Applying three levels of thinking with animation to develop secondary school students' scientific conceptual understanding of the separation of substance
Abstract:
The objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of using the Three Levels of Thinking (macro, micro, and symbolic levels) with animation on students conceptual understanding of the separation of substances including evaporation, crystallization, simple distillation, and paper chromatography. This study compared pre and post tests of 30 eighth grade students during the first semester of the 2020 academic year in Chiang Mai Province.The instrument used was a two tier diagnostic test for measuring students scientific conceptual understanding which consisted of twenty four items.Data were analyzed using normal distribution statistics, including mean, standard deviation, percentage, and t test. It was found that: 1) students' over all post test scores for scientific conceptual understanding were significantly higher than their pre test scores (t = .05).Initially, only 2.08% of students demonstrated the highest level of understanding, i.e., sound understanding, (SU) on the pre test. The post test showed 69.72% of students at the SU level.2) within the four topics in each level investigated, students' post test scores for conceptual understanding were significantly higher than their pre test scores (t = .05). The students' pre test scores for sound understanding (SU) was 2.08% for the macro level, 0.00% for the micro level, and 5.83% at the symbolic level. The posttest showed SU scores at 69.72%, 68.33%, and 72.92%, respectively. The results suggest that applying three levels of thinking with animation promotes students' scientific conceptual understanding of the separation of substance.