A Comparative Study on Fifth and Seventh Grade Students’ Ability to Make Justifications for Evaluating Evidence

• Main Author: 黃啟榮
• Other Authors: 林樹聲
• Language: zh-TW
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/84047933745088099559

碩士 === 國立嘉義大學 === 數理教育研究所 === 103 === Being able to make justifications for evaluating evidence is regarded as one of important competence indicators in equipping students with scientific literacy in the modern society (National Research Council, 2012). The study employed a questionnaire to survey the abilities of grade five (N=87) and seven (N=98) respectively coming from Yunlin and Chiayi counties in Taiwan in making justifications for evaluating evidence and to further explore their differences between these two groups. The instrument designed and developed for data collection consisted of the dimensions of the reliability and validity of evidence, including credibility, internal consistency, external consistency, objectivity, access, adequacy and relevance. The students were asked to evaluate the reliability or validity of evidence, and justify their evaluation. The study adopted mixed method strategy to analyze the data. The findings showed that the seventh grade students significantly outperformed than the fifth in the dimensions of internal consistency (p<.01), external consistency (p<.05), access (p<.05) and adequacy (p<.01), not in the dimensions of credibility(p>.05), objectivity(p>.05) and relevance(p>.05). Implications for science instruction, teaching materials and future research are discussed.