The Impact of Teacher Classroom Practices on Student Achievement during the Implementation of a Reform‐based Chemistry Curriculum

Abstract

Evidence of a gap in student understanding has been well documented in chemistry: the typical student holds an abundance of misconceptions. The current expectation is that educational reform will foster greater student achievement via inquiry teaching within classrooms. Using assessments involving both conceptual and algorithmic knowledge of gas behaviour, gas laws, and phase changes in chemistry, this study aims to determine the relationship between inquiry teaching and student achievement. The topics were tested in the context of a unit from a reform‐based curriculum that features inquiry, hands‐on activities, and cooperative learning. This curriculum provides step‐by‐step guidance for each lesson in the teacher materials, in order to promote quality inquiry teaching. Two schools were involved in this study, with two high school chemistry teachers from each school. Each teacher participated in professional development and implemented this curriculum with sufficient training and guidance to develop reform methods. Student achievement was found to positively correlate with the use of inquiry teaching about the assessed concepts, regardless of teacher experience or school context.

Notes

1. We note here that Mary leaves a misconception unaddressed—that equilibration results from the micro‐level, rather than the macro‐level. One of Mary’s teaching strategies is to allow concepts to spiral throughout a unit and the entire curriculum. Due to limitations of space it is not possible to model the spiralling nature of Mary’s classroom discussion across the unit, but concepts such as equilibration were discussed again throughout the unit, addressing possible misconceptions within the vignette here.

2. Chem. Catalysts are used at the beginning of every LBC lesson. These are short open‐ended questions designed to access students’ prior knowledge or connect to content from a previous lesson. Students are asked to individually construct a written response followed by a short teacher‐led discussion of the question to set the tone for the lesson.