The Effect of an Earth-Science Learning Program on Students' Scientific Thinking Skills
Nir Orion, Yael Kali September, 2005 Journal of Geoscience Education v53 n4 p387
This study published in the Journal of Geoscience Education explores junior high school students' understanding of the essential concepts involved in scientific thinking: observation, hypothesis and drawing conclusions. The study also looks at the effect that learning the program 'The Rock Cycle' can have on the development of such understanding. The findings indicate that students have considerable difficulties in understanding the basic concepts underlying the scientific method, and that 'The Rock Cycle' has the potential to improve scientific thinking. An unexpected gender difference was found, with girls outperforming boys in scientific thinking in both pre and post tests. The study concludes that Geoscience methodology, structured inquiry and metacognitive activities serve as an appropriate framework to help students develop basic scientific thinking skills.
