APPROACHING THE CONCEPTS OF ACIDS AND BASES BY COOPERATIVE LEARNING

An approach for teaching the topic ‘acids and bases’ in the ninth grade (first grade of general secondary school - age 15 - in Yugoslavia) is presented. The active construction of knowledge through social interaction and the interaction with the learning content is provided by experimental work. Two cooperative learning forms are applied: students’ working in groups and the ‘teacher-student’ form. In both forms, the students were required to analyze, to compare properties of given substances and to apply previously acquired knowledge in order to give explanations and draw conclusions. The effects of this approach were tested by an experimental-control group method. Initial Test 1 showed the equivalency of the two groups. The experimental-group achieved higher than the control group on the final paper-and-pencil Test 2 by 16% at the reproduction level, 22% at the understanding level, and 14% at the application level. A significantly higher number of students from the experimental group than the control group were capable to apply theoretical knowledge in the explanations of the changes observed in demonstration experiments performed during the final Test 3. Furthermore, according to the final Test 4 results, these students were more successful in organizing and carrying out their own experiments and in explaining the obtained results. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. Eur.: 2000, 1, 263-275]

[1]  David M. Hanson,et al.  Improving the Teaching/Learning Process in General Chemistry: Report on the 1997 Stony Brook General Chemistry Teaching Workshop , 1998 .

[2]  Thomas W. Shiland.  Constructivism: The Implications for Laboratory Work , 1999 .

[3]  Lois M. Browne,et al.  Teaching Introductory Organic Chemistry: A Problem-Solving and Collaborative-Learning Approach , 1999 .

[4]  John C. Wright,et al.  Authentic Learning Environment in Analytical Chemistry Using Cooperative Methods and Open-Ended Laboratories in Large Lecture Courses. , 1996 .

[5]  Richard S. Moog,et al.  A Guided-Inquiry General Chemistry Course , 1999 .

[6]  Dorothy L. Gabel,et al.  Improving Teaching and Learning through Chemistry Education Research: A Look to the Future , 1999 .

[7]  D. Trivić,et al.  Evaluating achievement in chemistry learning through demonstration experiments , 1997 .

[8]  R. C. Dougherty,et al.  Cooperative Learning and Enhanced Communication: Effects on Student Performance, Retention, and Attitudes in General Chemistry. , 1995 .

[9]  Richard M. Felder,et al.  Active-Inductive-Cooperative Learning: An Instructional Model for Chemistry?. , 1996 .

[10]  Jeffrey Kovac,et al.  Student Active Learning Methods in General Chemistry , 1999 .

[11]  R. J. Duchovic.  Teaching College General Chemistry: Techniques Designed to Communicate a Conceptual Framework , 1998 .

[12]  E. Kennedy.  What Do They Think of Chemistry , 1996 .

[13]  Gayle Nicoll,et al.  Integrating Multiple Teaching Methods into a General Chemistry Classroom , 1998 .

[14]  D. R. Paulson.  Active Learning and Cooperative Learning in the Organic Chemistry Lecture Class. , 1999 .