The Development of Conceptual Transferability of Grade 8 Student in the Topic of Solutions Using Context - Based Learning

Abstract

The purposes of this classroom action research were to: 1)develop students’ conceptual transferability about solutions using context-based learning and 2)find the best practice to develop conceptual transferability in the topic of solutions using context-based learning. The research participants were 30 grade 8students in a girl’s school of the Secondary Educational Service Area Office, Nonthaburi. The data were collected from 1) conceptual transferability test, 2) teacher’s journal, 3) advisor’s supervision journal, and 4) student’s semi-structured interview. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The results showed that the students had conceptual transferability for each component at a variety of levels. The component of understanding the concept and deciding to apply the concept was developed to a good level, but the component which required the students to link concept in a new situation was developed to a fair level. The study showed that the best practices to develop conceptual transferability in the topic of solutions using context-based learning were: 1) integrating misconceptions into the situation on setting focal event step for promoting students’ suspicion and leading them to investigate further; 2) Using an online laboratory accompanied with probing questions to promote understanding of
a scientific concept, and link the knowledge to other similar situations; 3) Teaching sequentially from the concrete concepts to abstract concepts; 4)Using daily situations accompanied by storytelling to encourage the students to apply their knowledge further in similar situations using the reasoning developed from learned concepts.