Conceptual Change in Students' Understanding of Boiling Concept (B Costu)

8/15/2019 Conceptual Change in Students' Understanding of Boiling Concept (B Costu)

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Facilitating Conceptual Change in Students’ Understandingof Boiling Concept

Bayram Coştu Alipaş a Ayas Mansoor Niaz

Suat U ¨ nal Muammer Çalik

Published online: 2 October 2007

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Abstract The objective of this study was to construct a

teaching strategy for facilitating students’ conceptualunderstanding of the boiling concept. The study is based on

52 freshman students in the primary science education

department. Students’ ideas were elicited by a test con-

sisting of nine questions. Conceptual change strategy was

designed based on students’ alternative conceptions. Con-

ceptual change in students’ understanding of boiling was

evaluated by administering a pre-, post- and delayed post-

test. The test scores were analysed both by qualitative and

quantitative methods. Statistical analysis using one-way

ANOVA of student test scores pointed to statistically sig-

nificant differences in the tests and total scores ( p\ 0.05).

Quantitative analysis of students’ responses on each test

revealed different schema about changing their knowledge

system. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest

that the teaching activities facilitated students’ conceptual

understanding. No statistically significant differences were

found between post-test and delayed post-test scores, sug-gesting that the teaching strategy enabled students to retain

their new conceptions in the long-term memory.

Keywords Conceptual change Teaching strategy

Alternative conception Boiling

Introduction

cIn recent years, there have been many studies concerning

alternative conceptions regarding science concepts (Driver

1989; Pfundt and Duit 2000). A large number of research

studies in chemical education have focused on students’

understanding of boiling concept (Coştu 2002, 2006; Hwang

and Hwang 1990; McElwee 1991; Paik et al. 2004; Pınar-

başı and Canpolat 2003; Valanides 2000a, 2000b; Varelas

et al. 2006), the nature of bubbles in boiling liquids (Bar and

Travis 1991; Bodner 1991; Brody 1993; Chang 1999; Coş tu

2002, 2006; Goodwin 2000; Hatzinikita and Koulaidis,

1997; Henriques, 2000; Johnson 1998, 2005; Osborne and

Cosgrove 1983; Paik et al. 2004; Papageorgiou and Johnson

2005), and the factors that influence boiling point, boiling

and water pressure (Andersson 1979; Abad 2001; Coştu

2006; Gopal et al. 2004; Pınarbaşı and Canpolat 2003;

Pınarbaşı et al. 2006). These studies show that students have

several alternative conceptions and difficulties about boiling

concept. The alternative conceptions identified by the pre-

vious researches are summarized in Table 1.

Research has established that students’ alternative con-

ceptions in science are very tenacious and that traditional

instruction is not very effective in promoting conceptual

change (Driver et al. 1985; Wandersee et al. 1994). Recent

research in chemistry education has shown an increasing

B. Coştu (&) A. Ayas S. Ünal

Secondary Science and Mathematics Education Department,

Karadeniz Technical University, 61335 Trabzon, Turkey

e-mail: [email protected]

A. Ayas


S. U¨

nale-mail: [email protected]

M. Niaz

Epistemology of Science Group, Department of Chemistry,

Universidad de Oriente, Apartado Postal 90, Cumaná, Estado

Sucre 6101A, Venezuela


M. Çalik

Primary Science Education Department, Karadeniz Technical

University, 61335 Trabzon, Turkey


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J Sci Educ Technol (2007) 16:524–536

DOI 10.1007/s10956-007-9079-x


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interest in the facilitation of conceptual change in students’

understanding of chemistry concepts (e.g. Çalık et al.

2007; Harrison and Treagust 2001; Niaz 2002; Niaz and

Chacón 2003; Pınarbaşı et al. 2006).

Many conceptual change strategies have been developed

to address such alternative conceptions (Scott et al. 1991).

In teaching for conceptual change, students must experi-

ence contradiction with their expectations. It is only

reasonable that students would not accept a new idea,

unless they realize that their existing concepts are unsat-

isfactory in some way. Posner et al. (1982) suggest that if

students are going to change their ideas:

• They must become dissatisfied with their existing

conditions.• The scientific conception must be intelligible.

• The scientific conception must appear plausible.

• The scientific conception must be useful in a variety of

new situations.

