The effect of a series of hands-on, minds-on science process skill development experiences on general readiness scores of a selected group of kindergarten children

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of short-term Hands-On, Minds-On science process skills on the acquisition of general readiness to learn by kindergarten children.Three null hypotheses were formulated to examine differences between the scores of an experimental group of kindergarten children who had engaged in Hands-On, Minds-On science process investigation and a control group of kindergarten children who had not engaged in such investigation. The students engaged in approximately eight hours of science process investigation. Differences due to sex were examined in Hypothesis II. Differences which may be attributed to student ability as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test were examined in Hypothesis III.A fourth factor, class effect was also examined.The research utilized a modified Posttest-Only Control Group design. The posttest was the California Achievement Test, Level 10, Form E.The participants for the study were 86 kindergarten students from four intact classes. The control group was comprised of 47 students and the experimental group a total of 39 students. These students attended a small rural school corporation with a enrollment of approximately 1,240 students.The use of the Wilk's Lambda Multivariate Tests of Significance yielded the following information at the .05 level of significance:No significant difference was found between children who had or had not engaged in Hands-On, Minds-On science process instruction. The significance of F between the two groups was .106.No significant difference was found based on sex differences of the students who participated in this study. The significance of F between males and females was .917.A significant difference was found between high and low ability students who participated in this study. The significance of F to three places, between the two groups was .000.A four-way univariate analysis of variance analogous to the multivariate analysis was performed on each component of the vector (Visual Recognition, Sound Recognition, Reading Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Language Expression, and Mathematics) and tested at the .05 level of significance. The results indicated that each component of the vector was significant at the .05 level with the independent variable ability.Based on the researcher's findings recommendations for further research were made. Two of the most promising were increased science time for student participation and development of a test which measures a broader spectrum of the curriculum, including science.Department of Elementary EducationThesis (Ph. D.