Σύγκριση δύο διδακτικών μεθόδων διδασκαλίας: της καθοδηγούμενης διερευνητικής-ανακαλυπτικής και της παραδοσιακής ως προς τη σύσταση της ύλης και το χημικό δεσμό στη δευτεροβάθμια εκπαίδευση

Abstract

Literature review includes a number of papers on how secondary and higher education students comprehend scientific matters. These papers reported many misconceptions about the structure of matter and the chemical bonding. In order to confirm these findings and to investigate further misconceptions about chemical bonding, we proceed to a research in which 142 Greek graduated students of secondary school were asked to complete a diagnostic test. The results showed that students have difficulty in connecting the microcosm with the macrocosm as well as in realizing the relation between the properties of a chemical compound or a material and the kinds of chemical bonding. Also these results demonstrated the necessity of the application of a more appropriate teaching method that it is based in the constructivism and the guided discovery learning that uses student-centered activities. These activities involve the student in the learning process rather than allow the student to passively gather information from a delivered lecture in the more traditional „stage on the stage? method of instruction. Ausubel based on the golden rule of educational practice, which states that teaching should be done according to what students already know. Also, the constructivist theory of learning suggests that knowledge is constructed through a process of interaction between an outside stimulus and conceptions that already exist in the learner?s head. The effectiveness of the suggested approach for the teaching of the constitution of matter and the chemical bonding was evaluated through a research in which the guided inquiry method compared with traditional method of teaching. 357 students from the 8th grade and 180 students from the 10th grade of High School participated in the present research. A control group as well as an experimental group was used in order to compare the two methods. The students that belonged to the control group were taught by the traditional method while the students that belonged to the experimental group are taught by the guided inquiry method. Different teaching plans were constructed for each class. The students completed a questionnaire before and after the course. The statistical analysis of the results showed supremacy of the guided inquiry versus traditional teaching method. The results are demonstrated using tables and figures. The guided discovery method is based on the constructivism theory. In the last part of this work some interested examples and applications from the students? everyday life that combined with the structure and bonding are suggested. The explanation of these applications relied on the structure and the kinds of chemical bonding. These application can be used by the teachers in order to plan a guided inquiry teaching according to the students? level. An example of such a guided inquiry teaching plan is presented for one of the applications.