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Effectiveness of Guided Inquiry on Students' Comprehension of Chemistry Concepts in a Non-Science Majors' Course

Butler, Adessa E.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1310750005

Abstract Details

2011, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, Chemistry.
The inquiry teaching method has been shown to actively engage students in their learning and help them to understand content at a deeper level. The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of guided inquiry activities on students’ comprehension of chemistry concepts in a non-science majors’ one-semester chemistry course that consisted of lecture and laboratory components. Three topics (bonding, chemical equations, and acid-base chemistry) were chosen to study the effectiveness of guided inquiry teaching and accompanying laboratories in increasing the students’ understanding of the chemistry topics. The students’ understanding was evaluated based on their percentages of correct answers on assessments and their gain scores on the three topics. A sample of students was also interviewed to determine their understanding of the chemistry topics and to assess their opinions about the guided inquiry activities and their accompanying laboratories. From the students’ percentages on post-test questions and gain scores, students taught via guided inquiry performed significantly better than traditional students on the chemical equations topic, while there were not significant differences for the other two chemistry topics and the overall percentage on all three topics. When taught via guided inquiry, freshmen tended to perform significantly better than juniors, and the high-achieving students and entering freshmen tended to perform better than the lower achieving students. Interviews revealed that students either liked the guided inquiry activities or did not; none of the students was indifferent. Some students felt that the information in the guided inquiry activities was clearly presented and that the activities contained enough information to understand the topic. However, some students felt the activities contained an overwhelming amount of information or were hard to understand. There was almost an even split among the students interviewed regarding the preference of the style of teaching preferred for the chemistry course; guided inquiry, traditional lecture, or a 50/50 mixture of guided inquiry activities with mini-lectures.
William Donovan, Dr. (Advisor)
Claire A. Tessier, Dr. (Committee Member)
Michael J. Taschner, Dr. (Committee Member)
Christopher J. Ziegler, Dr. (Committee Member)
Ethel R. Wheland, Dr. (Committee Member)
268 p.
Chemistry; Education
guided inquiry; non-science majors

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Butler, A. E. (2011). Effectiveness of Guided Inquiry on Students' Comprehension of Chemistry Concepts in a Non-Science Majors' Course [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1310750005

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Butler, Adessa. Effectiveness of Guided Inquiry on Students' Comprehension of Chemistry Concepts in a Non-Science Majors' Course. 2011. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1310750005.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Butler, Adessa. "Effectiveness of Guided Inquiry on Students' Comprehension of Chemistry Concepts in a Non-Science Majors' Course." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1310750005

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by University of Akron and OhioLINK.