Ron Good Science Education Robert A. Kromhout Physics E. K. Mellon Chemistry The Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306
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Piaget's Work and Chemical Education
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Tht. t'mph;~.;~i in our p w v i o ~ ~r e; m t r w paper on Pinget's work ( t h i s J o u r n a l , 55. 688 (l9781). u,aw on tht. mnny and \arird hntoks that he has produced since rheearlv lW(l'sThis resource paper attempts t o present a representative portion of t h e thousands of st,udies, position papers, etc., t h a t have been inspired hy Piaget's original work a n d which continue t o appear with regularity in many different journals. T h e first and major section of this paper reports some of the many published papers t h a t have direct implications for science teaching. Since most readers of this J o u r n a l probably are more interested in how Piaget's work might he of some use in science teaching, ot,her sections describing replication and training studies, testing procedures, etc. follow this first section. T h e 131sources reported in this paper represent a small fraction of those available, and we have tried t o avoid citing sources t h a t could he difficult t o obtain. I t is hoped that the sources presented in this paper will help the chemical educator more fullv understand t h e nature of the work of J e a n Piaget a s i t appliks t o t h e field of science education in general and t o chemical education in particular. Implications for Science Teaching In addition t o t h e J o u r n a l of Chemical Education (JCE), studies a n d position DaDers relatine- Piaeet's work t o science education a i e found-insuch journals as American Biology Teacher (ART), American J o u r n a l of Physics (AJP), Dissertation Abstracts (DA), J o u r n a l of College Science Teachmg (JCST), J o u r n a l of Research i n Science Teaching (JRST), Physics Teacher (PT), School Science a n d Mathematics (SSM), Science Education (SE), Science Teacher (ST), and Studies i n Science Education (SSE). T h e sources cited in this section will make use of t h e abbreviations in parentheses. Position Papers Although the ideas contained in papers cited in this section may be based a n research results, they should be considered primarily as position papers, in which the author is describing h i s h e r opinion on how Piaget's work can be applied to science education. Recatrse of spare limitations, only a portion of t h e sources cited will he followed hy brief comments about t h e contents of t h e paper. One of t h e position DaDers best known t o chemical educat.ors.appeared'in J C E in s 7 6 and described chemistry content t h a t t h e author considers "formal" in nature. .Ill Herrnn..l.."Piaget for Chemiats,.'JCE. 62. L4fi (1975).
A tnhle lists I6 examples of things in general chemistry which "Pref,~rmal"at~~dpnts can do and lfi corresponding things that they cannot do. Since a suhstnntial number of entering college students do not function at the formal reasoning level, Herron suggests how rh~mistryeont~nt.can be made more accessible to these students. 121 Vmiz R.."Thp Philmophv d . h n Pingel and its Ua4fulnep. toTeachemof Chemistry." .IFF.'. 49.807 119721.
Some of the terms used hy Piaget are explained along with a f& g~neralcomments nhout science teaching.
A suggested ordrr of se-lected topics is provided that the author feels will help to stimnlnte intellectual development. 151 Srhlllwrt. l..."Whnl iiTenrhahle?".Jf?TT,5.222 (1976). In this editorial, Srhuhert raises the question ofwhether reasoning 426 1 Journal of Chemical Education
ability ean be shifted ta a higher level (e.g. concrete to formal) through teaching. (61 Koldiy, G.. '"Piagetian Theory and College Science Teaching:
JCST, 4. 261
1,9741~ . .
After cillng ptudies rhat suggest a l n r g ~proporliun of college stw dwt* du nor iunclam at a formal reawning level, rhr w t h ~ qr u 4 0 n s N hethrr wt.moded educational ~raclires dmng fhp high irhml rears might actually cause a regression in the level ifthought. (71 Hartford.F.and Good,R.;'Asseasment of Cognitive Requirements of lnrtruetional Materials."SSM, 76.231 (19761. Five indicators of formal reasonins are used to assess the level of ..
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(ktntt~c ih~ory,phnsprhnngr*, chcmi~alt~mdr,nndq u ~ l ~ h r i u m A ~. fcmnal uptrat~nnaltndex is rnlcdared i,y applying the indlcmrs to t h w f m r nmrcpt< in the ('HF..V Srnrdvrer~hook.
students are presented in table form, showing that alarge percentage of students do not function a t Piaeet's level of formal thoueht. (9) Lau.m,A.. and Wollman. W.,"Phyaics Pmblemr and the P m =
ofself-Remlatbm.'
