Model-Based Science Teaching: Effects on Confidence Levels and Attitudes of Female High School Students

• In Event: 58.082 - Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: 58.082-12 - Promoting Science Education Understanding Through Curriculum and Instruction

Abstract

In this study we sought to determine whether model-based science teaching influenced the confidence levels and attitudes of high school students compared to their traditionally instructed counterparts, and particularly whether there were any differences by gender. Statistical analysis of students' self-reported pre/post instruction problem solving confidence levels as well as responses to a science attitude survey determined that students who learned about electricity through model-based instruction, particularly female students, experienced greater gains in confidence levels and increased positivity in their attitudes about learning science. It is hypothesized that the whole class discussions during which students in the model-based classes were encouraged to generate, evaluate and modify their explanatory models, may have particularly appealed to the female learners.

Author

• Grant Williams, St. Thomas University