to determine students’ attitudes towards science. Science Concept Scale - Physical and Chemical Changes (SCS-PCC) is the second instrument developed by the researcher in order to measure students’ conceptualization levels related to the selected science conceptsphysical and chemical changes. There were two groups treated with guided investigations, and two groups treated with semi-guided investigations. During guided investigations, the procedure of the tasks were given to the students explicitly by the teacher, while in semi-guided investigations students find out the procedures by themselves and continue their investigations according to their own procedures. Results indicate that both types of investigations cause positive developments on six graders’ conceptualization levels. In addition, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted in order to examine whether there is a difference between the conceptualization levels of students who were treated with different investigation techniques. Although the result of this analysis did not indicate significant difference between the effects of these laboratory investigations on students’ conceptualizations, it is found out that the number of incorrect answers or answers which include alternative conceptions for the students who were treated with guided investigations are more that the ones who were treated with semiguided investigations. On the other hand, the number of completely correct answers for the students who were treated with semi-guided investigations are more than the ones who were treated with semi-guided investigations.