Dunham, Lesley Ann (1994) Cognitive development in relation to science education. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Various skills have been considered quintessential to the scientific method. The need for
these skills was highlighted by Armstrong at the beginning of the century and continues to be
re-iterated to the present day within the criteria of the National Curriculum. Pupils as
scientists are expected to make accurate and meaningful observations; record results from
experiments formulated to test hypotheses, controlling all the relevant variables except the
one under investigation; identify patterns within the results and recognise anomalies; draw
valid conclusions from the data collected and extrapolate from the data to predict further
results. These criteria were included in the list of thirty-two teacher assessed skills in
domains five and six of the Northern Examination Association, NEA, GCSE Biology
Syllabus.
This research project endeavoured to test the acquisition of these skills in a large sample of
students drawn from a variety of schools in an effort to establish the relative difficulty of the
individual skills. The corollation of performance of the skills with a range of factors,
including IQ, the influence of gender, school type, and associated subjects they studied was
explored. In particular the effect of an exposure to the Warwick Process Science Scheme
was investigated to establish whether a transferable long term enhancement resulted. The
main body of the research was undertaken on Year ten (4th Year) pupils, the sample being
drawn from ten schools of varying types. The work was extended to include both younger
and older age groups, to identify the progress made with age in skill acquisition and to
investigate whether success in the skills is of predictive value for the final GCSE grades of
future 'A'Level achievement.
The results indicated a wide variability in degrees of difficulty of the individual skills and a
wide range of performance by individual candidates. Success in the skills corollated very
closely with IQ, so to eliminate this effect samples cross-matched for IQ were investigated to
establish the effect of other variables. Only the study of the three separate sciences and
tuition within a selective school proved to have a significant effect on the outcome. Only
skill 30 devising three separate hypotheses to explain a complex set of results, had predictive
value for GCSE and none were of value for predicting capital 'A'Level success.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary), Scientific ability, Ability in children
Official Date:	July 1994
Dates:	Date Event July 1994 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Institute of Education
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Screen, Peter ; Raper, George
Sponsors:	King Henry VIII School (Coventry, England)
Extent:	xiii, 232 p.
Language:	eng

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