Teaching for conceptual change demands a teaching

strategy where students are given time to: identify and

articulate their alternative conceptions; investigate the

soundness and utility of their own ideas and those of others,

including scientists; and, reflect on and reconcile differences

in those ideas. The Conceptual Change Model (CCM) is a

teaching/learning model that substantially provides this

opportunity. The model developed as a result of researches

by many science educators, such as: Clement (1987), Driver

and Scanlon (1989), Duit (1987), Eaton et al. (1983),

Nussbaum and Novick (1981), Posner et al. (1982) and

Stepans (1991). In the CCM, the learner is an active par-

ticipant in the learning context rather than an empty cup tobe filled. The model is based on the following six stages:

1. Students become aware of their own conceptions in the

beginning of the instruction by thinking about it and

making predictions before activity begins,

2. Students expose their views by sharing them in small

groups,

3. Students confront their views by checking and dis-

cussing them in groups

4. Students work to resolve conflicts between their ideas

and their observations, thereby accommodating the

new concept (Piaget 1985).5. Students extend the concept by trying to make

connections between the concept learned in the class-

room and other situations, including their daily lives.

6. Students are encouraged to go ahead, pursuing extra

questions and problems related to the concept.

The present study draws on the literature on students’

alternative conceptions and also on conceptual change and

conceptual change strategies, helping students to become

cognizant of their alternative conceptions and their sub-

sequent change.

The purpose of this study was to develop a teaching

strategy that can facilitate conceptual change and investi-

gate its effectiveness on student understanding of boiling.

The following research questions were addressed:

1. Do conceptual change activities help students to

change their alternative conceptions towards more

scientific ones and the degree to which conceptual

change takes place?

2. Do conceptual change activities used here enable

students to store their new conceptions in long-term

memory?

Methods and Materials

Subjects

Participants in this study comprised of 52 students (33 boys

and 19 girls, whose ages were ranged from 18 to 21 years)

who came from different cities and different high schools

of our country and who enrolled in introductory chemistry

courses in a university (a pseudonym). The sample was

Table 1 Students’ alternative conceptions (SAC) and difficulties

about boiling

The properties of boiling

Boiling is a chemical change

Boiling occurs only at the surface of a liquid

Chemical structure of a liquid is changed in the process of boiling

Temperature of a boiling liquid keeps rising upon continued

heating

Boiling point is the highest temperature of matter

The nature of bubbles in boiling liquid

Bubbles made of:

Heat

Oxygen (O2) and Hydrogen (H2) gases

Air

Carbon dioxide (CO2) gases

Others (smoke, hot air, air and water, nothing..eg)

Heat is a matter

The factors influences boiling point

Water boils only at a temperature of 100C

Boiling point is always stable and not changeable

Boiling is a process that is controlled solely by the heat source

Atmospheric pressure is negligible in boiling point

Pressure has no bearing on liquids’ boiling temperature

Boiling and vapour pressure

Relationship between vapour pressure and boiling point

Boiling point of pure liquids and solutions

Vapour pressure is confused with that of atmospheric pressure

J Sci Educ Technol (2007) 16:524–536 525

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chosen purposely from a class and all students participated

in the study voluntarily. One of the students left the uni-

versity at the end of the post-test, thus leaving 51 students

for the delayed post-test. Students from different high

schools (e.g. general, vocational and technical lycée) in our

country have to pass an entrance examination, in order to

pursue their schooling process in higher education, which

ensures that all students have almost the same preparation.Duration of the lessons was three 60-min periods. Con-

ceptual change teaching strategy used in this study will be

described in detail, later.

Boiling Concept Test (BCT)

To assess students’ conceptual change subsequent to

intervention, a Boiling Conceptual Test (BCT), consisting

of nine items, was developed based on the alternative

conceptions in Table 1. The items were devised based on

three types of formats which were three two-tier multiple

choice items, four true/false two-tier items and two open-

ended items. Three examples of each test items are pre-

sented in Fig. 1.

The first type of two-tier item (see Item 2) is multiple

choices, providing a set of answers and a set of reasons for

these answers as in earlier studies (Haslam and Treagust

1987; Tsai and Chou 2002). Such items include one correctanswer and reason; the other distracters reflected students’

probable alternative conceptions about boiling. In the

second type of two-tier item (see Item 5), which is a var-

iation on the first two-tier format, a true/false response is

the first tier followed by the second tier consisting of a set

of reasons for selecting true or false as in the study done by

Mike and Treagust (1998). These items also included di-

stracters that reflected students’ probable alternative

conceptions about boiling except for one correct answer

and reason. In both type of two-tier test items, students are

able to write their reasons apart from the reasons presented

Fig. 1 Examples of questions

evaluating students’ alternative

conceptions in boiling, BCT

(Boiling Conceptual Test)

526 J Sci Educ Technol (2007) 16:524–536

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to them as test item choices. In the third type of test items,

students are able to write their ideas freely in blanks.

