In chemistry cycle 1, students actively engaged in experimentation still did worse on the volume-rate item, with correct answers falling 6% from pre-test to post-test¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · design r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2011 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Class 4A students, though actively involved in experiments and rate-curve plotting, answered the volume-effect item less well after the lesson: correct answers fell by 6% from pre-test to post-test. → Ming Fai Pang 2011

Evidence¶

Ming Fai Pang 2011¶

Ming Fai Pang, Lo Mun Ling. (2011). Learning study: helping teachers to use theory, develop professionally, and produce new knowledge to be shared. Instructional Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-011-9191-4

q2 · i? · design · r3

Post-lesson diagnostic test in class 4A of the secondary four chemistry learning study (VITAL project). The lesson 'basically reflects generally accepted science teaching strategies' with active experimentation, yet the counter-intuitive volume aspect was not learned; the authors explain this via the pattern of variation enacted.

"However, they did badly in part C (which tested their understanding of the effect of volume on the rate) as the number of students who answered this item correctly in the post-test fell by 6% in com- parison with the pre-test."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Proportional Reasoning — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Redesigning the second research lesson cycle so students compared results across groups raised correct answers on the volume item from 11% to 80% — reports the opposite
• Teachers in the chemistry learning study concluded that what counts is not active participation but experiencing a pattern of variation and invariance that allows discernment — a broader claim this one bears on
• Pre-tests reduced adult learners' persistence in a MOOC, though they improved post-test scores among those who completed it — related
• Primary four students taught with a variation-theory-designed lesson were far more likely to give a correct, properly explained answer about 'equal shares' in fractions than comparison-group students — related