The Impact of the Modified Know-Want-Learn Strategy on Students’ Performance and Metacognition in Primary School Physics Teaching

Abstract

<p>Students perceive physics as a difficult teaching subject and have<br />prejudices&nbsp; about&nbsp; this&nbsp; subject&nbsp; before&nbsp; they&nbsp; get&nbsp; acquainted&nbsp; with&nbsp; its<br />content as a part of teaching physics. Poor students&rsquo; performance<br />in&nbsp; physics&nbsp; indicate&nbsp; the&nbsp; need&nbsp; to&nbsp; use&nbsp; appropriate&nbsp; strategies&nbsp; in&nbsp; the<br />teaching&nbsp; process&nbsp; that&nbsp; can&nbsp; help&nbsp; students&nbsp; in&nbsp; mastering&nbsp; physics<br />contents.&nbsp; Since&nbsp; there&nbsp; is&nbsp; a&nbsp; correlation&nbsp; between&nbsp; students&rsquo;<br />performance and metacognition, it is preferably to apply strategies<br />that at the same time encourage the development of metacognition.<br />In this paper a modified Know-Want-Learn strategy is proposed,<br />which&nbsp; can&nbsp; be&nbsp; used&nbsp; in&nbsp; teaching&nbsp; with&nbsp; the&nbsp; aim&nbsp; of&nbsp; encouraging<br />research and practical work. Within the modified strategy, students<br />fill&nbsp; in&nbsp; four&nbsp; columns:&nbsp; What&nbsp; I&nbsp; Think&nbsp; and&nbsp; what&nbsp; I&nbsp; know;&nbsp; What<br />Questions I have; How can I find out; and What I Learned.<br />The aim of the conducted research was to examine the impact of<br />the modified Know-Want-Learn strategy on students&rsquo; performance<br />and&nbsp; metacognition&nbsp; in&nbsp; primary&nbsp; school&nbsp; physics&nbsp; teaching.<br />Pedagogical&nbsp; experiment&nbsp; with&nbsp; parallel&nbsp; groups&nbsp; (experimental&nbsp; andcontrol) was carried out; 141 students (5 classes) of the sixth grade<br />(aged&nbsp; 11-12&nbsp; years)&nbsp; participated.&nbsp; Students&#39;&nbsp; performance&nbsp; was<br />assessed with the use of pre-test and post-test that were created for<br />the purpose of research, while questionnaire on metacognition was<br />used for evaluation of students&#39; metacognition. Statistical analysis<br />of&nbsp; the&nbsp; obtained&nbsp; data&nbsp; showed&nbsp; that&nbsp; the&nbsp; implementation&nbsp; of&nbsp; the<br />modified&nbsp; Know-Want-Learn&nbsp; strategy,&nbsp; in&nbsp; sixth&nbsp; grade&nbsp; primary<br />school&nbsp; physics&nbsp; teaching,&nbsp; has&nbsp; positive&nbsp; impact&nbsp; on&nbsp; students&#39;<br />performance&nbsp; and&nbsp; metacognition.&nbsp; Besides,&nbsp; it&nbsp; has&nbsp; been&nbsp; shown&nbsp; that<br />performance&nbsp; is&nbsp; not&nbsp; dependant,&nbsp; while&nbsp; metacognition&nbsp; is&nbsp; dependant<br />on students&#39; gender. On the basis of the obtained data, it was found<br />that&nbsp; there&nbsp; is&nbsp; statistically&nbsp; significant&nbsp; weak&nbsp; correlation&nbsp; between<br />students&#39;&nbsp; performance&nbsp; and&nbsp; metacognition.&nbsp; The&nbsp; research&nbsp; results<br />suggest&nbsp; that&nbsp; proposed&nbsp; strategy&nbsp; should&nbsp; be&nbsp; used&nbsp; in&nbsp; primary&nbsp; school<br />physics teaching.</p>