PT 11 470 1197Lii
Paper 9 and the three that follow refer to physia teaching but many of the ideas are applicable to chemistry teaching as well. Self-regulation, the process of refining and advancing one's reasoning ahility, isviewed in termsofwhat a physics teacher can do to encourage students to engage in the process. Eleven problems are provided as examples of ways the teacher can promote self-regulation in students. i l l ) MeKinnon, J., and Renner. J., "Are Colleges Concerned with Intellectual develop^ ment?)'AJP, 39.1047 (19711. (121 Renner, J.. "SignificantPhysics Content and lntelloctual Development-Cognitive Development as s Result of Interacting with Physiw Content." AJP, 41, Z I R (19761.
This paper is one in a series of Resource Papers, intended primarily for college and university teachers: The publication of this series is supported in part by a grant frnm the Research Cnmontion~ . ..., . ...... . . ~
Ron Good received the PhD degree fnrm the UniverGty 01 Nwlh C a n h a at Chnpel HIII and heran hiz wwk in science education at Ylor~dnSlate ilni\er;ity in 1968 He has wrirlrn numerous articles on the nature of science learning and his most recent h k . "How Children Learn Science" applies many of Piaget's research findings in developmental psychology to the field ofscience education. HIScurrent research activity is directed toward learning more about the development of formal thought and how the content of science can be used to facilitate such thinking. E. K.Mellan recaved the PhD at the University ofTexas (Austin) in 1963. After a year as instructor of St. Edward's University (Austin), he was a pnstdoctoral fellow and lecturer a t the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). He has been eoordinator of general chemistry at Florida State since 1966. His research interests involve synthetic inorganic chemistry and chemical education. Robert A. Kromhout has taught physics for more than 26 years, and for 22 years at Florida State. He obtained his BS at Kansas State University (then College) in 1948, and his PhD at the University of Illinois in 1952. His research interestsare phase transitions theury, effects of van der Waals interactions. and pedagogy.
(29) Wollman, W.,'Dontrolling Variables: Assessing Levels of Understanding."
As a follow-upto paper 1, Herron describes specific ways in which the chemistry teacher urn differentiate between students who can use formal reasoning and those who cannot. He suggests that even with students capable of formal thought and abstractions, i t is important to relate such concepts as thermodynamics, chemical bonding, etc. t o concrete examples as often as possible. The ehemistry curriculum should be designed so that many concrete experiences and examples are used as the foundation for concepts and activities that require formal reasoning. (15) Lippinmtt. W.. "Piaget: How Best to Use HisFindmgi." JCE. 55.139 (19781. In this editorial, the ehemistry teacher is cautioned against using Piaget as an excuse to remove the complexity of chemistry content. There should be an increased awareness that some students have deficiencies in reasoning ability and the challenge t o the chemistry teacher is t o use the content of chemistry in ways that will facilitate the development of the kind of thinking needed to understand ehemistry. 116) Karplus. R.. "Science Teachtng snd Development of Resaaning." JRST, 14. 169
~."..,. 11977,
Concrete and formal reasoning patterns are described and a "learning cycle" consisting of exploration, concept introduction, and concept application is explained. (171 L a m . A.. and Ksmius. R., ',Should Thenretical Conrepla be Taught before Formal Operations? SE. 61.123 (19771. The authors question the conclusions of researchers who c h i n t o have taught fourth-grade students theoretical concepts of eleetrostatics. IlSI Herron. J., "The Role of Learning and Development: A Critique of Novak'sCamparison of Auruhel end Piaget," SE, 62.593 11978). The author snelyze8 some mmmon misundentandings of Pisget's work. (19) Lamaon, A.. "Athletics,Intellectuel DevelopmenZ end Teachiq:AnAnalogy: SE, 61.79 11977). (201 Shulman. L., "P8yehol~icalContmvenic. in the Teaching of Scipnee and Mathemati-." ST, 35.31 (1948). 121) Aun8hel. D., '"The Transition from Concrete to Ahstrsd Cognitive Functioning: Theoretical I s u c s end lmplieations for Education." JRST. 2.221 119Ml. (22) lavine, D., and Linn, M.. "ScientificReasoning Ability in Adolescence: Theoretical Viewpoints and Educational Implieatinns," JRST, 14.371 119771.