All items were pilot tested on 31 students and reliability

of the test was calculated. Students’ scores on each test

items were computed (based on the criteria, see Table 3)

and inputted into SPSS 10.0TM to calculate Cronbach alpha

estimates of internal consistency. This value was found to

be 0.55 which was modest but acceptable given the purposeof the study. The low-moderate reliability coefficient

somewhat increased in the pre-test (0.68). The test was

validated by a panel consisting of three chemistry teachers

and two teacher educators. The final form of the test was

administered, in identical form, to the sample one month

before (pre-test) and after the intervention (post-test). It

was also administered three months later (delayed post-

test) to the sample who went on to study primary science

education. At a first glance, using the same test as pre-,

post- and delayed post-test may be seen as a disadvantage.

But, the current study provides sufficient time for students

to forget the items, i.e. whilst post-test was administered7 weeks after pre-test, delayed test was re-administered

12 weeks after post-test.

Taking into account the variation of students’ perfor-

mance in the pre-test, conceptual change was determined

from (i) the gain in answer scores, (ii) the changes in the

responses from pre-test to post- or delayed post-test and

(iii) the changes in students’ alternative conceptions from

pre-test to post-test and delayed post-test.

Teaching Intervention

As mentioned in introduction section, there are many

conceptual change strategies through which students alter

their alternative conceptions towards scientific ones.

Amongst many conceptual change strategies, we preferred

one suggested by Stepans (1996). We developed three

activities about boiling which are detailed in Table 2.

The strategy we used here consisted of six steps. In the

first step, teacher posed one or more questions, presented a

challenge, or wanted students to make predictions about

boiling phenomena. These motivators helped students to

become aware of their own knowledge with respect to

boiling concept. The teacher, in the second step, firstly

asked students to share their ideas about the phenomenon

in their own group, afterwards with other groups to expose

their beliefs and become aware of other students’ beliefs.

The students, in the third step, can re-examine their ideasby manipulating materials in the boiling activities. Also

they can confront and discuss their ideas. In helping stu-

dents to develop a conceptual change about boiling, the

teacher, in the fourth step, utilized some methods such as:

asking questions, discussion, drawings and so on in order to

understand the reasons behind the observations. By par-

ticipating in these activities the students begin to resolve

the contradictions that may exist between their beliefs. In

the fifth step, in order to apply their experiences learned in

the activity to another situation and daily-life events, the

students are asked to respond a few questions. This helps

students to reinforce their newly structured knowledgeabout boiling. In the last step, the teacher gives homework

or research questions about the concept.

One sample teaching activity sheet containing the six

steps mentioned above is presented in Appendix. Teaching

intervention was administered to the sample in groups. The

instruction for each lesson was given by the first author;

hence we assumed that he expertly employed the CCM. At

the beginning of each teaching activity, the activity sheet

on which students would write down their explanations was

handed out to each group. Students worked collaboratively

in groups and they filled in each activity sheet. These

sheets were collected at the end.

Procedure for Data Analysis

In order to analyse the test items, two criteria were used to

classify and to mark the students’ responses due to dif-

ferent test type items. In analysing two-tier test items

(multiple choice and true/false) students’ responses were

analysed with criteria presented in Table 3.

In analysing open-ended test items in the test, firstly

students’ responses were examined thematically and the

following criteria were used to classify the responses.

Sound Understanding (SU) (3 point), Partial Understand-

ing (PU) (2 point), Specific Misconception (SM) (1 point),

No Understanding (NU) (0 point) and No Response (NR)

(0 point). These criteria are the same used by Coştu and

Ayas (2005) to analyse open-ended test items. To provide

inter-rater validity, students’ responses to open-ended

items (Items 8 and 9) were classified into categories.

