The 2nd International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching,

Asian Regional Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, 4 December, 2014

Conceptual Development in Chemistry to Enhance College students Gas learning

performance
King-Dow Su
Department of Hospitality Management and Center for General Education,
De Lin Institute of Technology, New Taipei City, 236, Taiwan, ROC
su-87168@dlit.edu.tw
Abstract
This study investigated the influence of strategies of conceptual development in gas
chemistry learning. Using a quasi-experimental approach to evaluate students learning
performance, it divides college students into two teaching groups, the experimental group and the
control group. All statistic results manifested that the experimental group students who had
finished the conceptual learning strategies had shown better learning achievements of
problem-solving conceptual maps than those of the control group students in gas chemistry.
Therefore, experimental students also had more accurate conceptual answering rates of posttests
in contrast to their pretests. The same experimental group students with different learning
attitudes indicated more significant learning achievements and larger effect sizes after completing
strategies of conceptual development in gas chemistry learning. Based on this perspective, this
study could create an effective conceptual learning environment that fostered students creativity
and promoted individuals positive conceptual development. The advantages of effective
applications of conceptual development would not only improve learning attitudes, but also
upgrade students understanding and proficiency in gas chemistry learning.
Keywords: conceptual development, gas chemistry, problem-solving conceptual maps

Introduction
Effective applications of problem-solving conceptual maps (PSCM) are fundamental
implementations for contemporary education objectives to cultivate college students competences
and meaningful learning in many chemistry courses (Ormrod, 2000; Hohn & Frey, 2002;
Sternberg, 2003; Lazakidou & Retalis, 2010; Barak, 2012). To design and estimate dynamic
PSCM becomes the major interest and keen goal for chemistry researchers (Cracolice, Deming &
Ehlert, 2008; Overton & Potter, 2008). To confront and estimate rapid changes in this globalized
world, there were increasingly measurements for PSCM as important means to guide college
students in developing more comprehensive understanding of chemistry concepts by more
implemented curriculum (Su, 2013a). Most importantly of all, teachers, professors and curriculum
designers came up with effectiveness and mastery of teaching assessments for the important
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The 2nd International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching,

Asian Regional Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, 4 December, 2014

functions of PSCM in chemistry programs. A numerous of PSCM had been proposed (Lazakidou
& Retalis, 2010; Su, 2013a, 2013b), which aimed at helping students develop or improve their
PSCM fulfillment of many steps from chemistry learning process. Effective applications of
strategic conceptual developments could strengthen and clarify students concepts, laws, and
principles in gas chemistry learning, and promote their perceptive competence and proficiency in
problem-solving processes (Selvaratnam & Canagaratna, 2008).
In order to promote college students conceptual developments in chemistry learning, lots of
researchers had developed animations with multimedia technologies (Su, 2008a, 2008b, 2011) and
problem-solving maps (Selvaratnam & Canagaratna, 2008; Su, 2013). Many outstanding scholars
(Nakhleh, 1992; Harper, 2006; Siburt, Bissell, & Macphail, 2011) pointed out that students had
done all the exercises, but still failed to get high grades on the exams. This kind of model
exercises would be inefficient for instructors to solve different levels of students molarity
chemistry programs. Such a distorted learning could frequently be a serious problem for novice
learners, who regarded chemistry exams just as a recited task for passing rather than a learning
process for built-up concepts. Unlike those students who typically lack of the self-perception for
critical thinking, college students with PSCM chemistry programs could make conceptual
metacognition to fill out gaps between chemistry knowledge and problem-solving abilities.
The primary reason might be attributed to those students who were not able to construct
appropriate understandings of fundamental chemistry concepts (Sanger, 2005). Students should be
assigned in operating algorithmic learning to solve or answer similar gas chemistry conceptual
questions. Therefore, it was required for students to explore inferential abilities of PSCM to solve
advanced level algorithmic problems and promote their proficiency of gas chemistry conceptual
development.
Purposes
Two important evaluations to explore college students gas chemistry conceptual
developments have been proposed as the purpose of this study in the following way:
(1) To evaluate students learning achievements in PSCM to build their individual conceptual
developments and algorithmic proficiency.
(2) To find out students learning attitude in PSCM learning to criticize their conceptual
developments and algorithmic proficiency.
Methodology
For more detailed discussions, all 47 participants were selected from the same class divided
into the experimental group (who were instructed with the problem-solving maps, Selvaratnam &
Canagaratna, 2008) and the control group (who were taught with traditional teaching methods
without any assistance of strategic problem-solving maps). The major characteristics of two
different group students who had completed the 6-hour gas chemistry program course during the
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The 2nd International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching,

Asian Regional Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, 4 December, 2014

academic year would be discussed below.

