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Students' progression of understanding the matter concept from elementary to high school
Author(s) -
Liu Xiufeng,
Lesniak Kathleen M.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
science education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.209
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1098-237X
pISSN - 0036-8326
DOI - 10.1002/sce.20056
Subject(s) - mathematics education , rasch model , psychology , conceptual change , sample (material) , mathematics , developmental psychology , chemistry , chromatography
Using the US national sample from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Rasch modeling method, this study identified the conceptual progression sequence of various matter concept aspects, and compared students' latent abilities against the sequence. We found that the four matter aspects, i.e. conservation, physical properties and change, chemical properties and change, and structure and composition, are interrelated. Although they differ in overall difficulty with an increased difficulty from conservation to physical properties and change to chemical properties and change and to structure and composition, the difference among them is not statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Elementary school students (3rd and 4th grades) have an average latent ability below the average difficulty of items on the conservation aspect; 7th graders' average latent ability is above the average difficulty level of the conservation and physical properties and change aspects; 8th and 12th grade students' average latent ability is above the average difficulty level of all the aspects except for structure and composition; and 12th grade science specialization students' average latent ability is above the average difficulty level of all the four aspects. We proposed a dynamic overlapping wave model of matter concept development to make sense the above‐identified progression patterns. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 89: 433–450, 2005