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Authentic Research within the Grasp of High School Students
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Abstract
It is difficult for high school students to understand how research is done. Few opportunities are provided for them to answer questions that have not been thoroughly discussed in their textbooks. However, there are research questions to be explored that are within the experience of students. The research problem that is described arose when a colleague posed a question: "Will an ice cube melt faster in salt water or tap water?" After a discussion of individual predictions students were challenged to design a set of experiments to answer the question. The importance of issues, such as identifying and controlling variables, became a reality for the students as they worked on the problem. From an analysis of their data, working as teams, they developed models to explain their observations, and then designed and conducted experiments to determine which was the best model. The learning process describe could be duplicated in any chemistry classroom, and it can also serve as a framework for exploring other problems as they arise from everyday observations. Student response to this approach was overwhelmingly positive.
Keywords (Audience):
High School / Introductory ChemistryKeywords (Domain):
Laboratory InstructionKeywords (Feature):
Second-Year and AP ChemistryKeywords (Pedagogy):
Problem Solving / Decision MakingKeywords (Subject):
Solutions / SolventsTools
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- Received: August 03, 2009
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