This study took a quasi-experimental approach for PSCM gas chemistry learning. It was
expected that all methods including pretests and posttests, experimental teaching, learning
questionnaires, and statistical analyses of students learning achievements and attitudes, would
significantly help students improve their strategies of PSCM chemistry and positive learning
performance. The draft achievement tests were designed by conceptual and algorithmic pair
questions taken from Sawrey (1990) and Nakhleh (1993), together with the final test design from
five chemistry professors to assess the validity of achievement tests. The Cronbachs coefficient
obtained for both pretests and posttests were 0.790 and 0.780 respectively.
To improve the content validity of attitude questionnaire, two prominent chemistry educators,
two scientific philosophers and two educational psychologists were asked to act as advisors and to
preview the survey and revise final versions. In terms of constructive validity, 160 copies of pretests
were taken into consideration for factor analyses. All results of factor analyses would be classified
into five dominated aspects of learning attitude: QA1 (toward the problem-solving conceptual map
courses), QA2 (toward the scientific instructors), QA3 (toward other students), QA4 (toward
self-evaluation), and QA5 (toward statistic results). All mean values, standard deviations, and
Cronbachs value were tabulated in Table 1.
Table 1 Mean scores (M), standard deviations(SD), and Cronbach's for students
gas chemistry learning attitude scales
Cronbach's

Subscales

SD

QA1

3.71

0.55

0.87

QA2

3.67

0.84

0.87

QA3

3.65

0.50

0.88

QA4

3.62

0.49

0.87

QA5

3.71

0.45

0.85

3.67

0.54

0.92

Total scale

According Table 1, the internal consistency of students attitude scales reached a satisfactory
degree. The total scale score could correspond to 0.92 as shown by internal consistency inspection
of the Cronbachs . According to Gays research theory (1992), any supposed coefficient
reliability over 0.900 indicated better scale reliability. There were totally 29 items in this
questionnaire.

The 2nd International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching,

Asian Regional Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, 4 December, 2014

P=?

Calculate of P requires n, R, T and V; P = nRT/V

R,T,V,
v v

n=?

Calculation n requires w and Mw; n = W / Mw

Mw,

W= ?

Calculation of W requires V, D and P; W=1000VDP

V,

D,

P ,

Fig.1 Effective applications of PSCM in gas chemistry learning (Modified from Selvaratnam &
Canagaratna, 2008)

Results and Discussions

Students pretest data were treated as covariate variables, posttest data as dependent variables,
and divided student groups as independent variables. Results obtained by the homogeneity
examination of regression slope indicated that there existed no significant differences (p =.108)
between two student groups for strategic learning applications both independent and dependent
variables. All results of achievement t-tests (see Fig. 2) showed that there were significant
differences (t=3.008, p=.004) in students posttest achievements between the experimental group
and control group. It should be noted that Cohens (1988) experimental effect size, f value
was .464, indicating larger effect size. Adjusted post-test mean scores indicated that posttest scores
of the experimental group (40.00) were superior to those of the control group (32.61), which
confirmed the research assumption that experimental strategic applications of PSCM were better
than those of traditional teaching.
According to statistical analyses in Table 2, the experimental group students had more correct
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The 2nd International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching,

Asian Regional Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, 4 December, 2014

answering percentages (%) and numbers (Ns) of learning performances in gas chemistry. To sum
up, students correct conceptual answering percentages (%) and numbers in posttests were superior
to those of the pretests 20.8% and 32ns respectively. Students correct algorithmic answering
percentages (%) and numbers in posttests were superior to those of the pretests 33.8% and 40ns
respectively. From the statistical analyses of posttest scores covariance, after pairwise
comparisons, and learning achievement tests, the PSCM strategic teaching methods proved to
have more effective influence on students learning achievements. After experimental teaching,
there were more significant differences between pretests and posttests in gas chemistry.

