THE EFFECTS OF SPECIFIC LEARNING HEURISTICS ON THE CONCEPTUAL LEARNING OF BIOLOGY BY BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Abstract
The major foci of the study were the conceptual learning of science concepts and principles and the improvement of biology instruction for urban, black students. The study was designed to: (1) Assess the efficacy of two learning heuristics, concept mapping and Gowin's Epistemological Vee, to increase conceptual learning and, therefore, to increase students' immediate and retained achievement levels in high school biology; (2) Examine the effects of the learning strategies on the attitudes of urban, adolescent, black students toward science; (3) Examine possible interactions between selected personality variables and the chosen learning strategies which might affect a student's conceptual learning of biology. The subjects were ninth and tenth grade introductory biology students in a Midwestern, urban area. A total of 10 classes were involved in this study, and subjects were divided into two experimental treatment groups by intact classes. The two treatments, concept mapping/Vee and outlining, were randomly assigned to intact classes. In addition, five comparable, introductory biology classes were used for comparison purposes. The instructional materials, developed by a research project and the investigator, consisted of four individualized, introductory biology units in a study guide format. The treatment groups used study guides which either introduced the learning strategy, concept mapping/Vee or outlining, during the experimental period. The comparison group did not use a specialized learning strategy. Comparison and treatment classes took the same pretest and posttest. In order to assess the effectiveness of the learning strategies, a series of statistical analyses were performed. Correlation coefficients were computed between the standardized measure of school ability and selected variables and between the standardized measure of school ability and summary activity scores, expressed as percentages, for the units. The types of cognitive style and the types of instructional strategies were combined in a 2 x 2 factorial design.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Science education
Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server.