Volume 101(2), February 2001

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Tableof Contents

Abstracts

Tableof Contents

Abstracts

A Partial List of the Empirical TheoreticalLiteratuer on Subject-Specific Pedagogy

Norman G. Lederman
Oregon State University

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           Campusdebates about the relative virtues of generic and subject-specific approachesto teacher education are not uncommon. In such cases, as was recently thecase at Oregon State University, faculty favoring subject-specific approachesframed their arguments in terms of logical and intuitive appeals, as opposedto appealing to the research literature. In the midst of these debates,it became clear that a bibliography of research and theory related to subject-specificpedagogy (e.g., pedagogical content knowledge) did not exist in any centrallocation--hence, the purpose of this bibliography. In an effort to be ashumble as possible, the bibliography is entitled "A Partial List" of theliterature. Nevertheless, what is presented is assumed to be a fairly comprehensivelisting of what has been published. Please feel free to communicate anyadditional references, as well as the results of the debates in which youmay be currently involved.

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High School Precalculus Students' Understandingof Slope as Measure

Sheryl L. Stump
Ball State University


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           Twenty-two high school precalculus students were interviewed to examinetheir understanding of slope as measure. The students examined and discussedreal-world situations involving slope: physical situations involving slopeas a measure of steepness and functional situations involving slope asa measure of rate of change. For the various physical situations, studentsmeasured steepness with angles instead of rations. Overall, they demonstrateda better understanding of slope in functional situations, by many studentshad trouble interpreting slope as a measure of rate of change. Instructionshould focus on helping students form connections and providing opportunitiesfor students to communicate their understanding.
 

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The Contribution of Conceptual Change Texts Accompainedby Concept Mapping to Students' Understanding of the Human CirculatorySystem

Semra Sungur, Ceren Tekkaya, and Omer Geban
Middle East Technical University

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           The present study was conducted to investigate the contribution of conceptualchange texts accompanied by concept mapping instruction to 10th-grade students'understanding of the human circulatory system. To determine misconceptionsconcerning the human circulatory system, 10 eleventh-grade students wereinterviewed. In the light of the findings obtained from student interviewsand related literature, the Human Circulatory System Concepts Test wasdeveloped. The data were obtained from 26 students in the experimentalgroup taught with the traditional instruction. Besides treatment, previouslearning in biology and science process skills were other independent variablesinvolved in this study. Multiple regression Correlation analysis revealedthat science process skill, the treatment, and previous learning in biologyeach made a statistically significant contribution to the variation instudents' understanding of the human circulatory system. It was found thatthe conceptual change texts accompanied by concept mapping instructionproduced a positive effect on students' understanding of concepts. Themean scores of experimental and control groups showed that students inthe experimental group performed better with respect to the human circulatorysystem. Item analysis was carried out to determine and compare the proportionof correct responses and misconceptions of students in both groups. Theaverage percent of correct responses of the experimental group was 59.8%and that of the control group was 51.6% after treatment.

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