<p>Učenici&nbsp; doživljavaju&nbsp; fiziku&nbsp; kao&nbsp; težak&nbsp; nastavni&nbsp; predmet&nbsp; i&nbsp; imaju predrasude o fizici kao nauci i pre nego &scaron;to se upoznaju sa njenim sadržajem&nbsp; u&nbsp; okviru&nbsp; nastave&nbsp; fizike.&nbsp; Slaba&nbsp; postignuća&nbsp; učenika&nbsp; iz fizike ukazuju na potrebu da se u nastavi primenjuju odgovarajuće strategije&nbsp; koje&nbsp; mogu&nbsp; pomoći&nbsp; učenicima&nbsp; u&nbsp; savladavanju&nbsp; sadržaja fizike.&nbsp; S&nbsp; obzirom&nbsp; na&nbsp; to&nbsp; da&nbsp; postoji&nbsp; veza&nbsp; između&nbsp; postignuća&nbsp; i metakognicije&nbsp; učenika,&nbsp; poželjno&nbsp; je&nbsp; primenjivati&nbsp; strategije&nbsp; koje istovremeno&nbsp; podstiču&nbsp; razvoj&nbsp; metakognicije.&nbsp; U&nbsp; ovom&nbsp; radu&nbsp; je predložena modifikovana strategije Znam-Želim da&nbsp; znam-Naučio sam,&nbsp; koja&nbsp; se&nbsp; može&nbsp; koristiti&nbsp; u&nbsp; nastavi&nbsp; fizike&nbsp; s&nbsp; ciljem&nbsp; podsticanja istraživanja&nbsp; i&nbsp; praktičnog&nbsp; rada.&nbsp; U&nbsp; okviru&nbsp; modifikovane&nbsp; strategije učenici&nbsp; popunjavaju&nbsp; tabelu&nbsp; od&nbsp; četiri&nbsp; kolone:&nbsp; Mislim&nbsp; i&nbsp; znam; Pitanja koja imam; Kako mogu da saznam; i Naučio sam.Cilj&nbsp; sprovedenog&nbsp; istraživanja&nbsp; bio&nbsp; je&nbsp; da&nbsp; se&nbsp; ispita&nbsp; uticaj&nbsp; primene modifikovane&nbsp; strategije&nbsp; Znam-Želim&nbsp; da&nbsp; znam-Naučio&nbsp; sam postignuća&nbsp; i&nbsp; metakogniciju&nbsp; učenika&nbsp; u&nbsp; osnovno&scaron;kolskoj&nbsp; nastavifizike.&nbsp; U&nbsp; realizovanom&nbsp; pedago&scaron;kom&nbsp; eksperimentu&nbsp; sa&nbsp; paralelnim grupama&nbsp; (eksperimentalnom&nbsp; i&nbsp; kontrolnom),&nbsp; učestvovao&nbsp; je&nbsp; 141 učenik&nbsp; (5&nbsp; odeljenja)&nbsp; &scaron;estog&nbsp; razreda&nbsp; (uzrasta&nbsp; 11-12&nbsp; godina). Postignuća učenika su procenjena primenom inicijalnog i finalnog testa&nbsp; koji&nbsp; su&nbsp; kreirani&nbsp; za&nbsp; potrebe&nbsp; istraživanja,&nbsp; dok&nbsp; je&nbsp; za&nbsp; procenu metakognicije&nbsp; učenika&nbsp; kori&scaron;ćen&nbsp; upitnik&nbsp; o&nbsp; nivou&nbsp; metakognicije.<br />Statističkom obradom dobijenih podataka pokazano je da primena modifikovane&nbsp; strategije&nbsp; Znam-Želim&nbsp; da&nbsp; znam-Naučio&nbsp; sam,&nbsp; u realizaciji&nbsp; nastave&nbsp; fizike&nbsp; u&nbsp; &scaron;estom&nbsp; razredu&nbsp; osnovne&nbsp; &scaron;kole,pozitivno&nbsp; utiče&nbsp; na&nbsp; učenička&nbsp; postignuća&nbsp; i&nbsp; metakogniciju.&nbsp; Takođe,pokazano je da postignuća ne zavise, dok metakognicija zavisi od pola učenika. Na osnovu dobijenih podataka utvrđeno je da postoji statistički značajna slaba korelacija između učeničkih postignuća i metakognicije.&nbsp; Rezultati istraživanja&nbsp; ukazuju&nbsp; na to&nbsp; da&nbsp; bi opisana strategija trebalo da se koristi u osnovno&scaron;kolskoj nastavi fizike.</p>