The effect of using a program depending on argument based inquiry approach via “write- to- learn strategy” on 8th grade students’ abilities of forming scientific mental models
Date
2018-07-07
Authors
Qabaja, Ziad
Bannoura, Riham
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
European Centre for Research Training and Development UK
Abstract
The Purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of using a program
depending on argument based inquiry approach via “write- to- learn strategy” on 8th grade
students’ abilities of forming scientific mental models. As well as the effect of the interaction
between argument based inquiry approach via write to learn strategy method of teaching, and
gender on 8th grade students’ abilities of forming scientific mental models. The study was
conducted on a purposive sample of 8th grade students (females and males) enrolled at public
schools in Jerusalem district. The schools are: Bethany Secondary School for Girls and Al
Ma’ahad Al Arabi School for Boys during the second semester of the academic year 2016\2017.
The Sample consisted of 152 students of the 8th grade (71 females and 81 males). Students
from both schools were assigned to experimental and control group randomly. The
experimental group was taught a whole unit by the argument based inquiry approach via
“write-to-learn strategy”, while the control group was taught by the traditional method. The
experiment lasted for two months. The researcher has prepared an instrument for the study,
Self Mental Model Exam. Content validity and reliability was done for it. A pre and post test
was done for all of the participants to measure the effect of using a program depending on
argument based inquiry approach via “write- to- learn strategy” on 8th grade students’
abilities of forming scientific mental models. The means, standard deviations, and (1-way
ANCOVA) test were used in the study. The findings of the study showed that there are
statistically significant differences at (α≤ 0.05) in the mean scores of 8th grade students’
abilities to form mental models due to method of teaching in favor of the experimental group,
there are statistically significant differences at (α≤ 0.05) in the mean scores of 8th grade
students’ abilities to form mental models due to gender in favor of males and there are
statistically significant differences at (α≤ 0.05) in the mean scores of 8th grade students’
abilities to form mental models due to the interaction between method of teaching and gender
in favor of males in the experimental group. In the light of these results the researcher
recommends using the argumentation via “write-to-learn strategy” in teaching science due to
its effect in improving students’ skills.
Description
Keywords
Argument Based Inquiry Approach , Write-To-Learn Strategy , Mental Models