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By using the quasi-experimental design , the purpose of this
study was to explore the possible effectiveness of the following
three different teaching s -trategies : 1. Teaching chemistry
with history of science, meanwhile, stude- nts were provided a
historical enriched material as reading assignment (Exper-
imental Group A), 2. Teaching chemistry with traditional way of
lecturing, s- tudents were provided a historical enriched
material as reading assignment (E- xperimental Group B), 3.
Teaching chemistry with traditional way of lecturing , students
were not provided the historical enriched material (Comparison
Gro- up). The assessments of the study were focused on students''''
understanding abo- ut the nature of scientific knowledge and
their learning achievement. Four ch- emistry teachers and six
classes of 11th grade students (n=242) from two seni- or high
schools were participated in this study. In each of the two
schools, - after one chemistry teacher was invited, one class
from his teaching list was randomly assigned as Experimental
Group A, another class as Experimental Gro- up B. For the
purpose of comparison, one more classroom from other teachers'''' c
-lasses was used as Comparison Group.
The units of historical enriched materials (ideal gas law and
properties of oxygen) were developed by the researcher. Related
histories and hands-on e- xperiments in these two units were
integrated into the material. Before condu- cting the study, the
two teachers who taught the Experimental Group A were as- ked to
attend a half day work shop which was designed to explain the
implemen- tation of the historical enriched material.
Analysis of covariance, dependent t-test, frequency analysis,
and chi-squ- are were used to analyze students'''' understanding
about the nature of scientif- ic knowledge, learning
achievement, and perception of learning. Based on stud- ents
learning achievement , 10 students were randomly selected from
stratified samples for interview to better understand students''''
alternative conceptions. Major findings of this study were
as following: 1. There was
significant difference between the three groups on the total
sco- re as well as its subscales of the understanding about
the nature of scien- tific knowledge test.
2. Students who were taught with historical enriched material
made significant progress on learning achievement.
3. Its was found from the interview that students possessed
variety of altern- ative conceptions, even though the
conceptions have been familiar with them . Furthermore, some
students'''' alternative conceptions were similar to anci- ent
scientists'''' way of thinking.
4. Although students'''' views toward the historical enriched
materials were sig- nificantly different between various
learning achievement groups and vario- us levels of
understanding about the nature of scientific knowledge, the m-
ajority of the students in the two experimental groups agreed
that the mat- erials are helpful in learning.
The results revealed that teaching with historical enriched
materials can promote students'''' learning achievement and
understanding about the nature of scientific knowledge. In
addition, the materials were welcomed by the experi- mental
group students. Nevertheless, some of students'''' alternative
conceptions were deeply rooted and resistant to change.
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