Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
criticism, cooperativeness, voluntariness, persistence, and creativity compared
to students in a comparison group who were instructed in the traditional course?
2. How does the PBL chemistry laboratory course influence students
creative
thinking abilities in the dimensions of fluency, flexibility, and originality com-
pared to students in the comparison group who were instructed in the traditional
course?
'
4 Methodology
4.1 Research Sample
The research was conducted with 46 students (preservice teachers) in the second
year of a 4-year course, majoring in chemistry education at the College of Educa-
tion in a private university located in Seoul. The students comprised a convenience
sample (Merriam,
1998
). The treatment group of 20 college students in the chem-
istry PBL laboratory course was taught by the first author. Another 26 students in
the comparison group were involved in a traditional laboratory course. Students in
neither group had experienced PBL before. PBL was introduced only for the
students in the treatment group, and training sessions were given during the first
2 weeks of the semester. Students were free to choose either of the two laboratory
courses. Both groups of students were considered to be equivalent as they had
similar college entrance examination scores and general performance average
scores based on their end of first year examinations (treatment group mean
¼
3.69,
SD
0.44). In addition, the
two groups were considered to have similar chemistry background and laboratory
skills because both groups of students had taken same chemistry and chemistry
laboratory courses before they enrolled in this laboratory course.
¼
0.25; comparison group mean
¼
3.76, SD
¼
0.52;
t
¼
4.2 Research Design
This study used a quasi-experimental design with quantitative data (Anderson,
2000
; Creswell,
2003
) that used two previously designed questionnaires to solicit
information related to several affective factors from second-year college chemistry
students who were involved in a problem-based learning (PBL) chemistry labora-
tory course. In order to make comparisons in particular instances, information was
also solicited from a group of students enrolled in a traditional laboratory course
that involved carrying out specific laboratory activities based on instructions that
were provided. With the small sample size and the likelihood of non-normal
distribution, any differences between the treatment and comparison groups and
between pre- and posttests were analyzed with nonparametric statistics.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search