Firstly, students’ responses in Item 8 and Item 9 were

classified by researchers (two researchers for each item)

Table 2 Teaching activities about boiling developed in the study and

their target concepts

Activities Target concept

Teaching Activity 1 U The properties of boiling phenomenon

U The nature of bubbles in boiling liquid

Teaching Activity 2 U Low external pressure effects on boiling

temperature

U Boiling and vapour pressure

Teaching Activity 3 U High external pressure effects on boiling

temperature

U Boiling and vapour pressure


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separately, as SU, PU, SM or NU. Secondly, in each of the

two items, the two researchers coincided in about 90% or

more of the classifications. Finally, all differences or dis-

agreements were resolved by discussion.

For two-tier test items, since each question and reason

had one correct answer and the others contain alternative

conceptions, students’ responses also were analysed inorder to define their conceptions based on pre-, post- and

delayed post-test. Moreover, changes of their conceptions

were presented in tables to see students’ conceptual chan-

ges after the teaching intervention. Using data presented in

these tables, we originally identified different schema on

changing students’ knowledge systems. Besides qualitative

analyses, quantitative analyses were utilized. Total number

of points for each student were computed and SPSS 10.0TM

was used to make statistical comparisons. This was fol-

lowed by statistical analyses using one-way ANOVA.

Findings

The results from the two-tier test items are shown in

Table 4.

As can be seen from the Table 4, most of the students’

gave responses that fell into ‘T-T ’ category after the

teaching intervention (see the test items 1, 4, 6 and 7).

These responses were generally the highest in the delayed

post-test. For example, the percentage of students’

responses in ‘T-T ’ category for item 7 changed from 50%,

to 98% to 100% for pre-, post- and delayed post-test scores,

respectively. However, in test Items 2 and 3, although most

of the students gave responses that fell into ‘T-T ’ category

after the teaching intervention, a few of the students

changed their responses in the delayed post-test negatively.

Nevertheless, the number of the students’ who gave

responses that fell in to ‘T-T ’ category in the delayed post-

test was more than those in the pre-test. Besides Items 2

and 3, Item 5 presented interesting data. Students’

responses that fell into ‘T-T ’ category in the pre-test (63%)

were more than the post-test (60%) and the delayed

Table 3 Criteria for analyzing the two-tier test items

Categories Marks

First tier – Second tier

True response – True reason (T-T) 3

False response – True reason (F-T) 2

True response – No reason (T-N) 2

True response – False reason (T-F) 1

False response – No reason (F-N) 0

False response – False reason (F-F) 0

No response – No reason (N-N) 0

Table 4 Percentage of students’ responses for two-tier test items for

categories of understanding

Categories Pre-test

( N = 52)

Post-test

( N = 52)

Delayed test

( N = 51)

Test Item 1 T-T 82 98 100

F-T 4 – –

T-N 2 – –

T-F 2 – –

F-F 8 2 –

F-N – – –

N-N 2 – –


F-T – – –

T-N – – –

T-F 6 – –

F-F 4 – 2

F-N – – –

N-N – – –


F-T 4 – –

T-N – – –

T-F 4 – –

F-F 56 4 20

F-N – – –

N-N – – –


F-T 8 – –

T-N 10 – –

T-F 8 2 –

F-F 19 8 6

F-N 2 – –

N-N – – –


F-T 2 – –

T-N – – –

T-F 2 – –

F-F 31 40 45

F-N 2 – –

N-N – – –


F-T 2 – –

T-N 2 – –

T-F 4 – –

F-F 50 12 8

F-N 4 – –

N-N – – –


F-T – – –

T-N 38 2 –

T-F 2 – –

F-F 10 – –

F-N – – –

N-N – – –


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post-test (55%). On the other hand, the number of students

who gave responses that fell into ‘F-F ’ category increased

after the teaching intervention. The percentage of students’

responses in this category for Item 5 changed from 31%, to

40%, to 45% for pre-, post- and delayed post-test scores,

respectively.

The results from the open-ended test items are presented

in Table 5.As can be seen from the Table 5, more students gave

responses that were classified in the sound understanding

(SU) category, after the teaching intervention. This

increase, however, was not sustained in the delayed post-

test. For example, the percentage of students’ responses in

this category for Item 9 changed from 4%, to 17% and 6%

for pre-, post- and delayed post-test scores, respectively.

Similarly, in Item 9, students’ responses that were classi-

fied as specific misconceptions (SM) decreased from pre-

test to post-test and increased again in the delayed post-

test.

Students’ responses were also analysed in order todetermine specific alternative conceptions or difficulties

based on pre-, post- and delayed post-test. These are pre-

sented in Table 6.

