Hsiang-Ting Chen

Promoting and Scaffolding Elementary School Students' Attitudes Toward Science and Argumentation Through a Science and Society Intervention

This study investigated the effects of a science and society intervention on elementary school students’ argumentation skills and their attitudes toward science. One hundred and eleven fifth grade students volunteered as an experimental group to join a 12-week intervention; another 107 sixth grade students volunteered to be the comparison group. All participants completed the Student Questionnaire at the beginning and end of this study. Observation and interview results were used to triangulate and consolidate the quantitative findings. The data showed that after the intervention, the quality of the experimental group students’ arguments and their attitudes toward science were significantly higher than their comparison group counterparts. In addition, the experimental group boys made significantly greater progress in the quality of their argumentation from the pretest to posttest than the girls; and low achievers made the most significant progress in their attitudes toward science and quality of argumentation. Interviews and observations indicated that their understandings of explanation and argumentation changed over the intervention. This indicated that a science and society intervention can enhance both the ability of students to develop strong arguments and their attitudes toward science.

The Effects of Aesthetic Science Activities on Improving At-Risk Families Children's Anxiety about Learning Science and Positive Thinking.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of aesthetic science activities on improving elementary school at-risk families’ childrens positive thinking, attitudes toward science, and decreasing their anxiety about learning science. Thirty-six 4th-grade children from at-risk families volunteered to participate in a 12-week intervention and formed the experimental group; another 97 typical 4th graders were randomly selected to participant in the assessment and were used as the comparison group. The treatment for experimental group children emphasized scaffolding aesthetic science activities and inquiry strategies. The Elementary School Student Questionnaire was administered to assess all childrens positive thinking, attitudes toward science, and anxiety about learning science. In addition, nine target children from the experimental group with the lowest scores on either positive thinking, or attitudes toward science, or with the highest scores on anxiety about learning science in the pre-test were recruited to be interviewed at the end of the intervention and observed weekly. Confirmatory factor analyses, analyses of covariance, and content theme analysis assessed the similarities and differences between groups. It was found that the at-risk families’ children were motivated by the treatment and made significant progress on positive thinking and attitudes toward science, and also decreased their anxiety about learning science. The findings from interviews and classroom observations also revealed that the intervention made differences in childrens affective perceptions of learning science. Implication and research recommendation are discussed.

Using a modified argument-driven inquiry to promote elementary school students’ engagement in learning science and argumentation

ABSTRACT This study explored the effects of a modified argument-driven inquiry approach on Grade 4 students’ engagement in learning science and argumentation in Taiwan. The students were recruited as an experimental group (EG, n = 36) to join a 12-week study, while another 36 Grade 4 students from the same schools were randomly selected to be the comparison group (CG). All participants completed a questionnaire at the beginning and end of this study. In addition, four target students with the highest and the other four students with the lowest pretest engagement in learning science or argumentation to be observed weekly and interviewed following the posttest. Initial results revealed that the EG students’ total engagement in learning science and argumentation and the claim and warrant components were significantly higher than the CG students. In addition, the EG students’ anxiety in learning science significantly decreased during the study; and their posttest total engagement in learning science scores were positively associated with their argumentation scores. Interview and observation results were consistent with the quantitative findings. Instructional implications and research recommendations are discussed.

The effects of college students’ positive thinking, learning motivation and self-regulation through a self-reflection intervention in Taiwan

ABSTRACT This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of a self-reflection intervention on college (college in this article refers to university-level education) students’ positive thinking, learning motivation and self-regulation in Taiwan. One hundred and two college students were selected to participate in an 18-week intervention forming the experimental group (EG) which emphasized providing main lecture, role-play, self-reflection activity, group discussion and group work. Another 179 college students from two other courses were selected as a comparison group. This study showed that supportive, resourced discussion with peers and instructor, self-reflection activities and assignment as a facilitative agent improved the EG students’ positive thinking, learning motivation and self-regulation. In addition, three structural equation models revealed that positive thinking had a strong and direct relation to Taiwanese college students’ pretest learning motivation (β = .85) and self-regulation (β = .77); learning motivation had a strong and direct relation to students’ pretest positive thinking (β = .86) and self-regulation (β = .81); and self-regulation had a strong and direct relation to students’ pretest positive thinking (β = .83) and learning motivation (β = .86). Instructional implications and research recommendations are discussed.

Students’ awareness of science teachers’ leadership, attitudes toward science, and positive thinking

ABSTRACT There appears to be a complex network of cognitive and affective factors that influence students’ decisions to study science and motivate their choices to engage in science-oriented careers. This study explored 330 Taiwanese senior high school students’ awareness of their science teacher’s learning leadership and how it relates to the students’ attitudes toward science and positive thinking. Initial results revealed that the optimism of positive thinking is highly and positively correlated with the future participation in science and learning science in school attitudes toward science and self-concept in science. Moreover, structural equation modelling (SEM) results indicated that the subscale of teachers’ leadership with idealised influence was the most predictive of students’ attitudes toward science (β = .37), and the leadership with laissez-faire was predictive of students’ positive thinking (β = .21). In addition, the interview results were consistent with the quantitative findings. The correlation and SEM results indicate some of the associations and potential relationships amongst the motivational and affective factors studied and students’ attitudes toward and intentions to study science, which will increase their likelihood of future involvement in science careers.