Sixth Grader’s Concept of Matter 51

Sixth Graders’ Concepts of Matter

An Action Research Project

The University of Michigan – Dearborn

Nicole Hutchins, Katie McKee and Amanda Smith

Dr. Charlotte Otto

EXPS 420-02 Tuesday

December 16, 2011

Abstract

Many articles have been written about the use of inquiry based science in lower elementary grades, however, very little has been written about its use to correct science misconceptions in older grades. Our research focused on states of matter as they relate to change and constancy in a sixth grade classroom. To complete this project, we observed the class, administered a pre and post-assessment, between which we taught two inquiry based science lessons on matter. In a question about physical changes, we asked students what changed and what remained constant. Post assessment results showed that after our teaching, 23% more students had a better understanding of this concept and were at least partially correct in their responses compared to the pre-assessment. Overall, we have determined that our inquiry based teaching had a positive effect and many students eliminated their misconceptions on this topic which was demonstrated by higher scores on their post-assessment.


Introduction

This action research project was designed to investigate students’ understandings about change and constancy. It was done through the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Science Capstone course. Science Capstone is the final science course taken by School of Education students to wrap up their science learning and understanding. For this project our group focused on two action research questions: What do sixth grade students know about states of matter and change or constancy? And, what is the impact of our teaching on student understanding (or knowledge)?

States of matter consist of gas, liquid, and solid. There are two ways in which states of matter relate to the big idea of change and constancy. Constancy is when components remain unchanged over time. When states of matter change from one to another (liquid to gas or liquid to solid) the amount of matter is conserved. Also, the substance is still made up of the same thing. This covers the idea of constancy in that there is a component that remains the same over time. When the matter is going from a liquid to gas or liquid to solid the particle speed and spacing changes. This covers the topic of change, which is when the components of something do not remain the same over time and are measured using rates.

According to the Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs), (Michigan Department of Education, 2009) states of matter are not covered in fifth grade, but they are in the fourth grade. In fourth grade, students have learned some general properties of the three states of matter so that they are able to compare and contrast them. The main focus is on the physical properties of matter:

P.PM.E.2 States of Matter- Matter exists in several different states:

solids, liquids, and gases. Each state of matter has unique physical

properties. Gases are easily compressed, but liquids and solids do not

compress easily. Solids have their own particular shapes, but liquids

and gases take the shape of the container.

P.PM.04.23 Compare and contrast the states (solids, liquids, gases) of

matter.

(Michigan Department of Education, 2009, p44)

They discuss the compression abilities of each state of matter as well as the shape that each state of matter takes. When the students attend sixth grade, they have the basic information about states of matter.

During sixth grade they investigate the states of matter on a microscopic level. They learn about the molecular makeup of each state of matter and how mass is conserved during the change from one state to another:

P.CM.M.1 Changes in State- Matter changing from state to state can be

explained by using models which show that matter is composed of tiny

particles in motion. When changes of state occur, the atoms and/or molecules

are not changed in structure. When the changes in state occur, mass is

conserved because matter is not created or destroyed.

P.CM.06.11 Describe and illustrate changes in state, in terms of the

arrangement and relative motion of the atoms or molecules.

P.CM.06.12 Explain how mass is conserved as a substance

changes from state to state in a closed system.

(Michigan Department of Education, 2009, p68)

At the start of seventh grade they are expected to have this knowledge so they can learn about the chemical properties of matter. Learning the chemical properties will allow the students to learn and understand how new substances are formed.

Previous Research

A key component to a research project is finding other research projects that coincide with your subject area. We were able to find several articles related to science misconceptions, specifically misconceptions associated with matter and change concepts.

Effects of Conceptual Change Texts and Laboratory Experiments

An article by Durmus and Bayraktur (2010) covers the specific subject we will be teaching in a sixth grade classroom, matter and change. While this research article was conducted with fourth graders, it is very possible for sixth grade students to have the same misconceptions; especially, if they were not changed in fourth grade. Some specific misconceptions covered in the article are: students believe that gases are weightless, once evaporated the substance no longer exists, condensation is the creation of a new substance, and when substances transform from one state to another it is a different substance (Durmus & Bayraktur, 2010). Our lessons will cover some of these same topics and misconceptions. When conducting their study, the authors used three different classrooms: one was the control group and two were experimental groups. They used different types of instruction for each classroom to see which teaching method was most effective in changing students’ views on their misconceptions. Before beginning their teaching they administered a pretest to assess what misconceptions most of the students had and included eight open-ended questions related to the material they were about to learn over the next 12 weeks. Once they were done with the pretest they split the students into their groups. One group was instructed by using conceptual change texts, the other utilized laboratory exercises during their instructional period, and the control group was instructed using traditional instruction techniques. We did not divide our classroom up like this when we taught; we taught to the whole class the same way and compared their misconceptions before and after our lessons. Also, our time frame was a couple weeks rather than 12 weeks. However, we administered a pre-assessment and post-assessment test to determine the students’ learning and change in misconceptions from our lesson plans.