As seen from Table 1, students’ alternative conceptions

(SAC) and their difficulties changed over time (pre-, post

and delayed post-test). Based on this information, a schema

of possible types of changes was constructed, which is

presented in Table 7.

As seen from Table 7, eight different types of possible

changes were observed in the students’ alternative con-

ceptions (SAC) and difficulties. Although all possibilities

were observed, their frequency varied considerably, and

this data is presented in Table 8.

As seen from the Table 8, positive conceptual changes

occurred in students’ minds except for one (see the 21st

SAC). This shows that students’ alternative conceptions

and difficulties decreased after the intervention. For

example, percentage of the 3rd SAC decreased from 56%

to 4% for pre- and post-tests. Additionally, it was deter-

mined whether conceptual change was retentive or not. If

percentage of the SAC in the delayed post-test was lowerthan that in the post-test or equal to each test, conceptual

change in the SAC was considered as retentive. By com-

paring students’ alternative conceptions in post-test and

delayed post-test, most of the SAC were found to be

retentive.

Descriptive statistics of the BCT were found and given

in Table 9.

The differences amongst each test scores were exam-

ined for statistical significance, and as can be from

Table 10, there are statistically significant differences

between the test scores ( p\ 0.05). However, from

Table 11, it can be seen that multiple comparisons (basedon the Tukey post-hoc test) suggest that while there is a

statistically significant difference between pre-test and

post-test scores, and between pre-test and delayed post-

test scores ( p\ 0.05), no significant differences were

observed between post-test and delayed post-test scores

( p\ 0.05).

Discussion and Conclusion

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effec-

tiveness of a teaching strategy for conceptual change in

students’ understanding of the boiling concept. The study

Table 5 Frequency and percentage of students’ responses for open-ended test items for categories of understanding

Category Test Item 8 Test Item 9

Pre-test ( N = 52) Post-test ( N = 52) Delayed test ( N = 51) Pre-test ( N = 52) Post-test ( N = 52) Delayed test ( N = 51)

N % N % N % N % N % N %

SU 2 4 17 33 14 27 2 4 9 17 3 6PU 34 65 34 65 36 71 46 88 42 81 45 88

SM 6 12 – – – – 4 8 1 2 3 6

NU 8 15 1 2 – – – – – – – –

NR 2 4 – – 1 2 – – – – – –

SU: Sound understanding (3 points)

PU: Partial understanding (2 points)

SM: Specific misconception (1 point)

NU: No understanding (0 point)

NR: No response (0 point)


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Table 6 Students’ alternative conceptions (SAC) and difficulties elicited by analyzing each test

Students’ alternative conceptions and

difficulties (SAC)

