Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
The effects of science, technology and societal issues, implemented as a cooperative controversy, on attitudes toward science, anxiety toward science, problem-solving perceptions and achievement in secondary science
Abstract
The effects of a cooperative controversy were compared with a control group on attitudes toward science, anxiety, problem solving perceptions and achievement. Ninety-six high school Chem-Comm chemistry students (11th and 12th graders), were randomly assigned as in-tact classes. In both conditions the students studied controversial issues with materials representing both pro and con views. In the cooperative controversy condition the class was divided into small groups of four, and each group of four was separated into two halves representing the pro and con sides. Students were asked to research, discuss and prepare for a class debate in which pro and con groups worked together. After the debate the original groups of four returned to discuss the issues, reach consensus, and write a group report. In the individualistic condition (control group), the students were instructed to study alone and not to interact with any other students in the class. A replication study was performed upon completion of the original experiment using the same criteria. The results indicate that S/T/S issues presented in a cooperative controversy framework improve students' attitudes toward science, decrease anxieties toward science, and improve students' perceptions of their problem solving abilities. No difference was found between the treatment and control group on achievement.
Subject Area
Curricula|Teaching|Science education|Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
Pedersen, Jon Erle, "The effects of science, technology and societal issues, implemented as a cooperative controversy, on attitudes toward science, anxiety toward science, problem-solving perceptions and achievement in secondary science" (1990). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9030142.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9030142