The Effect of Storylines Embedded within Context Based Learning Approach on Grade 10 Students’ Achievement of Mixtures Unit

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of storylines embedded within the context-based learning approach on grade 10 students’ achievement of the mixtures unit and attitudes towards chemistry. Within a quasi-experimental design, the study was conducted with conducted with 48 10th grade students drawn from two intact classes in a high school. One of classes was randomly assigned to experimental group and the other to control group. The experimental group was exposed to the context-based materials, while the control group was taught with the traditional approach (teacher’s explanation, question and answer, writing, etc.). The teaching intervention which took a couple of classroom hours (2x45 minutes; 8 weeks) in the experimental group was designed to actively engage the students in the context based learning. The Mixtures Unit Achievement Test (MUAT) and Chemistry Attitude Scale (CAS) were used to collect data. MUAT with ten open-ended items was constructed by the authors. The results of this study indicated that the use of storylines embedded within the context-based learning approach resulted in the students in the experimental group performing better with respect to understanding concepts in the mixtures unit. Some suggestions are made on implications for practice and learning.