Pre-test Post-test Delayed post-test

1. When heat is added to boiling

liquid, its temperature

increases

S9, S10, S11, S27, S29, S45 S11 –

2. Kinetic energy of the particles

increases during boiling

S9, S10, S11, S27, S29, S45 – –

3. Since boiling point is a

distinguishing property of

matter, it is always stable

S1, S3, S4, S5, S6, S9, S13,

S15, S16, S17, S23, S25,

S26, S27, S29, S30, S34,

S35, S37, S39, S40, S41,

S42, S43, S44, S45, S46,

S50, S52

S37, S51 S1, S6, S15, S17, S25, S29,

S35, S37, S44

4. Boiling occurs on the surfaces

of a liquid

S4, S5, S10, S14, S18, S23,

S24, S26, S44

S10, S29, S31, S45 S24, S29

5. The bubbles that form at the

boiling point contain air that

was dissolved in water

S3, S6, S11, S13, S14, S23,

S24, S27, S34, S39, S40,

S41, S45, S48

S2, S6, S11, S13, S14, S23,

S24, S27, S34, S39, S41,

S48

S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S9, S10,

S23, S25, S28, S31, S32,

S35, S36, S39, S40, S41,

S42, S44, S45, S49, S52

6. The bubbles that form at theboiling point contain H2 and O2gases

S4, S16, S21, S39, S41 – –

7. Not taking into consideration

the idea that boiling point is the

temperature at which the

liquids’ vapour pressure is equal

to the outside pressure on liquid

S1, S4, S6, S7, S10, S11, S16,

S19, S20, S22, S23, S25,

S27, S28, S29, S35, S36,

S38, S39, S40, S41, S42,

S43, S46, S48, S49, S50,

S51

S2, S6, S16, S38, S39, S48 S6, S38, S39, S48

8. Not taking into consideration

the idea that the amount of

vapour in a closed system

diminishes with effect of

cooling and thus the pressure of

it on the liquid decreases

S1, S2, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, S9,

S10, S11, S12, S13, S14,

S15, S16, S17, S18, S19,

S21, S22, S23, S24, S25,

S26, S27, S28, S29, S30,

S31, S32, S34, S35, S36,

S37, S38, S39, S40, S41,S42, S43, S44, S45, S46,

S47, S48, S49, S50, S51

S1,S2, S3, S4, S6, S8, S9, S10,

S11, S13, S14, S15, S21,

S22, S23, S24, S26, S27,

S28, S29, S30, S32, S34,

S37, S38, S39, S41, S42,

S43, S44, S45, S46, S49,

S51, S52

S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S8, S9,

S11, S12, S13, S14, S15,

S17, S21, S22, S23, S24,

S26, S27, S28, S30, S32,

S37, S38, S39, S41, S42,

S43, S44, S45, S46, S48,

S49, S51

9. Boiling occurs at the bottom of a

liquid

S1, S19, S28, S32, S35, S39 S28 S35

10. Make a link between boiling

phenomenon and density of

liquid

S16, S19, S34, S43, S48, S52 – –

11. The temperature of two

different substances which are

heated with identical heater is

the same

S1, S2, S6, S7, S10, S22, S25 S6 S6

12. The vapour pressure of two

different substances which are

heated by identical heater is

the same

S7 – –

13. The bubbles that form at the

boiling point contain heat

S3, S15 – –

14. Boiling liquid disintegrates by

the effect of heat

S6 – –

15. Boiling of chemical

compounds is a chemical

change

S22 – S41


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answered the two research questions given in the intro-

duction, one of which is related to effectiveness of the

teaching intervention on students’ understanding and con-

ceptual change. Results obtained showed that the teaching

strategy for conceptual change was an effective means of

reducing the number of alternative conceptions students

held about boiling concept. Data presented in Tables 4 and

5 clearly shows that after the intervention studentsimproved their understanding in both the two-tier and

open-ended items. Furthermore, students’ alternative con-

ceptions, SAC (as seen from the responses to these items,

Table 8) reduced from the pre-test to the post-test. This

positive conceptual change was found to be statistically

significant (Table 11). Interestingly, of the possible types

of changes (see Table 7), the one most frequently observed

was type 3, that is alternative conception in the pre-test and

conceptual understanding in the post and the delayed post-

test. These findings are consistent with respect to the

research literature on conceptual change in various topics

(Case and Fraser 1999; Chambers and Andre 1997; Chiu

et al. 2002; Çalık et al. 2007; Ebenezer 2001; Eryılmaz

2002; Johnson and Scott 1991; Kang et al. 2004; Markow

and Lonning 1998; Niaz 2002; Niaz and Chacón 2003;

Pınarbaşı et al. 2006). The success of the teaching strategy

in this study could be attributed to the inclusion of verbal

and non-verbal actions (Van Oers 1998) embedded within

the context of inter and intra-group class discussions

amongst peers (Howe et al. 1992; Inagaki et al. 1998; Lee

et al. 1993).

Table 6 continued

Students’ alternative conceptions and

difficulties (SAC)

Pre-test Post-test Delayed post-test

16. Non-volatile matter dissolved

in a liquid effects space of

time, not boiling point of it

S10 – –

17. White fog rising from boilingliquid is formed by hydrogen

and oxygen gases

S 16 - -

18. Increase in outside pressure on

a liquid leads to decrease in

boiling point

S31 – –

19. Changing of outside pressure

(increase or decrease) on a

liquid does not affect its

boiling point

S35 – –

20. Non-volatile matter dissolved

in water may evaporate during

boiling

S38 – –

21. White fog rising from boiling

liquid is formed by gasesdissolved in air

– S26 S25, S32, S36

22. Boiling point of the pure

substances does not change.

