Using "A Gas Burner Model Making and Using One" in Science Lessons : A Case Study

Abstract

Rehearsal of symbolic representation was useful for replay has been evaluated. However, a workable model for students to practice operating a gas burner at home has not been invented. The first author invented "A Gas Burner Model." The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of 3.4 lessons using "A Gas Burner Model: Making and Using One" in teaching the basic operation of a gas burner in the first grade of lower secondary school. The teaching method was evaluated by analyzing the results of a performance test and a written examination administered immediately afterwards and then once again nearly 3.5 months after the lessons, provided that students operated a gas burner three times in lessons during nearly 1.5 months after the study project. In this case, the results were as follows. Using "A Gas Burner Model: Making and Using One" encourages students to adjust to the differences between real operation and their memory of its symbolic representation, linking linguistic representation and imaginable representation concerned with the operational skill and the method of operating a gas burner. Using the teaching method encourages students to acquire this skill, and therefore many students do. Using the teaching method also encourages students, especially male students, to acquire knowledge about the method of operation. The level of this knowledge is demonstrated by the fact that students can explain what they have learned in writing that is clearly understandable to other students.