Experimental Studies on Better Understanding Factor That Students Gain from the "Self-made Textbook"

Abstract

By using the self-made textbook program, science students are able to create their own textbooks, and they are then able to comment on their teaching approaches on questionnaires after every class. Through analyzing this idea, we are able to help students learn better and see how they prefer to learn using the following techniques. We can improve the effectiveness of 1) Using figures, graphs, and pictures; 2) Using photos of experiments; 3) Using concrete, real-life examples; 4) Simplifying expressions and focusing on main points; 5) Using bolded and colored text to exaggerate important points or terminology; 6) Changing color of the topic headings. Learning practices 1 to 3 encourage deeper understanding, while practices 4 to 6 make understanding easier. It can be problematic to include their own experiment data in their textbooks. Some students think that experiment data should be explained logically in the scientific method of experiment-result-conclusion and it can be helped to reduce their anxiety that their experiment data might be incorrect. On the other hand, other students think that they had better not show experiment data in the self-made textbook because they should make their own conclusion. It is more important for students to experience the scientific method of experiment-result-conclusion by themselves.