Fig. 2 Students conceptual development for achievement tests of both pretests and posttests in gas
chemistry between the experimental groups and the control groups
The reason for the differences lay in the fact that the PSCM gas chemistry texts with
systematic knowledge structure and repeated animation presentations, not only showed students
macroscopic learning differences of gas characteristics, but also presented changeable reasons of
microscopic conceptions. Conceptual developments of gas chemistry accorded their resourceful
domains for them to analyze, feedback, solve, compare, criticize, find problems of PSCM, and
combine symbols and abstract conception relationships with accurate recognizable structures.
Table 2 Experimental group students correct pairwise answering percentages (%) and
numbers (Ns) between pretests and posttests
correct pairwise
comparisons

Pretest
Conceptual Algorithmic

Posttest
Conceptual
Algorithmic

Percentages(%)
Ns

37.5
38

58.3
70

34.7
41

67.5
81

Table 3 revealed that major PSCM effects were indicated by students five attitude
subscales. The blocking variable was tested in a series of ANOVAs with combined samples,
since all students had to complete the same learning attitude survey. The effect size was the
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The 2nd International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching,

Asian Regional Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, 4 December, 2014

dominant index to determine different variants in students learning behavior. All significant
effects were tested to determine students learning dispositions toward gas chemistry learning.
Effect sizes ranging between .30 and .49 demonstrated a larger than large level. Scheffes post
hoc comparisons showed students expressing more positive attitudes than those reporting
neutral and negative, and more reporting neutral expressions as more positive than
those reporting negative in gas chemistry learning.
As the result revealed significant improvement for the experimental group students in
comparison to the control group students of problem-solving performances, it may be attributed to
the fact that the relationships between qualitative reasoning and quantitative PSCM helped to
build students hand-drawn deductive abilities, and construct useful gas chemistry learning
performances. Generally speaking, students dispositions toward gas chemistry, proved to have
significant effects in the above attitude questionnaire. Several other studies supported that after
completing PSCM college students would come up with the corresponding results of better
learning performances than other applications with no integrated problem-solving maps (She,
2002; Cracolice, Deming, and Ehlert, 2008).
Table 3 Summary of F-ratios, p-values, and f value for gas chemistry learning attitude in
ANOVAs post-tests
Experimental Blocking

Analysis of

Course

Variance

Variable

gas laws

Disposition toward F-ratio

chemistry

Chemistry(positive,
neutral, negative)

Attitude
QA1

QA2

5.183

2.035

5.029

3.445

2.756

0.143

0.011*

0.041*

0.075

0.30

0.48

0.40

0.35

p-value 0.010*
f
Scheffe

Measure

0.49

1>3, 2>3

QA3

1>3, 2>3

QA4

QA5

1>2, 1>3

*p<0.05

Therefore, students felt applications of problem-solving maps in gas chemistry learning could be
helpful for their recognition of chemical concepts and higher-level algorithmic learning. Effective
applications of problem-solving maps could be both multi-functional and practical for students
gas chemistry learning. They had a lot of appeal to students who looked forward to detailed
strategies of gas chemistry learning. From this perspective of problem-solving applications, it was
not enough only to create an environment that fostered students creativity or promoted
individuals positive beliefs about gas chemistry conceptual developments. The advantages of
varied PSCM thinking methods might facilitate individual students creative performance and
support strategic applications for gas chemistry learning.
Conclusions
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The 2nd International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching,

Asian Regional Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, 4 December, 2014

In this orientation, PSCM study would improve most students conceptual learning
performances after they had completed gas chemistry courses. Based on this PSCM
perspective, it could become a dynamic and effective approach for gas chemistry learning.
College students learning achievements and attitudes were upgraded in statistical
performance results. All demonstrations of the experimental results exhibited that PSCM was
helpful for conceptual learning as a significantly positive contribution toward college students
learning achievements and attitudes. Within limitations of this study, despite the statistical
significance of results, readers would be reminded that the results should not be over
generalized beyond the context of this study. Continuing efforts would also be needed to
confirm further approaches to fulfill and integrate the academic benefits of this PSCM study
in the future.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank anonymous reviewers of this paper for their kind assistances
and helpful suggestions. A short but sincere thank must also be given for the patronage of National
Science Council, R.O.C. in Taiwan (under Grant No. NSC 98-2511-S-237-001 and
102-2511-S-237-001).

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