The constructivist perspective is becoming a dominant paradigm in the field of cognitive psychology. Research findings resulting from this perspective have profound implications for the way in which science instruction is carried out.Within the past two decades, a major shift has occurred in how those who study human learning view the nature of the learning process (Wittrock, 1985). Research questions which are studied have changed from questions about factors external to the learner, such as teacher variables, personality, clarity of expression, enthusiasm, use of praise, etc. to questions about factors inside the mind of the learner, such as prior knowledge, naive conceptions, memory capacity, information processing capacity, motivation, attention, and cognitive style (Wittrock,
DAN I EL S E PA R DS 0 N National Energy Foundation. 5160 W h y Post Way, No. 200, Salt Lake City, Utuh 84116ABSTFUCT Several recent studies suggest concrete learners make greater pains in student achievement and in cognitive development when receiving concrete instruction than when receiving formal instruction. This study examined the effect of concrete and formal instruction upon reasoning and science achievement of sixth grade students. Four intact classes of sixth grade students were randomly selected into two treatment groups; concrete and formal. The treatments were patterned after the operational definitions published by Schneider and Renner (1980). Pretest and posttest measures were taken on the two dependent variables; reasoning, measured with Lawson's Classroom Test of Formal Reasoning, and science achievement, measured with seven teacher made tests covering the following units in a sixth grade general science cuniculum: Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, Cells, Plants, Animals, and Ecology. Analysis of covariance indicated signrficantly higher levels (better than 0.05 and in some cases 0.01) of performance in science achievement and cognitive development favoring the concrete instruction group and a significant gender effect favoring males.
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