Developing of Experimental Competence of Laos pupils in Secondary School Science Classroom

Year 2019, , 595 - 608, 15.09.2019

Van Bien Nguyen , Xayparseut Vylaychit Anh Thuan Nguyen

https://doi.org/10.17478/jegys.573969

Abstract

How to help
teachers to design teaching plan for raising student’s competency at secondary
school in Laos is now of great concern. On the other hand, teachers teach
sciences almost by lecturing theory only. They rarely explain the problems based
on actual phenomena that occur in pupils’ daily life nor do experiment during
the class. Thus, one of the vital concerns for Lao’s science education is that
the summative and formative assessment for science learning are both only
focused on evaluating the pupils’ knowledge. 
To improve the quality of learning and pave a  new way 
for teaching by doing physics experiment, we developed a practical
science course“Heat and temperature”
with hands on  activities and realistic
application. For measuring experimental competence, the framework for practical
assessment from Etkina 2002and Metzger 2012 was adapted and used(E.
Etkina, Van Heuvelen, Brookes, & Mills, 2002)(Metzger,
Gut, Hild, & Tardent, 2014).
In this paper, we describe the process and experiences of how to develop the
course with comprehensive worksheets and hands on equipment. We also interpret
the way to gather evidence of experimental competence during the course. After
that, we present some initial results of the development of pupils’ competence
during the course.

Keywords

Experimental competence, Lao pupils, heat and temperature

Supporting Institution

Hanoi national university of education

References

• Etkina, E., & Murthy, S. (2006). Design labs: Students’ expectations and reality. In AIP Conference Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2177032
• Etkina, E., Van Heuvelen, A., Brookes, D. T., & Mills, D. (2002). Role of Experiments in Physics Instruction — A Process Approach. The Physics Teacher, 40(6), 351–355. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1511592
• Griffin, P., McGaw, B., & Care, E. (2012). Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills. Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills (Vol. 9789400723). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2324-5
• Gut, C., Metzger, S., Hild, P., & Tardent, J. (2014). VALIDATION OF AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERFORMANCE, 3–5.
• Josephy, R. (1986). Assessment of practical and experimental work in physics through OCEA. Physics Education, 21, 214–221.
• Metzger, S., Gut, C., Hild, P., & Tardent, J. (2014). Modelling and assessing experimental competence: An interdisciplinary progress model for hands-on assessments. E-Book Proceedings of the ESERA 2013 Conference: Science Education Research for Evidence-Based Teaching and Coherence in Learning.
• Millar, R. (2004). The role of practical work in the teaching and learning of science. High School Science Laboratories: Role and Vision, (October), 25.
• Miller, A. R., & Kastens, K. A. (2018). Investigating the impacts of targeted professional development around models and modeling on teachers’ instructional practice and student learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55(5), 641–663. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21434
• OCR. (2018). OCR Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced GCE in Physics. Retrieved from www.ocr.org.uk/alevelphysics
• Schecker, H., Neumann, K., Theyßen, H., Eickhorst, B., & Dickmann, M. (2016). Stufen experimenteller Kompetenz. Zeitschrift Für Didaktik Der Naturwissenschaften, 22(1), 197–213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40573-016-0050-3
• Van Driel, J. H., Beijaard, D., & Verloop, N. (2001). Professional development and reform in science education: The role of teachers’ practical knowledge. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1002/1098-2736(200102)38:2<137::AID-TEA1001>3.0.CO;2-U
• Weinert, F. E. (2001). Concept of Competence: A Conceptual Clarification. In Definition and Selection of Competencies: Theoretical and Conceptual Foundation (DeSeCo). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0703993104
• Woods, K., & Griffin, P. (2013). Judgement-based performance measures of literacy for students with additional needs: Seeing students through the eyes of experienced special education teachers. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, 20(3), 325–348. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2012.734777
• Zhang, L. (2018). “Hands-on” plus “inquiry”? Effects of withholding answers coupled with physical manipulations on students’ learning of energy-related science concepts. Learning and Instruction, (December 2017), 0–1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.01.001