Survey of Improvement of Operational Skill Teaching on Experimental Tools in Lower Secondary School

Abstract

Twenty-two lower secondary school science teachers and their 637 third grade students answered a questionnaire about the operational skill of experimental tools at the end of the 2007 school year. The collected data have been statistically analyzed and useful information have been extracted on the teaching method of the skill. Main results are as follows. 1. Teacher's awareness that to wear the ability of student on problem-solving through the experiment are important, has a good influence on the teaching style when they teach the operational skills of 12 experimental tools (e.g., pipettes and spuits) except 11 tools (e.g., gas burners and pan scales) that many teachers have instructed all students to operate the tools. 2. Three to five students cooperatively learn the operational skills of the voltmeter, ammeter, and pan scales, which scene have attended the factors that impede the desirable teaching one another. 3. Teachers have lower awareness that "Students can not understand the skills because a gas burner has many skills and is complicated" than students. This is caused by teachers have so vividly awareness "Students fear a fire, can not set fire, and forget the distinction of the screws and the direction of turning the screws halfway operating it." The serious situation badly influence that students acquire the operational skill and knowledge about the operation. 4. Female students complain about difficulty of the operational skills of the ammeter, voltmeter. pan scales, gas burners, and the microscope more than male, which has been obvious. We also obtained that female students complain about the operational skill difficulty of the match, power supply, putting gas on water, electric striking timer, and heating the test tube with the gas burner flame by tightly grasping it with a nipper more strongly than male and that the operational skill of dry-cleaning glassware is the other way.