The results of their study showed that in the beginning all three groups were fairly equal on what misconceptions they had and why. After the twelve week period, researchers found that the control group stayed the same and the other two groups reduced the misconceptions they originally had by a significant amount. So in conclusion, “laboratory experiments are more effective than traditional instruction in reducing the misconceptions in 4th grade matter and change topics.” (Durmus & Bayraktur, 2010, p. 503). This was very helpful for our teaching. It allowed us to see what teaching methods worked in changing students’ misconceptions. We were confident that our inquiry method would have a positive effect on the students’ learning and understanding when we taught our lessons. Also, we were able to see if students in sixth grade had the same misconceptions as fourth graders. From this information we were able to try implementing other teaching techniques to correct their misconceptions.

Science Misconceptions

Every area of science has its own misconceptions. The tough part is identifying these misconceptions and helping students to overcome them. Hapkiewicz (1992) discusses every teacher’s desire to give their students correct information and changing their views if they have the wrong information. The article consists of lists of topics for each area of science and the most common misconceptions linked to each of them. Most teachers do not have the time to assess what misconceptions the students have before each new topic. We see this as being a handy guide for the future. We also used the misconceptions as an aid in designing our pre-assessment. As we prepared our pre-assessment and lesson plans we examined what misconceptions the students had and compared them to the ones listed in the article. The article gave us an idea of what misconceptions to expect as well as a basis for planning our lesson plans.

This article was useful as we conducted our research. It provided us with an idea of what misconceptions to expect as well as ways to teach our students the content to overcome their misunderstandings and build on the new knowledge. Not only did it help us to teach the correct information to our students but it helped us as teachers to overcome the misconceptions that we have held for years.

Matter Misconceptions in Middle School Students

Tsai’s (1999) paper addresses the research study findings based on using analogy activities to overcome students’ misconceptions of the phase change of matter. The research identified four major misconceptions held by junior high school students: (1) that the particle size of matter varies when it is in different phases; (2) the distance between the particles that have been involved in a change of phase- what is the spatial relationship of the molecules in the container, are they close together or farther apart ; (3) that the particles in a molecule will separate or recombine during a phase change; and (4) the movement or lack of movement of the particles in either phase (Tsai, 1999).

To address the use of analogy to combat the misconceptions identified, 83 eighth graders were split into two groups, a control group which received traditional classroom instruction, and an experiment group which was exposed to an interactive activity involving the particle movement and relationship to the other particles in the element.

This particular study found that, four weeks later, those students exposed to the interactive analogy activity had little loss of learning versus those students in the control group. This would lead one to believe that the interactive exposure method may enhance student knowledge and retention for the long term.

The action research we conducted is similar to that discussed by Tsai with the exception being that we conducted our study with a group of sixth graders. Based on the outcome of the pre-test, we wanted to utilize a similar activity to help the students establish a relationship between the molecules during a phase change. We expanded on this research by working with a younger classroom, sixth graders, as well as by utilizing hands on inquiry lessons to determine if the students are able to grasp the concept of molecular movement in relation to its temperature. This was done in part as a “homework” activity in which the students placed an inflated balloon in the freezer and monitored its size in relation to a string that was tied snugly around its widest part.

Elementary School Students Beliefs about Matter

Nakhleh and Samarapungavan’s article (1999) discusses their research associated with the beliefs about matter in elementary school children; specifically the development of students’ ideas (pre-teaching) regarding matter. Students were given questions about matter and asked to respond based on their pre-existing knowledge. Their intent was to determine how the students’ pre-existing knowledge influences or impacts the direction of their future learning of science.

This particular study took place in an urban elementary school in 1994. There were 15 participants between the ages of 7 and 10 years old (grades 1-4). They were not randomly selected but chosen by their teachers to represent their school population. There were 8 boys and 7 girls in the study.

The study process consisted of 3 open ended question interviews conducted one child at a time. Follow up questions were used to elicit additional details from the child as needed. During the discussion of the different states of matter (solid, liquid, gas), students were given common examples with which they could relate the question to and utilize their prior knowledge.

The authors concluded that it was not prudent to delve deeply into the concept of matter during the elementary years. This, they feel, is due to the fact that student thinking at this stage is too concrete to accept and understand this concept fully.

Our action research was able to build on the information found in this article. Our work with an older group of students allowed us the opportunity to assess whether or not they were more receptive and understanding of these concepts based on the fact that they have had more exposure to those that are non-concrete than the students in the Nakhleh and Samarapungavan study.

Predict, Observe, Explain

This article discusses how classroom teachers are using a POE (predict, observe, explain) method and then eventually turning it into a PEOE (predict, explain, observe, explain) method (Dial 2009). The authors believe that this is the method that will change students’ misconceptions.

In our research project, we attempted to identify the misconceptions in a sixth grade classroom and correct them. However, we went beyond the PEOE method and used the inquiry 5-E method where students were able to explore an idea themselves rather than watch a teacher do the experiment or demonstration. This allowed students to see and understand that their current misconception is incorrect as well as what the correct response should be and why.