Effectiveness of instruction based on constructivist approach on students understanding of chemical bonding concepts

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of instruction based on constructivist approach on ninth-grade students' understanding of chemical bonding concepts and their attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject. The contribution of students' science process skills to their understanding was also investigated and gender differences in terms of understanding chemical bond- ing concepts and attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject were examined. Forty-two ninth-grade students from two classes of a chemistry course taught by the same teacher participated in the study. The classes were randomly assigned as control and experimental groups. Students in the control group were instructed by traditionally designed chemistry instruction whereas students in the experimental group were taught by instruction based on constructivist principles. This instruction was mainly grounded on Yager's (1991) constructivist teaching strategy. The results indicated that instruction based on constructivist approach caused a significantly better acquisition of scientific conceptions related to chemical bonding and produced significantly higher positive attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject than the traditionally designed chemistry instruction. Science process skill was also a strong predictor in understanding of the concepts related to chemical bonding. On the other hand, no significant effect of gender on the understanding of chemical bonding concepts and attitudes toward chemistry as a school subject was found