Students' understanding of stoichiometry using BPR holistic approach

• Main Author: Tolosa, Relen-Job M.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2014
• Subjects: Stoichiometry; Chemistry
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/5077
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study investigated the effectiveness of BPR (Block Model, Particulate Diagram and Reflective Writing) Holistic approach in understanding basic stoichiometry and mole ratios. It attempted to explore students conceptual understanding and perception within 10 periods of intervention. One intact class of third year high school students of Philippine Cultural College in the fourth quarter of the school year 2013-2014, was chosen as subject of the study. To determine students conceptual understanding, the Conceptual Test on Stoichiometry (CTS), developed by the researcher and validated by experts was administered prior and after the intervention. The Stoichiometry Problem Solving Test (SPST), also developed and validated by experts was administered to triangulate with the result in CTS and to determine students varying conceptual understanding in problem solving. The researcher-developed and expert-validated Students Perception Test on Stoichiometry Using BPR Holistic Approach (SPTS-BPR), semistructured interview and reflective journal were used to gauge students perception regarding the intervention employed. The result in the pre-CTS and post-CTS revealed that the class had standardized gain score of 0.33, with a z value of -4.94 at significance level =0.05. Therefore, there was a significant difference between the pre-CTS and the post-CTS. However, SPST result showed varying conceptual understanding of students in solving problems, and only 33% of the student passed the test. Moreover, SPTS-BPR result revealed that students have positive perception on the said approach as a whole. On the other hand, students expressed on the interview and on their reflective journal the difficulty they have encountered in using block model approach, and the ease of using particulate diagram in understanding and solving a stoichiometry problem. Hence, students preferred the use of particulate diagram more than block model approach when dealing with stoichiometric problems. Moreover, 50% of the interviewees find the use of reflective writing helpful to express the difficulty they encountered in the class during the discussion, while another 50% find it unnecessary.