AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PHOTOCHEMICAL INSTRUCTIONAL AID USED IN THE TEACHING OF OXIDATION-REDUCTION CHEMISTR

Oxidation-reduction (electron transfer) is a scientific concept considered in virtually all chemistry curricula. A major emphasis is placed on this concept as it is the underlying explanation as to how chemical reactions occur.;To assist the student's understanding of this movement, the focus of investigation in this study was the development and evaluation of a photochemical instructional aid intended to more effectively present the concept of oxidation-reduction chemistry. Therefore, three important educational research questions were formulated concerning the effectiveness of the photo-chemical instructional aid and data was collected in an attempt to answer these questions: (1) Does the use of this photochemical instructional aid facilitate the learning of the oxidation-reduction concept? (2) Is the ability to understand oxidation-reduction related to the student's level of cognitive development as measured by achievement on the Longeot and Post-Test instruments? (3) Does the use of this photochemical instructional aid serve as a reinforcement to previously learned subject matter associated with oxidation-reduction chemistry?;The answers to these questions were obtained by using a four phase procedure utilizing a Pre-test/Post-test situation. In Phase I, all students were administered the Longeot Test to determine their Piagetian level of cognitive development. Phase II utilized a Pre-test to measure the students' prior knowledge of oxidation-reduction. Phase III involved instruction in the chemistry of oxidation-reduction, treatment of the experimental groups with the photochemical apparatus, reinforcement of learned material, and administration of a Post-test. The final Phase IV contained a Post Post-test measuring the student's level of retention of the criteria.;Results obtained from this study indicated that student understanding of a chemical concept was enhanced by the photochemical instructional aid, and more specifically, those students functioning at the transitional operational level benefited the most. Data further indicated that the apparatus did not appear to serve as a reinforcement device, although treatment groups did score higher on all testing instruments.