The Impact of Problem-Solving Instruction on Middle School Students’ Physical Science Learning: Interplays of Knowledge, Reasoning, and Problem Solving

Shu-Chuan Cheng; Hsiao-Ching She; Li-Yu Huang

doi:10.12973/ejmste/80902

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Shu-Chuan Cheng ¹, Hsiao-Ching She ¹ ^* , Li-Yu Huang ¹

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¹ Institute of Education, National Chiao Tung University, TAIWAN, ROC^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of problem solving instruction on 126 middle school students’ learning of physical science in terms of their scientific knowledge, scientific concept dependent reasoning and problem solving ability. This study used a quasi-experiment with one factorial design of instructional approaches (problem solving and traditional hands-on learning). Sixty-one students participated in problem solving while sixty-five students participated in traditional hands-on learning. Results indicate that the problem solving group significantly outperformed the traditional hands-on learning group for both immediate and retaining effect, regardless of scientific knowledge, scientific concept dependent reasoning and scientific problem solving abilities. The regression results also indicated that the scientific concept dependent reasoning test is the best predictor for scientific problem solving ability, followed by scientific knowledge itself. Our study demonstrates that students’ scientific knowledge, reasoning and problem solving all are successfully improved after receiving six weeks scientific problem solving.

Keywords

physical science
scientific problem solving
scientific reasoning
scientific knowledge
problem solving instruction

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 14, Issue 3, March 2018, 731-743

https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/80902

Publication date: 30 Nov 2017

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How to cite this article

APA

Cheng, S.-C., She, H.-C., & Huang, L.-Y. (2018). The Impact of Problem-Solving Instruction on Middle School Students’ Physical Science Learning: Interplays of Knowledge, Reasoning, and Problem Solving. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(3), 731-743. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/80902

Vancouver

Cheng SC, She HC, Huang LY. The Impact of Problem-Solving Instruction on Middle School Students’ Physical Science Learning: Interplays of Knowledge, Reasoning, and Problem Solving. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2018;14(3):731-43. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/80902

AMA

Cheng SC, She HC, Huang LY. The Impact of Problem-Solving Instruction on Middle School Students’ Physical Science Learning: Interplays of Knowledge, Reasoning, and Problem Solving. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2018;14(3), 731-743. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/80902

Chicago

Cheng, Shu-Chuan, Hsiao-Ching She, and Li-Yu Huang. "The Impact of Problem-Solving Instruction on Middle School Students’ Physical Science Learning: Interplays of Knowledge, Reasoning, and Problem Solving". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2018 14 no. 3 (2018): 731-743. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/80902

Harvard

Cheng, S.-C., She, H.-C., and Huang, L.-Y. (2018). The Impact of Problem-Solving Instruction on Middle School Students’ Physical Science Learning: Interplays of Knowledge, Reasoning, and Problem Solving. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(3), pp. 731-743. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/80902

MLA

Cheng, Shu-Chuan et al. "The Impact of Problem-Solving Instruction on Middle School Students’ Physical Science Learning: Interplays of Knowledge, Reasoning, and Problem Solving". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 14, no. 3, 2018, pp. 731-743. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/80902