They boil at the same

temperature every time

– – S3, S6

23. Boiling phenomenon is a

chemical change

– – S41

Note: S1, S2 … refer to the particular students in the study

Table 7 Possible types of changes in students’ alternative concep-

tions (SAC) and difficulties based on Table 6

Possibilityof changes

Pre-test Post-test Delayed test Sample changesin Table 6

1 U U U S24 (the 8th SAC)

2 U U X S11 (the 1st SAC)

3 U X X S21 (the 6th SAC)

4 X X X S42 (the 14th SAC)

5 X U X S31 (the 4th SAC)

6 X U U S2 (the 5th SAC)

7 U X U S1 (the 3rd SAC)

8 X X U S6 (the 23rd SAC)

U : shows that alternative conceptions or difficulties exist in students’

mindsX: shows that alternative conceptions or difficulties do not exist in

students’ minds

SAC: refers to students’ alternative conceptions or difficulties given

in Table 6


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In comparison with the predominantly positive changes

observed, few of the students acquired alternative con-

ceptions even after having been exposed to the teaching

intervention. Examples of such changes were of the type 5,

6 and 8 (see Table 7). Interestingly, some students main-

tained their alternative conceptions through out the study

(type 1 change, Table 7) and others maintained their sci-

entific conceptions (type 4 changes, Table 7). The

unfavourable results have also been observed in previous

conceptual change studies (Case and Fraser 1999; Ebene-

zer 2001; Hewson and Hewson 1983). Negative changes

could be attributed to the lack of participation of some

students and also interaction with students who strongly

held to their prior alternative conceptions.

Table 8 Conceptual changes and retentions about students’ alternative conceptions (SAC) and difficulties through each test

Students’ alternative conceptions and difficulties (SAC) Pre-test

(%)

Post-test

(%)

Conceptual

changes (%)

Delayed

test (%)

Retention

(%)

1. When heat is added to boiling liquid, its temperature increases 12 2 +10 0 R

2. Kinetic energy of the particles increases during boiling 12 0 +12 0 R

3. Since boiling point is a distinguishing property of matter, it is always stable 56 4 +52 18 NR

4. Boiling occurs on the surfaces of a liquid 17 8 +9 4 R5. The bubbles that form at the boiling point contain air that was dissolved in water 27 23 +4 47 NR

6. The bubbles that form at the boiling point contain H2 and O2 gases 10 0 +10 0 R

7. Not taking into consideration the idea that boiling point is the temperature at

which the liquids’ vapour pressure is equal to the outside pressure on liquid

54 12 +42 8 R

8. Not taking into consideration the idea that the amount of vapour in a closed

system diminishes with effect of cooling and thus the pressure of it on the liquid

decreases

94 67 +27 69 NR

9. Boiling occurs at the bottom of a liquid 12 2 +10 2 R

10. Make a link between boiling phenomenon and density of liquid 12 0 +12 0 R

11. The temperature of two different substances which are heated with identical

heaters is the same

13 2 +11 2 R

12. The vapour pressure of two different substances which are heated by identical

heaters is the same

2 0 +2 0 R

13. The bubbles that form at the boiling point contain heat 4 0 +4 0 R

14. Boiling liquid disintegrates by the effect of heat 2 0 +2 0 R

15. Boiling of chemical compounds is a chemical change 2 0 +2 0 R

16. Non-volatile matter dissolved in a liquid effects space, not its boiling point 2 0 +2 0 R

17. White fog rising from boiling liquid is formed by hydrogen and oxygen gases 2 0 +2 0 R

18. Increase in outside pressure on a liquid leads to decrease in boiling point 2 0 +2 0 R

19. Changing of outside pressure (increase or decrease) on a liquid does not affect

its boiling point

2 0 +2 0 R

20. Non-volatile matter dissolved in water may evaporate during boiling 2 0 +2 0 R

21. White fog rising from boiling liquid is formed by gases dissolved in air 0 2 –2 6 NR

22. Boiling point of pure substances does not change. They boil at the same

temperature every time

0 0 0 4 NR

23. Boiling phenomenon is a chemical change 0 0 0 2 NR

+: shows positive conceptual change

–: shows negative conceptual change

R: shows that conceptual change is retentive

NR: shows that conceptual change is not retentive

Table 9 Descriptive statistics of each test scores

Test n Mean SD Min–Maxa

Pre-test 52 17,557 3,897 11–26

Post-test 52 23,442 2,127 19–27

Delayed post-test 51 22,843 2,723 16–27

a Max score of each test is 27

Table 10 Results of ANOVA

Sum of squares df Mean square F Sig.

