Research on Competencies that can be Fostered in a Lower Secondary School Science Class

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine what kind of competencies are, and can be, fostered in a lower secondary school science class. We studied a first-year lower secondary school classroom lesson that incorporated an experiment to identify five types of plastic. In this study, we used the following methods to analyze whether the lesson unit improved the students’ competencies, including “general skills” and “attitudes and values”: 1) transcription of a classroom video recording that showed the interaction between selected students; 2) interview with the selected student after class; and 3) a self-assessment questionnaire that we asked all the students to complete before starting the lesson unit, after the recorded classroom hour, and after completing the lesson unit. Based on our analysis of the classroom recoding that showed the students engaging in developing and executing their experiment plans, as well as our analysis of the student interviews, we found that the students improved their general skill of “developing foresight” in this lesson that focused on designing the experiment plan. We also found an enhancement in the students’ attitudes and value of “curiosity and inquisitive mind” by working with materials that related to the students’ everyday life. Finally, our analysis of the self-assessment questionnaire implemented on three occasions showed that the students were able to bring out, apply, and foster a variety of “general skills” and “attitudes and values” through their synergistic influences.