Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Award Date

1972

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department / School

Botany

Abstract

This study-was undertaken to try to identify which factors most influence the process of learning science in an ISCS Year I classroom. Because of the breadth of the subject, it has seemed desirable to limit the factors to be considered to those which could be termed "characteristics" of the students. Therefore, recognizing the fact that characteristics alone cannot present the whole picture, occasional mention will be made of other contributing elements. It should be understood that only the characteristics to be named in a later section were included in the statistical analysis. It was expected that no specific student characteristic would be indicated to account for the variance in student scores between the pretest and the posttest of the Sequential Test of Educational Progress (STEP). It was hoped that the findings of this study would be helpful to educators considering future curriculum changes. Assuming the testing measures to be adequate, this study might be used to indicate which factors were the most influential in the learning of science; and being aware of this information, educators might then determine how these f actors could be influenced in order to further facilitate the learning process. This study might suggest future studies and indicate the adequacy or inadequacy of present standardized testing instruments in junior high school level science courses. The experimental group was limited to the seventh-grade science classes. A total of 548 students, seven teachers and nine school administrators from Brookings Middle School, Huron Junior High School and Mitchell Juni6'r High School cooperated by taking tests and/or completing opinionnaires. These schools were similar in size, teacher-pupil ratio, socio-economic level, racial make-up and range of I. Q. The study was further limited to the school year beginning approximately September 1,1970 and ending approximately May 30, 1971.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Science -- Study and teaching
Educational innovations

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

46

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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