Eva Kölbach

1 Eva Kölbach

Influences of a Real-Life Context on Students‘ Interest and Achievement

Presentation SFU, May 5th

Eva Kölbach

Outline

§ Theoretical Background § Research Questions & Hypotheses§ Proceeding & Design § Instruments§ First Results

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Eva Kölbach

Context, Interest & Learning Achievement

„If learners are more interested and motivated by the experiences

they are having in their lessons, this increased engagement might

result in improved learning.”

(Bennett & Holman, 2002)

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Context-Orientation Situational Interest /

Motivation

Learning Achievement

Research in the field of interest :§ Interest has a powerful facilitative effect on cognitive functioning

(e. g. Hidi & Bernsdorff, 1998)

§ Correlation between interest in school and learning achievement (r =.30)

(Schiefele, Krapp, & Schreyer, 1993)

Assumption:

+ +

Eva Kölbach

State of Research

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Study Findings

Barker & Millar (2000) UK, Salters °

Ramsden (1997) UKSalters

Gutwill-Wise (2001)US, ChemConnection +

Yager & Weld (1999)US, Iowa-Project

„While there is good reason to believe that context-based instruction will improve learning, there is also reason to believe that it may not.“ (Taasoobshirazi & Carr, 2008)

achievement levels of Salters versus traditionally instructed students are comparable high

students in context-based courses outperform students in conventional courses (content knowledge and applied knowledge)

§ Most studies point towards positive influences of contexts on students‘ interest (e. g. Osborne & Collins, 2001; Yager & Weld, 1999; Demuth, Gräsel, Parchmann & Ralle, 2008) § Effects on students’ learning achievement are inconsistent and less positive (Bennett & Holman, 2002)

Eva Kölbach

Contexts in Chemistry Education (Fechner, 2009)

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Learning environment:Small group experiments with interaction boxes

Topic:Acids and bases

Aufgabenkarte 

Wenn man Mineralwasser nicht fertig kaufen will, kann man es selbst aus Leitungswasser herstellen. Das Gerät, das einem dabei hilft, ist ein sogenannter Sodastreamer: es drückt ein Gas aus einer kleinen dünnen Gasflasche 

in das Leitungswasser.

Das entstehende Mineralwasser ist dann allerdings nicht mehr neutral.

1: Findet heraus, welches Gas in dem Gerät enthalten sein muss. 

2: Habt ihr eine Idee, wie man die Gruppe dieses Gases allgemein nennt?

Info­Karte

Gase können als Element oder als Verbindung vorkommen. Während sie als Element nur aus einem 

Element bestehen, sind in Verbindungen mehrere Elemente beteiligt. 

Verbindungen, die Sauerstoff enthalten, nennt man Oxide. Also ist eine Verbindung aus einem Nichtmetall 

und Sauerstoff ein Nichtmetalloxid. Eine Verbindung aus einem Metall und Sauerstoff ist ein Metalloxid.

Variation of Contexts:

real-life subject-related

mineral watersoccer pitch

laboratory

Aim: Analysing context-effects on students‘ interest and achievement

Eva Kölbach

Context-Effects in Chemistry Education (Fechner, 2009)

ü Main effect of context on students‘ situational interest

ü Main effect of context on students‘ learning achievement

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Ø Effects varied depending on the implemented context Ø Effects on students‘ achievement were shown to be completely mediated by an increased situational interest

lesson

Eva Kölbach

Context-Effects in Chemistry and Biology Education (Fechner, 2009; Haugwitz, 2009)

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lessonlesson

situational Interest Learning Achievement

Biology X (X)Chemistry √ √

§ small effects in lesson 4 and 5 (soccer pitch)

Eva Kölbach

Summary

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Results:

What‘s about individual learning phases?

Interaction between context and concepts?

What influences does the subjects have?

cooperativ, experimental

Learning environment:

Effects vary depending on the implemeted context

Context-Orientation Situational Interest /

Motivation

Learning Achievement

+ +√ ?

Effects vary depending on the respective subject

Eva Kölbach

Research Questions & Research Hypotheses

Q1: What influences do a subject-specific context (CS) and a

real-life context (CR) have on the learning achievement

across two concepts within chemistry domain?

Q2: What influence do a subject-specific context and a real-life context have on learning outcome with regard to chemistry concepts compared to biology concepts?

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H1 Interest (CR) > Interest (CS)

H2 Learning Achievement (CR) > Learning Achievement (CS)

H2 effects (Ch) > effects (Bio)

Eva Kölbach

Proceeding

Q2 Ch > Bio

Chemistry

concept 1structure of water-

molecules

concept 2solution of salt

concept 1structure of water-

molecules

concept 2solution of salt

Q1 CR > CR

interest / achievement

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context

CR = lakes

CS = laboratory

Biology (Pfeiffer)

context

lakes

laboratory

interest / achievement

interest / achievemnt

interest / achievement

concept:hormone

concept:hormone

Bio

Bio

Q3: influences of the subject

Eva Kölbach

Design

topic 1„solution of salt“

topic 1„solution of salt“

topic 2„structure of water-

molecules“

topic 2„structure of water-

molecules“

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variation of context

CR = lakes

CS = laboratory

cognitive abilities

prior

knowledge

interest

learning achievement

accompanying tests measuringsituational interest & learning achievement

PreTest Learning Phase Follow-up

Ø To avoid effects of order examples were rotated

„ hormone“

Eva Kölbach

Instruments

Pre-Test

Cognitive abilities test (Heller & Perleth, 2000)

