An analysis of a model for developing instructional material for teaching physical science concepts for grade 8 students in the Republic of China

An instructional model based on a learning cycle including Correlation, Analysis, and Generalization (CAG) was developed and applied to design an instructional module for grade eight students in Taiwan, Republic of China. The CAG model was based on Piagetian theory and a concept model (Pella, 1975). The module developed for heat and temperature was administered to test its effects by comparing its use with the same unit in the New Physical Science Curriculum (NPSC).;The major problems of this study were to: (1) develop and analyze an instructional model for a science unit designed for grade eight students; (2) determine its impact on science achievement; and (3) identify what should be done to further improve the materials and instruction.;The population was comprised of classes selected from four types of schools.;The treatments given were instructional materials, teacher training, pretest, and posttest.;Students who were in the experimental group received a copy of the CAG module. Students who were in the control group used the NPSC (1988) material.;The major findings are presented as follows: (1) The CAG module tended to move science learning in an effective way. The experimental group performed significantly better than the control group on almost half the items in the posttest and 75 percent of the items in the follow-up test. The control group did not achieve significantly higher on any of the items of the posttest and follow-up test. (2) Academic ability and reasoning skills of students were related significantly to achievement. It is recommended that instructional materials be developed that are appropriate for each specific grade level. (3) Concrete written materials tended to have a positive impact on the science achievement for eighth grade students. (4) Piagetian logical thinking was found to be a significant predictor for science achievement. Students performed well on both the concrete and transitional levels of the contents. Items on the formal level were difficult. (5) Several student misconceptions related to the topics were detected in the tests and interview analyses.