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Concept cartoons als ondersteuning van instructie om achtste groepers data-reading en theorie-revisie te leren

Pepers, L. (2013) Concept cartoons als ondersteuning van instructie om achtste groepers data-reading en theorie-revisie te leren.

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Abstract:To prepare elementary school students better for scientific education, it is important to support the development of skills in scientific reasoning. Support is needed on the aspects of scientific reasoning with which childen have difficulty. This study will focus on the difficulty children have with acknowledging alternative hypotheses. Because children find this quite difficult, they often do not realise that experiments are designed to test hypotheses. They think experimenting is used for supporting hypotheses; which is comparable with a ‘confirmation bias’. In this case, children tend to base their conclusions not on data, but on their hypotheses. This study investigated whether concept cartoons could help acknowledging alternative hypotheses, so that the purpose of experimenting would become clearer and children would be more inspired by data when drawing conclusions. Concept cartoons are pictures with three or four cartoon figures who each have another hypothesis (or conclusion) about a scientific topic. The study was built on a physical experiment, in which thirty sixth graders had to investigate which factors (colour, weight or size) affected the falling time of a ball and how. Students began with formulating their hypotheses, after which half of the students (N = 15) were offered a concept cartoon with alternative hypotheses. Before experimenting, students in that same condition were offered another concept cartoon with alternative conclusions. Finally we investigated the experiments students ran, the conclusions they drew and whether they based their conclusions on the data or their hypotheses. The results didn’t show any significant difference between the control- and experimental group. These findings are discussed and suggestions are provided for further research.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/63319
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