I think if I had to state my very general research question at this point, it would be something along the lines of, "What elements of classroom instruction are most effective in motivating students to understand chemistry?"Although I couldn't manage to locate any of the full text articles written by Posner and Strike (sorry, Dr. Pecore!), I did read an interesting article about conceptual change learning, and it definitely seems in line with what I am trying to get at with my research. In the articles I've read so far, it appears that students use different methods of learning science information, based on their motivations for being in the classroom. For example, students who are interested in chemistry would integrate real-world applications into their learning to make sense of the subject, whereas students who are in class to fulfill a requirement tend to simply memorize the concepts and theories. I would love to take a deeper look into student motivations for learning, as well as their attitudes towards various teaching methods.
My ideas for the methodology behind this type of study all seem to be pretty complex and far from feasible! The simplest idea I could come up with would be to use a student survey such as the "Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire" that I read about in other articles, to assess student motivations in learning chemistry. I could then survey the teachers of those classes to determine what educational philosophies and teaching methods they use to convey information to those students. I'm not quite sure if it is realistic to expect a return on surveys from both teachers and their students, or exactly what type of analysis I would need to perform. But, hey, it's a start, right?!
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Casie, it is a great start. I don't think you are struggling as much as exploring...
You might construct a survey that asks clearly why they are taking the course, and then explores how they approach the course and compare. You might not want to survey both students and teachers. You might get better information if you interview one of both groups. If you can find a reference and not the article, don't forget you can request it from Inter Library Loan... and those authors may have books.
Casie, the MSLQ survey is for college students who seem to have a choice in the courses they take. You might be interested in a survey I am using called the Classroom Learning Environment Survey (CLES). The survey is given to students and measures their view of the learning environment. You could shorten this survey and add questions from the attitude toward science (ATS) survey. Then, see if you have any correlation between students perceived CLE and ATS.
-John
hey casie, this seems like a pretty interesting topic since it's very specific to your background in chemistry. However, if i do recall from my own chemistry from high school all the students are required to take it. Not sure if North Carolina or public schools in general give more options in science, but it would be interesting to see what students hope to get out of chemistry besides being required to be there.
Beyond the motivation it's really interesting to see how real-world applications might be integrated into the curriculum. Since my father is a research organic chemist at Arizona State, I've been surrounded by real world applications of different private jobs he has had in using chemistry beyond just mixing chemicals in my own class to fulfill a lab. I would assume it would actually bring in more interest from students to see the usefulness of the science in a applied sense.
Casey, oops I mean Casie, I think you are certainly on track. I was thinking that you could make this an experimental study if you so desired. What if you had a teacher teach a certain style then, the next week teach in another style. You could survey the students at the end of each week to see if they were motivated by that weeks teaching styles. Obviously thats just a suggestion. I do think that you could get back a considerable amount of surveys if you work with the teachers. If the teachers bribe the students then you will certainly get them all or for the most part, all of them back. I would let completion rates keep you from doing really interesting research.
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