Research PaDers Piaget's theory suggests t h a t hy t h e t i m e a n individual is in hieh school or colleee. - . helsht. should be nhle t o d o t h e kind of reasoning required to understand m u c h of t h e c o n t e n t of chemistry, physics, etc. S u c h things as using proportions, making quantitative correlations and all possible combinations, controlling variables, etc. a r e necessary to d e a l adequately with t h e theories a n d problems of science. A lack of such formal reasoning ability can be thought of as constituting a learning disability in t h e field of science. Research i n t o t h e reasoning ability of s t u d e n t s has direct implications for t h e teaching of chemistry. Recent studies.are making i t a p p a r e n t t h a t o n e cannot assume that high school a n d college s t u d e n t s hnvr attained tht' level of rrnioning required 11) understand t h e a h s t r n r t theories a n d prinriples whirh m a k e u p much of t h e "stuff' of science. Reasoning Abilities of Science S t u d e n t s 123) MeKmnon. J.. and Renner. J., "Are Colleges Concerned with ment?'' ...~ L I P 19.1067 (14711 ........,
InlDllfftual Develop-
About half of the 131 college freshmen in this study were eategorized as lacking formal reasoning ability. The authors report evidence that inquiry-oriented science courses lead to better performance on Piagetian-type tasks of formal thought. (241 Koldiy, G.."Cognitive Development and Science Tesehing:'JRST. 14.21 (1977). A far higher percentage of science oriented students were found to be capable of formal reasoning than is usually the case for randomly sampled groups. 125) Lawon.A. and Renner, J.,"A Quantitative Analmi, of RasponsostoPisgotianTasLs and Its Imolicationr for Curriculum? SE. 58.591 11974). This -~~~ atudv and those that follow in this section show that a laree proportion of high school and college students in introductory science courses do not function a t Piaget's "formal operational'' level. 126) Waite, J., "A Study Comparing College Seicncs Stvdent.8 Performanee on Piagetien-TmeTask% InrJudinp Crms-Cultural Comparisons: DA, 2073A. 11974). (27) Kolodiy, G., "The Corhitive Development ofnighSchml and Cdlege Science Stu~
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rlontr".ICST ~, S.20lrpasoning le\el, l,ut of little help to rhose 4turlent~at a prrformnl level.
Results of tests on probability and eomhinatorial reasoning indicated that fewer than half of the 90 students in the sample could correctly predict outcomes. The effects of genetics instruction on these reasoning abilities were very small. (33) Linn.M;,andTheir.H.,"TheEffectofErprientialS~i~ncaonDeuelopmentof Logid Thinkina in Children'IJRST . 12.49 . 119751. ?
While the previms itudy suggests that srirnre mslrurrion has Very litrlr ~ f f won l cerrnm formal rrnroning abilir~eq,these ourhori r e p m large gains in students' ability on compensating variables. Certain questions about the design of this study are raised in the fallowing paper. (341 Gmd, R.,r d.,"Commentton The Effect of Experimenfal Science on Development ofLogicalThinking in Children." JRST, 15.91 118781. (351 Wollmen, W., and Lawson, A,, "Teachingthe Praedure of Controlled Experimentation:A Piagetian Approach: SE. 61, 57 119771. Evidence isoffered that suggests young students (11-12 years) can be taught to design controlled experiments if the requirements of the procedure do not exceed their developmental capacity. (38) La.wron,A.,and Wollrnan, WWWW'Eemeeaping thhTr~rnnitiiifffmCccccctetoF~maI Cognitive Functioning-An Experiment."JRST, 13.413 (1976). Similar t o paper (35), evidence is offered that suggests instruction (training?) can effect an advance in reasoning ability of young students (11-12 years). However, there seems to be little "transfer" of this traininp to tasks involving different forms of formal reasoning. (371 ~oulanger,~ . . ' , ~ h e ~ f f & o f % i n i n g i n the Propanional~uca~ucaingAw4atedwith theconcept of Speed." JRST, 13.145 11976). 138) Lawson, A.. et al., "Training Effects and Generalization of the Ability to Control Variables in Hxh Schml Biology Students."SE, 59.387 11975). (39) B d d e m a n . T.,"TheEffmof Trainingon the Deuelnpmentof the Ability to Control Variables." JRST, 10.189 119731. (401 Hale, J.,"AnInve~tipation ofTwoFomslOperationalschamsttin AdolescenBenrolled in ISCS Clarsraoms of Three Selected Teachers: DA. 3123A. (1973). The author concludes that certain kinds of instruction may actually he detrimental to the development of formal reasoning. (411 Nau, L,and Raven. R.."The Effect of a S t t d d d k i n g s4uens4eos4 Children's ConelativcThinkingaboutBiiI~giiil Phenomena? JRST. 10,251(19731. Attempts to advance correlative reasoning in early adolescence were largely unsuccessful. There were some indications that the more advanced the student, the greater the likelihood that advancement in reasoning would occur. (421 Polanski.H.:'Pi@'s Logical Opsrstions and %isnee Content Comprehension: DA. 5952A. (1975).
(43) Lawon, A,. "Relationship between Conmete and Fomal Operational kienee Sub& matter and the lntelleetusll r v e l ofthe Learner," DA. 3179A. 119731. Both Polanski's and Lawson's dissertation reseaichs relate the level of thought required by selected science concepts t o the level of thought actually available to students. Implications are offered about the teaching of science to high school and college students. I441 Naviak.S.,and Men1r.J.."AStudvofStudcntPer~eptionsoftheMoleconapt? JCE, 54.720 (1'3%). M W 15-yeardd pupils in lsrarl fad I
