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Students' understanding of light and sight
Author
Woon, Ta Li
Supervisor
Toh, Kok Aun
Boo, Hong Kwen
Abstract
This study is concerned with the development of insights into Secondary 3 and 4 students' understanding of light and sight. It used the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) Taxonomy, derived from Piaget's theory, to lay the foundation for the Students' Seeing Framework (SSF) which, in turn, facilitated the assessment and evaluation of students' responses.
The instrument used for the study was a questionnaire which had a total of 9 questions.These questions probed students' ideas on commonly encountered events about light and vision. A total of 238 students took part in the study. A one-to-one interview was also carried out with 14 randomly selected students after the administration of the study questionnaire, principally to validate their responses. After validation of the students' responses, the data was then analysed by both MicroFACT and Quest statistical programs.
The study found that more than 50% of the students did not show complete understanding of the phenomena of light even after formal science education. Age, gender and familiarity were deciding factors in influencing the development of concepts of light and vision. At the Secondary 3 level, boys did significantly better than the girls. However, it is the other way round at the Secondary 4 level. This reversal is significant and corroborates the work of Toh (1993) also using a Singapore sample.
The instrument used for the study was a questionnaire which had a total of 9 questions.These questions probed students' ideas on commonly encountered events about light and vision. A total of 238 students took part in the study. A one-to-one interview was also carried out with 14 randomly selected students after the administration of the study questionnaire, principally to validate their responses. After validation of the students' responses, the data was then analysed by both MicroFACT and Quest statistical programs.
The study found that more than 50% of the students did not show complete understanding of the phenomena of light even after formal science education. Age, gender and familiarity were deciding factors in influencing the development of concepts of light and vision. At the Secondary 3 level, boys did significantly better than the girls. However, it is the other way round at the Secondary 4 level. This reversal is significant and corroborates the work of Toh (1993) also using a Singapore sample.
Date Issued
1998
Call Number
Q181 Woo
Date Submitted
1998