Effects of Conceptual Change-Based Teaching on the Understanding of Heat and Temperature Concepts among Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Students with Different Demographic Background.

Abstract

This study endeavoured to explore the effectiveness of conceptual change-based teaching as compared to conventional science teaching on understanding of heat and temperature concepts among Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students. This study was been conducted at PERDA Advanced Technical Institute (PERDA-TECH), Nibong Tebal, Malaysia. Students’ misconceptions of heat and temperature concepts was determined through relevant studies and tested through the understanding of heat and temperature concept test. This research involved 70 students from four fields of study. 35 respondents were used as control groups, and the remaining 35 were employed as experimental groups. Both groups received theoretical lessons. Only experimental group conducted experiments on the heat and temperature concepts and been exposed to the conceptual change-based teaching during the experiment. Students in both groups were tested through the understanding of heat and temperature concept test after conventional science teaching and subsequently after conceptual change-based teaching. The study was based on differences in factors of gender, areas of study, socioeconomic status and student age. All data collected, encoded and subsequently analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. Independent sample t-tests and one-way ANOVA tests were used to determine whether there are significant differences in mean sample scores before and after treatment. The results recorded that there was a significant difference between these factors and students who were undergoing a conceptual change-based teaching understand the concepts of heat and temperature more and achieves better performance.