International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering, and Environment Project (ISWEEEP) Participants Versus Non-ISWEEEP Participants: Comparisons of High School Students' Understandings of the Scientific Method

• In Event: The Use of Maker Spaces and Computer Simulations to Enhance Student Engagement and Assessment

Abstract

The study examined the influence of the participation in science fairs on students’ level of conceptualization of scientific method. An online WAT (Word Association Test) created with ten stimulus words associated with the scientific method was administered before ISWEEEP (International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering, and Environment Project) competition held in Texas. Control group students’ knowledge structure appeared to be centralized around the stimulus word experiment with relatively weak connections to the most of the steps in the scientific method and two of the stimulus words are disconnected with the rest of the structure. Meanwhile, contestants’ ideas show a richer and a more strongly connected network of the concepts gathered around the stimulus words inquiry and experiment.

Authors

• Alpaslan Sahin, Harmony Public Schools

• Ozcan Gulacar, Texas State University

• Adem Ekmekci, Rice University

• Kadir Almus, North American University