Interest questionnaire

Prior knowledge test (multiple-choice)

Context-specific interest questionnaire

Beliefs (accordning to Buehl & Alexander, 2002)

Post -Test (accompanying):

Situational interest (in part Fechner & Haugwitz, 2009), value & usefullness (Deci & Ryan, 2003), task-motivation (Trautwein et al., 2006)

Learning achievement test (multiple-choice)

Follow-up (~ 4 weeks later)

Learning achievement (multiple-choice)

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Eva Kölbach

Sample

Ø 176 9th graders from higher track secondary schools; 14 students (7.95 %) were missing at least one day

Ø N(final) = 162 Ø 52.2 % femaleØ mean age: 14.53 years (SD = 0.62)

Ø In order of their prior knowledge students were assigned to

one of the two context groups (CR / CS) :

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gender

context male female

CR 34 44

CS 43 41

à ²-test: n. s.à No main effect of context (CR / CS) on control variables

Eva Kölbach

Context-Effects on Students‘ Interest – Topic 1 „Solution of Salt“

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Ø Main-effect of context on students‘ situational interest F(1,160) = 10.27; p = .002, partial ² = .06

H1 Interest (CR) > Interest (CS)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

context

mea

ns

situ

atio

nal

in

tere

st

M SD

CS 2.88 1.07

CR 3.43 1.12

Eva Kölbach

Context-Effects on Students‘ Interest – Topic 2 „Structure of Water-Molecules“

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H1 Interest (CR) > Interest (CS)

Ø Main-effect of context on students‘ situational interest F(1,161) = 4.80; p = .03, partial ² = .029

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

context

mea

ns

situ

atio

nal

in

ters

t

M SD

CS 3.32 1.04

CR 3.67 1.00

Ø Effects „solution of salt“ > effects „structure of water-molecules“

Eva Kölbach

Learning Achievement Test (Pre, Post & Follow-up)§ Development of 38 Items (according to Klauer, 1987)

pre: cronbachs‘ : .82

post: cronbachs‘ : .86

§ Items can be distinguished in: Ø Items asking for content knowledgeØ Items asking for applied knowledge

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Typ of Knowledge

content knowlegde applied knowledge

Topic

„solution of salt“ 11 Items 8 Items

„structure of water-molecules“

8 Items 9 Items

Eva Kölbach

Context-Effects on Students‘ Learning Achievement

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H2: Learning Achievement (CR) > Learning Achievement (CS)

Ø No main-effect of context on students‘ learning achievementØ Achievement levels of both groups are comparable high

***

Data showed a significant increase of learning achievement from pre-test (M = 19.08; SD = 7.74) to post-test (M = 29.39, SD = 9.02) t(161) = 18.42; p >.001; d = .66

Eva Kölbach

Summary

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Situational interest

Learning achievement

Ø Main effect of context on students‘ situational interest could be replicated for individual learning phases

Ø Thereby, effects vary depending on the implemented contextØ Effects „solution of salt“ > effects „structure of water-molecules“

Interaction between context and topic

Ø No main effect of context on students‘ learning achievementØ effect sizes to small for a mediation effect? Ø intervention phase long enough?Ø no differences regarding the value of the tasks

Context orientation + + °

Eva Kölbach

Thank You for Your Attention!

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Contact:Eva Kölbach University of Duisburg-Essen Schuetzenbahn 7045147 Essen

eva.koelbach@uni-due.de

Eva Kölbach

Situational Interest over Time

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F (1,146) = 7.37; p = .007

Bio

water

salt

Eva Kölbach

Entwicklung der Beispielaufgaben

Wie viel Gramm Natriumhydroxid

benötigt man, um 0,450 L einer Lösung

von Natronlauge mit c(NaOH) = 0,300

mol/L herzustellen?

M(NaOH) = 40,0 g/mol

c (NaOH) = n(NaOH) / V(NaOH)

= n(NaOH) / 0,450 L = 0,300 mol/L

n(NaOH) = 0,300 mol/L · 0,450 L = 0,135 mol

m(NaOH) = 0,135 mol · 40,0 g/mol = 5,40 g

Man benötigt 5,40 g NaOH um die Lösung

herzustellen.

Kontextbasierte Problemstellung:

„Wie also kommt der Dünger

in den See und warum

macht er ihn so grün?“

„Warum löst sich der Bodensatz

beim Erwärmen auf?“

Lösungsschritte:§ gleiche Lösungsschritte, bezogen auf

den jeweiligen Kontext § Vermittlung von konzeptionellem

Wissen des jeweiligen Fachinhalts

Kontextbasierte Lösung:

Rückbezug zum Problem21

Problemstellung

Lösungsschritte

Lösung