The effect of exposure to Piagetian tasks on the cognitive development and achievement in general chemistry of college students

• Main Author: Bernardo, Eileen C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1988
• Subjects: Constructivism (Education); Chemistry > Study and teaching; Piaget, Jean, 1896-1980; College students; Chemistry
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/1215
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study delves into the effects prior to and after exposure to Piagetian Tasks on the cognitive development and achievement in chemistry of freshmen college students enrolled in general chemistry II. Two intact classes composed of fifty-nine freshmen college students enrolled in General Chemistry were used as subjects of the study. A pretest-posttest control group design was employed in this study. Each section was randomly assigned to either experimental or control group. These two groups had the same class schedule and were handled by two teachers alternately for one-and-one half weeks, that is, in the duration of the training. The Piagetian training was conducted among the experimental subjects during their vacant hours. The entire training lasted for 3 weeks and the researcher was the only trainor. The study revealed that majority of the freshmen are concrete thinkers. Exposure to Piagetian tasks helped students to perform better on the Longeot Test for Cognitive Development but not in the Achievement Test in Chemistry, except for Transitional objects. Pretest scores on the Longeot Test and mental ability are the best predictors of posttest scores in Longeot Test and only pretest scores on the Achievement Test in Chemistry is the best predictor of the student's posttest scores on the same test.