Between groups 14724.820 2 7362.410 59.039 0.000

In groups 18955.051 152 124.704

Total 33679.871 154


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At this stage it is important to note that this study found

four major students’ alternative conceptions (SAC), namely

5,6, 7 and 8 (SeeTables 6 and 8). In SAC #5 students’ belief

that bubbles in boiling water contains air decreased from

pre-test (27%) to post-test (23%), a positive conceptual

change (+4). Surprisingly, however, this belief increased

considerably in the delayed post-test (47%), which was

considered to be non-retentive (Table 8). This shows how

students resist conceptual changes in their epistemological

beliefs. It is plausible to suggest that given the difficulty

associated with this concept many students during group

discussions accepted the arguments of those who held this

alternative conception. Thus, despite the training effect,

group work can also have negative implications.

In SAC #6, students’ belief that bubbles in boiling water

contain hydrogen and oxygen gases decreased from pre-test

(10%) to post-test (0%), a positive conceptual change(+10). Interestingly, however, in the delayed post-test

(0%), students maintained the positive conceptual change,

which was considered to be retentive (Table 8). How do we

explain the difference in students’ performance on SAC #5

and SAC #6? Apparently, it seems that the belief with

respect to the presence of air in bubbles of boiling water is

more convincing than the presence of hydrogen and oxy-

gen. This also suggests that in future studies the distracter

with respect to hydrogen and oxygen need not be included

(see Test Item 5, Fig. 1).

In SAC #7, 54% (pre-test) of the students did not

understand that boiling point is the temperature at which aliquid’s vapour pressure is equal to the outside pressure on

the liquid. This percentage decreased to 12% in the post-

test, a positive conceptual change (+42) and decreased

further to 8% in the delayed post-test, which was considered

to be retentive (Table 8). This alternative conception was

the subject of Teaching Activities 2 and 3 (see Table 2),

which shows their effectiveness for classroom practise.

In SAC #8, 94% (pre-test) of the students did not

understand that cooling a closed system decreases the

vapour pressure and thus effects the boiling point of the

liquid. This percentage decreased to 67% in the post-test,

a positive conceptual change (+ 27). However, in the

delayed post-test (69%), the same level of understanding

could not be sustained, which was considered to be non-

retentive. Interestingly, this alternative conception wasalso the subject of Teaching Activities 2 and 3. It is

important to point out that the understanding required for

SAC #8 was the most difficult as 94% of the students had

alternative conceptions in the pre-test. In comparison,

54% of the students had difficulties in SAC #7, while

responding to the pre-test. This, perhaps, explains the

partial success of Activities 2 and 3, in improving stu-

dents’ understanding of the relationship between boiling

and vapour pressure.

The second question posed in the introduction is

whether or not conceptual change activities enable stu-

dents to store their new conceptions in long-termmemory. Results obtained showed that there are no

statistically significant differences between post-test and

delayed post-test scores (Table 11). This suggests that

the activities developed in this study, generally helped

students to retain their conceptions in their long-term

memory (Çalık et al. 2007; Glynn and Takahashi 1998;

Hynd et al. 1997; Palmer 2003; Tsai 1999). Besides the

statistical analysis, percentages of the students’ alterna-

tive conceptions were calculated in each test (Table 8).

In most cases the conceptual change observed from the

pre-test to the post-test, was retentive in the delayed

post-test, which shows an overall positive conceptual

change in students’ understanding of the boiling

concept.

Finally, this study provided evidence that the conceptual

change model used in the present study was effective in

altering students’ alternative conceptions and facilitated

greater conceptual understanding. Furthermore, the teach-

ing strategy used in this study shows that it is possible to

change the traditional classroom environment in order to

facilitate conceptual change. However, conceptual change

is a complex process based on many factors such as, cog-

nitive, motivational, ontological, and epistemological.

Based on this consideration, it is possible that some

changes in students’ understanding of boiling concept were

difficult to understand as they required a different

framework.

Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Research

Fund of Karadeniz Technical University, Project Number:

2005.116.002.1.

Table 11 Multiple comparisons of the test scores (Tukey post-hoc

test)

Tukey HSD Mean

Difference (I-J)

Std.

Error

Sig.

(I) Test (J) Test

Pre-test Post-test –21.65* 2.19 0.000

Delayed post-test –19.43* 2.20 0.000

Post-test Pre-test 21.65* 2.19 0.000

Delayed post-test 2.22 2.20 0.571

Delayed post-test Pre-test 19.43* 2.20 0.000

Post-test –2.22 2.20 0.571

* The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level


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Appendix

Example of teaching activity used in the study.

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Conceptual Change in Students' Understanding of Boiling Concept (B Costu)