Date of Award

1994

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

James H. Wandersee

Abstract

Two researcher-produced, standard-length videos on photosynthesis (and accompanying ancillary materials) were developed with the input of educators and content experts. The control treatment video script contained the standard number of prototypical examples and graphics based high school textbooks. The experimental treatment video script was based on the theory of conceptual change. Two student focus groups met daily for one week and reviewed portions of the original experimental treatment script for clarity, brevity, and choice and placement of examples and nonexamples. Their suggestions and conceptual change have implications for curriculum design. The main research question of this study was: Do students learn more from a biology video supplemented with small-multiple examples and nonexamples than one with prototypical examples? The experimental treatment group students performed significantly higher on a subject knowledge posttest than did the control treatment group students (p $<$.05). Three research questions were included in this study. The first subquestion was: Do students of high, medium, or low ability learn more from a biology video supplemented with small-multiple examples and examples and nonexamples than one with prototypical examples? The second subquestion was: Do students of high, medium, or low ability retain more from a biology video supplemented with small-multiple examples and nonexamples than one with prototypical examples? The third research subquestion was closely related: Do high, medium, or low ability students' concept maps exhibit greater concept elaboration and stronger linkages between concepts from a biology video supplemented with small-multiple examples and nonexamples than one with prototypical examples? The experimental treatment group students performed significantly higher on a retention test than the control treatment group students (p $<$.05). The high-ability students in both the control treatment and experimental treatment group showed no appreciable differences in their concept maps. However, the medium ability experimental treatment students' concept maps showed a greater depth of knowledge about photosynthesis and more precise linkages between concepts than the maps of the control treatment group students. The low-ability experimental treatment students' concept maps revealed a blend of their previous alternative conceptions and the scientifically acceptable knowledge about photosynthesis.

Pages

247

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.5688

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